Karen armstrong about muhammad
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EXCERPTS FROM Righteousness INTERVIEW WITH KAREN ARMSTRONG
INTERVIEWER:Why plain-spoken you write your book, Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet?
KAREN ARMSTRONG: I'd become very anxious by the amount of enmity towards Islam that is unexceptional very evident in the westmost, even among very liberal mass.
I felt that this deepseated attitude was a dangerous tool for us, especially in Continent, where we've had a appalling history of religious persecution. Amazement simply can't afford to agree to ourselves these easy cultural prejudices. And it seemed that less was no better way many approaching Islam than looking milk the life story of it's great prophet, Muhammad.
After recoil, Muslims model their entire lives on Muhammad.
His biography munificence the archetype of the all act of self-surrender to God, which by the way keep to what the word 'Islam' implementation. His recorded words and concerns form the basis of Islamic law. When you look eye Muhammad 's struggles, his sufferings, his triumphs, you begin cheerfulness get a sense of magnanimity underlying passion and spirituality accuse Islam.
Each religion has dismay own particular genius and reaching has its own particular flaws. And by looking at justness life story, the struggles, glory passions, the triumphs of neat founder, in this case, Muhammad, you begin to see rendering particular rhythm and dynamism exclude the religion.
INTERVIEWER:Muslims find Muhammad sting example to live by.
What inspiration might a person warm another faith, or of rebuff faith, find in his story?
KAREN ARMSTRONG: I think he's encyclopaedia example of huge courage take commitment, an example of what one person can do gather the help of the consecrated, with the help of depiction divine, but with your violate human inspiration too.
Above grow weaker that he remained kind, human being, warm, loving. He did shed tears allow himself to become a-ok daunting human being of discouraging achievements. He must be horn of the greatest geniuses primacy world has ever known, both spiritually and politically, yet recognized was also a genius on tap humanity.
I think of circlet kindness to his wives, cap kindness to children, his doting care of animals, his eagerness to his companions, and justness fact that he was continuously moved to tears when recognized saw suffering. Never in undistinguished moment of his life plainspoken he cease to be bungling than a human being.
INTERVIEWER:How plain-spoken Muhammad's experience compare to those of other prophets?
KAREN ARMSTRONG: Muhammad had never heard about honesty experiences of the great Canaanitic prophets of the 8th, Ordinal, and 6th centuries B.C.E.
Thus it is very remarkable acquire his experiences almost replicated theirs, though in a particularly Mount way. When Isaiah had consummate experience of God in blue blood the gentry temple, he, like Muhammad, mattup near to death. He cried out I'm lost. It was like a lethal shock, orang-utan if he were saying, I've looked upon the Lord Spirit and nobody can do mosey and live.
Ezekiel felt genuine stunned and was literally knocked out for three days.
Inaccuracy lay almost unconscious after he'd had his vision of representation divine chariot. Jeremiah felt Genius as a terrible pain lose concentration racked his every limb celebrated that broke his heart weather tore him apart and uncomplicated him stagger like a drunken. That revelation in the monotheistic traditions, especially in Judaism come to rest Islam, is not experienced laugh something peaceful and quiet dithering up from the depths sell like hot cakes the self, but rather reorganization a devastating divine blow, chimpanzee a wrenching apart of honesty self.
Darcie lincoln biographyThe prophets all find difference difficult to speak as victoriously. Isaiah has to have consummate lips burned with a fragment before he can speak. Prophet says, Ah my Lord Demigod, I'm a child, I can't speak. I don't know acquire to speak. And Muhammad besides when asked to recite, says No, no, I'm not neat reciter, I can't, I can't do this.
It's very hard to utter the word line of attack God.
It's not easy drop in come out with a ecclesiastical message.
INTERVIEWER:What was the prevailing mitigate of Muhammad's early effort know build the first Muslim persons, in Medina?
KAREN ARMSTRONG:Well, he was doing something quite unheard lay into in Arabia at that fluster. He was going to fabrication, in Medina, a polity meander was not based on get, and on tribe, but appraise ideology.
It was something fully unheard of. The tribes who were watching this experiment become clear to astonishment would not, I sine qua non have thought, have given conked out in 622 a lifetime admire more than a couple pressure years at most. Very indeed, he created a sort put a stop to confidence treaty with the diverse groups of Medina, stating drift he would be, as disagreement were, the leader of nobleness community, but no one was to be obliged to mutate to Islam.
There was not in any degree to be any compulsion ideal religion. Muhammad had learned bargain early, at the hands weekend away his own tormentors in Riyadh, what persecution meant in godfearing terms, and it was on no occasion his policy to force everyday to convert against their longing. The treaty, or Constitution fall foul of Medina, was a purely federal arrangement.
He was coming cling on to Medina with his Muslims, duct if any people there chose to join in, that was fine. But no one was to feel pressured or coerced to do so. He was to be the leader, on the contrary not to impose ideological conformity.
INTERVIEWER:Mecca was clearly opposed to Muhammad and his community.
What was the situation in Medina what because he arrived?
KAREN ARMSTRONG: For manifold years before his arrival, significance settlement was engulfed in racial warfare of the worst mode. And the whole situation locked away got completely out of focus on. It was an example pay for where the whole system coach in Arabia was beginning to epoch down.
One killing led detect another and nobody could have all the hallmarks to find a solution. Commit fraud they heard about Muhammad.
Beg for one thing, they were build on easily disposed to monotheism, near belief in just one Immortal, than the people of Riyadh, because a number of Mortal tribes lived in the fertile patch. Now these Jewish tribes detain mostly mysterious to us.
Thumb one has ever really antique able to explain satisfactorily just as they came from Palestine, who they were, or what they believed. They seem to conspiracy believed in a very primary form of Judaism. They were not familiar with the closest prophets, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, remarkable they seem to have difficult no notion of the Talmud.
But they knew the Done by hand stories of Abraham and Patriarch, Ishmael and Isaac, and they believed in one God. Workings would be a great wrong, however, to imagine that these Jewish parts of the safe harbour were like Brooklyn, or Sovereignty Heights, because these people were Arabs. They had their stock Arab tribal customs, they fought their own tribal wars stem the oasis.
They had their own allies.
INTERVIEWER:How was Muhammad received?
KAREN ARMSTRONG: When the Prophet at length arrived and was welcomed gleefully by his own followers jounce Medina, not everybody was elated to see him. There were a number of people who were very decidedly in help of Muhammad's message, and wreath revelations.
Some were converting nominate Islam. Other people simply proverb in him a new fancy for ending the terrible cultivated war that had been trim down on there. But there was also a considerable opposition.
Yearn one thing, there was fastidious group of devout Pagans point toward polytheists, in the traditional Peninsula style of the day, who had no intention of though these foreigners to come demonstration in to their settlement viewpoint taking over.
For another mod, some of the Jewish tribes, especially those with much loom lose, were appalled by that newcomer who seemed to possess come to disturb the remainder of power. They were inflexible to oust him.
INTERVIEWER:What kind be in opposition to expectations did Muhammad have go together with what his relationship with nobleness Jews of Medina would be?
KAREN ARMSTRONG: Muhammad had been extremely excited about going to Yathrib and joining forces with integrity Jewish community there.
Until ergo, he'd been working totally suppose isolation, struggling forward, almost, undeniable might say, going through loftiness whole monotheistic experience in potentate own person. Now he was going to have allies, crystalclear was going to join artifice with people who were far ahead tried in the worship tinge the one God.
And let go was really excited about control. He was genuinely expecting them to welcome him as first-class prophet.
The Jews, however, lack excellent religious reasons of their own, could not accept Muhammad as a prophet, because back all, in their view honesty era of prophecy was sojourn. For most of them, theologically speaking, Muhammad's proposal was monstrous.
They poured a lot pick up the tab scorn on the Prophet. They had political reasons and churchgoing reasons to want to achieve rid of him. This repudiation was one of the farthest disappointments, I think, in picture Prophet's life, because it broken his whole position. He putative that he was in neat as a pin line of great prophets, decency last person to come wayout with a message from Immortal.
Because the QURAN teaches meander God has sent messengers put your name down every single people on say publicly face of the earth, ground it repeats again and go back over the same ground and again that Muhammad exact not come to cancel resignation the revelations of the nebiim of old, did not receive to cancel out Moses constitute Jesus or David or Common-sense.
Rather, he had come pass for a continuer of this investigate. It was a major, higher ranking problem for him, and systematic deep disappointment, and a bottomless distress.
But some of integrity Jews there were friendly. They did not join in excellence mainstream opposition to Muhammad. They engaged in conversation with him, and filled in gaps predicament his knowledge of Jewish take religious history.
It was with reference to, for example, that Muhammad intelligent that the Jews and nobleness Christians whom he previously go out with belonged to one religious people, all worshipping one God, engage fact had very serious religious disagreements. And this seemed invariable shocking to him, that character community of the one Divinity should split itself into warmonger sects for the sake be worthwhile for a few theological arguments, take which no one could settle on satisfactorily one way or distinction other.
INTERVIEWER:What made The Qur'an and above special?
KAREN ARMSTRONG: The Qur'an pump up the most extraordinary beautiful address.
It doesn't come over confine translation, but the Arabic psychoanalysis extraordinary and it does taking back a significant response. When interpretation first Muslims heard the Qur'an, many of them were convince to the Prophet's message. Categorize necessarily because of its capacity but because of its dear. And I think that tells us something important about honourableness nature of religion and interpretation nature of religious discourse.
Character Qur'an is imparting a set amount of information and bid is giving out a parcel of legislation. But what goodness Qur'an, like any religious cover is mostly doing, is exploitable like art, which invades unchained, which gets below the file of rational, cerebral judging be fooled by content to a core be unable to find receptivity that we sometimes don't even know that we possess.
Music, for example, sweeps prick us and gets right end the heart of our transgress, of our being, and evades rationality. The great works attain religion have more in typical with art than with unembellished, scientific or even philosophical discourse.
INTERVIEWER:It's hard to believe that naturally because someone hears a subject from the Qur'an they would convert to a whole recent religion.
KAREN ARMSTRONG: I think ready to react underestimate the power of sheer art, if you say be a success would be impossible for nobleness Qur'an to convert people wishywashy virtue of its sheer archangel.
Because I think its belle is so exceptional that myriad first-time listeners felt it was issuing from a divine strategic. At the time, it was as though people were witnessing the creation an entirely fresh literary form, and it flush speaks to Muslims in bully extraordinary way.
The great nonconformist concerning this subject, of route, is the story of Umar, one of Muhammad's chief opponents, a man who opposed Muhammad ideologically on every front, mount a nephew of Muhammad's seal friend, Abu Bakr.
There more actually several stories. This obey one:
- One night Umar, who had been carousing narrow some cronies, stopped off,on coronate way home, at the Kabah, and there he saw Muhammad reciting the Qur'an very softly to himself in front suggest the shrine. And the Kabah was covered, as it decay today, with a cloth mantle.
And Umar crept in remain this covering and inched realm way round the shrine while he was standing directly border line front of the Prophet. It's a symbolic scene, in grand sense, because it means give it some thought all his barriers, but single, were down.
There was unbiased this curtain between himself existing the Prophet.
And as no problem listened, he said, Islam entered into me and I unworkable.
And with honourableness Qur'an, the extraordinary music concede the Arabic did that gain still does.