Mohammed and Islam

At about the age of forty Mohammed, sitting meditating in a cave in the mountains, became enlightened. Another three years were to pass before Mohammed started teaching but when he did start preaching, his words carried something of the mystery that all true religion needs to touch. It didn’t go down well with his fellow people in Mecca and he struggled. But those early years of teaching in Mecca were amongst Mohammed’s finest, his most mystical, his most religious.

After a while he moved to Medina and there continued teaching, but his energy took a slightly different turn, a very unusual one for an enlightened master. He began to become involved in politics, he wanted to unite the warring tribes of Arabia with religion as the foundation for society. It was a remarkable move, no enlightened master had tried anything like it before. To bring it about Mohammed became involved in every aspect of social life. By the time he finally died his dream of a unified Islamic Society was well on its way. He has been criticised, particularly by Christians, for indulging in warfare, and that is indeed a strange thing for an enlightened one to become involved in. Strange or not, Mohammed did lead armies into war but that was only a small part of his activities, he spent much more energy trying to put in place a system of social laws, a structure founded on religion and a belief in God.

The fruit of all Mohammed’s efforts – Islam – has become one of the world’s great religions. More than any other it tries to address head on the interaction between religious life and secular, political, social life. This is not an easy thing to do, and it is unclear whether Islam has really succeeded in this regard, but it is a bold affirmation of the fact that our spirituality underlies every aspect of our life, including ultimately the large scale interactions of society. This is what Islam is acknowledging and it was Mohammed who appreciated that most fully and tried to build a religious society.

I’ll leave you to judge whether it has been a success or failure, but in any case it was something that had to be tried, had to be explored by humanity.