Muhammad: Prophet for Our Time

which all members were treated with respect. The political well-being of the Muslim community was, and is, a matter of supreme importance. Like any religious ideal, it is almost insuperably difficult to fulfill, but after each failure, Muslims have tried to get up and begin again. Many Islamic rituals, philosophies, doctrines, sacred texts, and shrines are the result of frequently anguished and self-critical contemplation of the political events of Islamic society.

The life of the Prophet Muhammad (c. 570–632 CE) was as crucial to the unfolding Islamic ideal as it is today. His career revealed the inscrutable God’s activity in the world, and illustrated the perfect surrender (in Arabic, the word for “surrender” is islam) that every human being should make to the divine. Beginning during the Prophet’s lifetime, Muslims had to strive to understand the meaning of his life and apply it to their own. A little more than a hundred years after Muhammad’s death, as Islam continued to spread to new territories and gain converts, Muslim scholars began to compile the great collections of Muhammad’s sayings (ahadith)

The work of Muhammad’s first biographers would probably not satisfy a modern historian. They were men of their time and often included stories of a miraculous and legendary nature that we would interpret differently today.

Muhammad gave Abu Sufyan, Suhayl, and Safwan the lion’s share. Safwan was so overcome that he instantly made his surrender. “I bear witness that no soul could have such goodness as this, if it were not the soul of the Prophet,” he cried. “I bear witness that there is no god but Allah and that you are his Messenger.”42 Suhayl followed his example.
Some of the Helpers were offended by this apparent favoritism. Did it mean that Muhammad would abandon them, now that he had been reunited with his own tribe? Muhammad instantly reassured them by making a moving speech, which reduced many of them to tears.