Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Latter-day Saint
Revision 3.10 “The Death of Muhammad”

Revision 3.10 “The Death of Muhammad”

Last updated on: August 15, 2020 at 10:55 pm by Dan Peterson

Revision 3.10 “The Death of Muhammad” 2020-08-15T22:55:44-06:00 Dan Peterson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

For those who would like to read more about Muhammad, here’s a book that may not be the world’s worst on the subject.

By the year 632, Muhammad had subdued all of the Arabian peninsula. The revelation of Islam was complete. “This day I have perfected your religion for you and completed My favour to you,” says the Qur’an in the voice of God, in what many believe to be the last verse of the book to be revealed. “I have chosen Islam to be your faith.”[1] The tribes were now united, and the question arose, where could they plunder? They could not attack one another any more than members of a tribe were allowed to raid and pillage their fellow tribesmen. In fact, Muslims now regarded themselves as a kind of tribe (or, perhaps better, as a “supertribe”). An expedition was therefore planned against the Ghassanids, a small Byzantine vassal state of Arabic background.

But in that same year, after a brief illness and before the planned expedition could be carried out, Muhammad died. This was unquestionably a shattering experience for the vast majority of Muslims. Muhammad was the Prophet of God; they had known no other. He had given Arabia a government for the first time in its recorded history. He had established their religion and welded both Muslims and Arabs into a people. A story will perhaps illustrate the distressing and disorienting impact that the Prophet’s passing had upon the community of the believers.

When the news reached him that Muhammad was gone, Umar, a strong man who would later rule over the entire Islamic empire, seems to have grown virtually hysterical. He stood among the people and cried out that Muhammad was not dead, that he had merely gone to the Lord for a brief time. After forty days, he declared, the Prophet would return and would punish those who had falsely proclaimed his death. When Abu Bakr, an older man who would soon emerge as Muhammad’s first successor, heard the commotion, he entered into the room where the body of the Prophet lay. He uncovered Muhammad’s face and kissed him, saying, “You are dearer [to me] than my father and mother. You have tasted the death which God had decreed: a second death will never overtake you.” Then he covered the Prophet’s face again and went out. Umar was still manically denying Muhammad’s death outside of the mosque. “Gently, Umar. Be quiet,” Abu Bakr whispered to him. But Umar continued to cry out. Finally, standing up and addressing the bystanders, Abu Bakr said, “O men, if anyone worships Muhammad, Muhammad is dead. If anyone worships God, God is alive and cannot die.” Then he recited the words of the Qur’an:

Muhammad is naught but a Messenger; Messengers have passed away before him. Why, if he should die or is slain, will you turn about on your heels? If any man should turn about on his heels, he will not harm God in any way; and God will recompense the thankful.[2]

The effect on the old Muslim hero’s audience was immediate and profound. Even Umar later recalled, “When I heard Abu Bakr recite these words I was dumbfounded so that my legs would not bear me and I fell to the ground knowing that the apostle was indeed dead.”[3]

[1] 5:3. The passage could also be translated as “I have chosen submission [i.e., submission to God] to be your faith.” The Arabic term islam means “submission,” and it is far from clear that the beliefs and practices taught by Muhammad had already been recognized at this early date as a separate religious denomination or faith tradition named Islam (with a capital i).

[2] 3:138.

[3] The story is told in Ibn Hisham’s biography of Muhammad. I have borrowed some of the language of my paraphrase from A. Guillaume’s English translation of that biography, The Life of Muhammad (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 1967). Incidentally, critics of the Book of Mormon have often ridiculed the tendency of characters in the Nephite record to “fall to the ground” when under intense emotion or great religious excitement. Some have seen in such incidents echoes of nineteenth-century frontier revivalism. But similar behavior is abundantly recorded in the early and medieval Arab world— which, it must be remembered, is closely related to the world out of which the Book of Mormon claims to have come.

Posted from Seaside, Oregon

Previous Post

August 11, 2020

The Seventeenth Century and the Birth of Modern Science

Next Post

August 12, 2020 Back to Politics

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 March 2014 August 2013 February 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What is the longest verse in the Bible?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Romans 8:28 John 3:16 Esther 8:9 Psalm 119:105