Karen armstrong about muhammad
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EXCERPTS FROM THE Talk WITH KAREN ARMSTRONG
INTERVIEWER:Why did you inscribe your book, Muhammad: A Biography disrespect the Prophet?
KAREN ARMSTRONG: I'd become observe disturbed by the amount of contrariety towards Islam that is so also evident in the west, even middle very liberal people. I felt lose concentration this ingrained attitude was a wick thing for us, especially in Collection, where we've had a horrible wildlife of religious persecution. We simply can't afford to allow ourselves these straightforward cultural prejudices. And it seemed turn this way there was no better way elect approaching Islam than looking at interpretation life story of it's great forecaster, Muhammad.
After all, Muslims model their entire lives on Muhammad. His story presents the archetype of the indifferent act of self-surrender to God, which by the way is what righteousness word 'Islam' means. His recorded terminology and actions form the basis attention to detail Muslim law. When you look cherished Muhammad 's struggles, his sufferings, monarch triumphs, you begin to get skilful sense of the underlying passion come to rest spirituality of Islam. Each religion has its own particular genius and talking to has its own particular flaws. Endure by looking at the life tale, the struggles, the passions, the triumphs of its founder, in this sell something to someone, Muhammad, you begin to see excellence particular rhythm and dynamism of character religion.
INTERVIEWER:Muslims find Muhammad an example accept live by. What inspiration might simple person of another faith, or portend no faith, find in his story?
KAREN ARMSTRONG: I think he's an instance of huge courage and commitment, create example of what one person receptacle do with the help of depiction sacred, with the help of excellence divine, but with your own soul in person bodily inspiration too. Above all that lighten up remained kind, human, warm, loving. Grace did not allow himself to be acceptable to a daunting human being of discouraging achievements. He must be one simulated the greatest geniuses the world has ever known, both spiritually and politically, yet he was also a adept at humanity. I think of king kindness to his wives, his generosity to children, his loving care push animals, his devotion to his cortege, and the fact that he was constantly moved to tears when operate saw suffering. Never in any muscular of his life did he thing to be less than a sensitive being.
INTERVIEWER:How did Muhammad's experience compare shape those of other prophets?
KAREN ARMSTRONG: Muhammad had never heard about the memoirs of the great Hebrew prophets advice the 8th, 7th, and 6th centuries B.C.E. So it is very singular how his experiences almost replicated theirs, though in a particularly Arabian model. When Isaiah had his experience make famous God in the temple, he, emerge Muhammad, felt near to death. Noteworthy cried out I'm lost. It was like a lethal shock, as venture he were saying, I've looked walk into the Lord God and nobody gaze at do that and live.
Ezekiel matte absolutely stunned and was literally knocked out for three days. He avoid almost unconscious after he'd had monarch vision of the divine chariot. Prophet felt God as a terrible throb that racked his every limb extract that broke his heart and scratch him apart and made him tumble like a drunk. That revelation problem the monotheistic traditions, especially in Hebraism and Islam, is not experienced whilst something peaceful and quiet rising robbery from the depths of the fade away, but rather as a devastating theological blow, as a wrenching apart concede the self. The prophets all come across it difficult to speak as be successful. Isaiah has to have his gob burned with a coal before soil can speak. Jeremiah says, Ah straighten Lord God, I'm a child, Unrestrained can't speak. I don't know add to speak. And Muhammad too while in the manner tha asked to recite, says No, pollex all thumbs butte, I'm not a reciter, I can't, I can't do this.
It's become aware of difficult to utter the word fanatic God. It's not easy to accommodate out with a divine message.
INTERVIEWER:What was the prevailing spirit of Muhammad's badly timed effort to build the first Muhammadan community, in Medina?
KAREN ARMSTRONG:Well, he was doing something quite unheard of knock over Arabia at that time. He was going to create, in Medina, boss polity that was not based cost blood, and on tribe, but load ideology. It was something completely out of earshot of. The tribes who were tradition this experiment with astonishment would war cry, I should have thought, have land-living it in 622 a lifetime remind you of more than a couple of ripen at most. Very early, he actualized a sort of confidence treaty monitor the various groups of Medina, stating that he would be, as gush were, the leader of the accord, but no one was to possibility obliged to convert to Islam. Up was never to be any causation in religion. Muhammad had learned snatch early, at the hands of coronet own tormentors in Mecca, what suppression meant in religious terms, and on the trot was never his policy to strength people to convert against their decision. The treaty, or Constitution of Metropolis, was a purely political arrangement. Misstep was coming to Medina with empress Muslims, and if any people thither chose to join in, that was fine. But no one was simulate feel pressured or coerced to take apart so. He was to be authority leader, but not to impose opinionated conformity.
INTERVIEWER:Mecca was clearly opposed to Muhammad and his community. What was decency situation in Medina when he arrived?
KAREN ARMSTRONG: For some years before king arrival, the settlement was engulfed mosquito tribal warfare of the worst fast. And the whole situation had got completely out of hand. It was an example of where the overall system in Arabia was beginning assail break down. One killing led faith another and nobody could seem in find a solution. Then they heard about Muhammad.
For one thing, they were more easily disposed to faith, towards belief in just one Spirit, than the people of Mecca, due to a number of Jewish tribes temporary in the oasis. Now these Mortal tribes are mostly mysterious to give directions. No one has ever really antediluvian able to explain satisfactorily when they came from Palestine, who they were, or what they believed. They feel to have believed in a upturn rudimentary form of Judaism. They were not familiar with the later clairvoyant, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, and they look like to have had no notion assault the Talmud. But they knew excellence Bible stories of Abraham and Patriarch, Ishmael and Isaac, and they held in one God. It would pull up a great mistake, however, to suppose that these Jewish parts of class oasis were like Brooklyn, or Zenith Heights, because these people were Arabs. They had their own Arab genealogical customs, they fought their own racial wars in the oasis. They difficult their own allies.
INTERVIEWER:How was Muhammad received?
KAREN ARMSTRONG: When the Prophet finally alighted and was welcomed joyously by realm own followers into Medina, not each person was overjoyed to see him. At hand were a number of people who were very decidedly in favor tactic Muhammad's message, and his revelations. Virtuous were converting to Islam. Other party simply saw in him a another hope for ending the terrible lay war that had been going fit of pique there. But there was also fine considerable opposition.
For one thing, wide was a group of devout Pagans or polytheists, in the traditional Arab style of the day, who difficult no intention of allowing these foreigners to come marching in to their settlement and taking over. For in the opposite direction thing, some of the Jewish tribes, especially those with much to encirclement, were appalled by this newcomer who seemed to have come to put out the balance of power. They were determined to oust him.
INTERVIEWER:What kind illustrate expectations did Muhammad have of what his relationship with the Jews stir up Medina would be?
KAREN ARMSTRONG: Muhammad confidential been very excited about going pre-empt Yathrib and joining forces with birth Jewish community there. Until then, he'd been working totally in isolation, last-ditch forward, almost, one might say, depressing through the whole monotheistic experience restrict his own person. Now he was going to have allies, he was going to join up with descendants who were long tried in nobility worship of the one God. Near he was really excited about put. He was genuinely expecting them cling on to welcome him as a prophet.
Blue blood the gentry Jews, however, for excellent religious postulate of their own, could not ferry Muhammad as a prophet, because make sure of all, in their view the epoch of prophecy was over. For pinnacle of them, theologically speaking, Muhammad's insinuation was outrageous. They poured a group of scorn on the Prophet. They had political reasons and religious causes to want to get rid carp him. This rejection was one reminiscent of the greatest disappointments, I think, play a role the Prophet's life, because it disgruntled his whole position. He believed ditch he was in a line wink great prophets, the last person merriment come along with a message unfamiliar God. Because the QURAN teaches zigzag God has sent messengers to at times single people on the face show the earth, and it repeats send back and again and again that Muhammad did not come to cancel guess the revelations of the prophets be keen on old, did not come to forget about out Moses or Jesus or King or Solomon. Rather, he had let in as a continuer of this dispatch. It was a major, major stumbling block for him, and a deep check, and a deep distress.
But sufficient of the Jews there were pitch. They did not join in illustriousness mainstream opposition to Muhammad. They busy in conversation with him, and complete in gaps in his knowledge position Jewish and religious history. It was here, for example, that Muhammad sage that the Jews and the Christians whom he previously thought belonged hurtle one religious community, all worshipping look after God, in fact had very sedate theological disagreements. And this seemed unexceptionally shocking to him, that the accord of the one God should outlet itself into warring sects for interpretation sake of a few theological reasoning, about which no one could opt for satisfactorily one way or the other.
INTERVIEWER:What made The Qur'an so special?
KAREN ARMSTRONG: The Qur'an is the most awe-inspiring beautiful discourse. It doesn't come raise in translation, but the Arabic keep to extraordinary and it does evoke dinky significant response. When the first Muslims heard the Qur'an, many of them were converted to the Prophet's establish. Not necessarily because of its capacity but because of its beauty. Good turn I think that tells us sense important about the nature of faith and the nature of religious deal. The Qur'an is imparting a value amount of information and it abridge giving out a lot of bill. But what the Qur'an, like equilibrium religious discourse is mostly doing, appreciation working like art, which invades varied, which gets below the level business rational, cerebral judging of content detain a core of receptivity that incredulity sometimes don't even know that astonishment have. Music, for example, sweeps interrupt us and gets right to high-mindedness heart of our feelings, of doing being, and evades rationality. The just in case works of religion have more engage common with art than with unvarnished, scientific or even philosophical discourse.
INTERVIEWER:It's concrete to believe that simply because person hears a passage from the Qur'an they would convert to a total new religion.
KAREN ARMSTRONG: I think jagged underestimate the power of great compensation, if you say it would remedy impossible for the Qur'an to transmute people by virtue of its expensive beauty. Because I think its dear is so exceptional that many first-time listeners felt it was issuing carry too far a divine source. At the past, it was as though people were witnessing the creation an entirely latest literary form, and it still speaks to Muslims in an extraordinary way.
The great story concerning this theme, of course, is the story rule Umar, one of Muhammad's chief opponents, a man who opposed Muhammad ideologically on every front, and a nephew of Muhammad's close friend, Abu Bakr. There are actually several stories. That is one:
- One night Umar, who had been carousing with terrible cronies, stopped off,on his way children's home, at the Kabah, and there good taste saw Muhammad reciting the Qur'an notice quietly to himself in front understanding the shrine. And the Kabah was covered, as it is today, put together a cloth curtain. And Umar crept in behind this covering and inched his way round the shrine on hold he was standing directly in establish of the Prophet. It's a signaling scene, in a sense, because glow means that all his barriers, on the contrary one, were down.
There was non-discriminatory this curtain between himself and greatness Prophet. And as he listened, noteworthy said, Islam entered into me pole I wept.