Saudi Arabia - Birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad

Muhammad as the Messenger of God

Saudi Arabia is, of course, best known as the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad.  In the past, the term Mohammedean was used to describe all Muslims, but this term is deemed to be highly offensive to Muslims, as it suggests that Islam is all about the worship of Muhammad, rather than submission to Allah.  I guess that Europeans and Americans, in the past, used the term Mohammedean as a linguistic parallel to terms such as Christian or Buddhist.  It's a very Western way of describing things and inadequate to explain Muhammad's role as a messenger of Allah.

Muhammad and the word of God

Having said that, from the point of view of a non-believer, I find Muhammad is pretty central to the development of the Islamic faith.  Leaving God to one side, what we have left is the word of God, passed on by Muhammad during his revelations and written down in the Qur'an (recitations) and, much later, recorded in the Hadiths (sayings) ascribed to Muhammad and written down in the centuries following his death.  Christians trying to understand the Qur'an would find a book that is completely different to the Bible - it doesn't have a narrative, as such, and it's certainly not a record of the life of Muhammad, in the way that the New Testament records the life of Jesus.  Non-Muslims and, more importantly, non-Arabic speakers, will struggle to understand the Qur'an.  The beauty of its message is contained in the words themselves.  The mercurial flexibility of the Arabic language and the hynoptic sound of the sutras when recited by those who believe, don't translate well!  Better to learn Arabic.

Muhammad the man

As there was no definitive account of Muhammad's life, what we know about Muhammad 'the man' has been obscured by the mists of time.  The first biography of Muhammad wasn't written until 767 CE, 135 years after his death.  We do know that he was born in Makka, around 570 CE and that he belonged to a tribe called the Quraish.  He married a wealthy widow called Khadija and travelled a lot between the Hejaz and Syria as a trader.  His travels brought him into contact with Christians and Jews and it is thought that he was influenced by the Christian anchorites (or hermits) and was inspired by them to withdraw to the desert on a tahannuth or retreat, which led to his first revelations on the true message of Allah.  A Christian monk called Bahira is believed to have foreseen Muhammad's destiny as a prophet of God.

The Night Journey

One of the most interesting parts of Muhammad's experience was his famous 'night journey'.  The first part of the journey, the Isra, sees him taken on a winged horse called Burag to Masjid Al-Aqsa, or 'the Furthest Mosque', believed to have been in Jerusalem.  In the second part, Mi'raj (which means ladder), he is taken to heaven where he meets the prophets Abraham, Moses and Jesus.  Some Muslims believe his journeys to have been actual physical journeys, others ascribe the event to a dream or trance brought on by his revelations.

The Hijra

Not surprisingly, perhaps, the people of Makka didn't believe a word of Muhammad's story about his 'night journey' and begin to resent his message of God, especially when he started to criticise the pagan beliefs of those around him.  Apart from Khadija, Muhammad also had a protector in Makka called Abu Talib.  When both Khadija and Abu Talib died within months of each other, Muhammad suddenly found himself being forced out of Makka and took his followers on the famous Hijra (migration) which brought him to the city of Medina, where he found refuge from his enemies and started plotting his return from exile.  The Islamic calendar is dated from the year of the Hijra, so that the current Islamic year is 1431 AH. 

A Tale of Two Cities and the Satanic verses

Muhammad found willing converts in Medina and ultimately led his followers out of exile and reconquered the lands of his ancestors.  The biggest obstacle Muhammad had faced with the people of Makka was their unrelenting belief in the pagan gods of the region.  Makka had long been a place of pilgrimage, in the pagan tradition, before it became a place of pilgrimage for Muslims.  The famous Satanic verses of Tabari claim that Muhammad compromised with the pagans of Makka and acknowledged the pagan goddesses al-Lat, al-Uzza and Manat.  Most Islamic scholars these days would take a different view and say that Muhammad was relentless in his efforts to rid Makka of its pagan beliefs.

Idolatry and depictions of Muhammad

One of the reasons Muslims believe that Muhammad (or indeed, any life form) should not be depicted in art stems from this desire to rid the Islamic tradition of idolatry.  Muhammad believed himself to be the messenger of God and didn't wish to be worshipped.  It's an interesting contrast with the Christian tradition that eventually came to accept the concept of the Holy Trinity - essentially worshipping Christ as a God and surely one of the biggest mistakes in the history of the Christian church.  I kind of appreciate the idea that Muhammad didn't want to distract people from the essence of their belief and the message of God.  It's such a contrast to my own upbringing, as a Catholic and all the depictions of Hindu gods that I researched during my learning about Rajasthan. 

Danish newspapers and freedom of speech

I'm sure most people will remember the controversy caused by the Danish newpaper Jyllands-Posten and their cartoonists' depictions of the Prophet Muhammad that caused uproar in the Muslim world in the months following September 2005, leading to an estimated 100 deaths in the riots that ensued, not to mention the torching of Danish and Norwegian embassies and a Saudi-led boycott of Danish goods.  Although I'm not religious, I think it's important to respect other people's religious beliefs and I honestly don't understand why the Danish and Norwegian newspapers (and those in other European countries) wanted to publish these cartoons that were so obviously offensive to Muslims.  Interestingly, the UK, Canada and the US were amongst those countries that didn't reprint the images in their national newspapers.  It's dangerous to get involved with other people's beliefs and, as far as depictions of Muhammad are concerned, I think Muslims are in the best position to decide what is or isn't appropriate. 

Image credits:

The images of Muhammad's name in Arabic and the 17th Mughal miniature depicting the Burag are both taken from Wikipedia and are in the public domain.

The photograph at the bottom was taken by me and is an unusual depiction of animals (Tigers chasing goats) which can be found on the Registan in Samarkand (Uzbekistan)

Rajasthan - The Book is the Word

Most major world religions are defined by their most sacred book.  Both the Bible and the Qur'an have high profiles and are known the world over.  The most sacred Hindu collection of scriptures - the Vedas are probably less well-known, at least in the West and, like Hinduism itself, pretty obscure in their origins.  In fact, as I've hinted at in the title of this blog, the book is the word in Hinduism, meaning its a mainly oral tradition.  The sacred texts weren't always written down, but learned by devotees and passed from generation to generation. 

In the eyes (and ears) of believers, the Vedas are sruti, meaning 'that which is revealed' and have a divine source, rather than human authors.  Secular and non-Hindu scholars have been obsessed with dating these scriptures and slotting them into an appropriate historical context but, in many ways, the source is irrelevant to Hindu scholars, as the word is divine and beyond definition or historical concepts.

As in many other traditions (including Ireland), there was a great reverence for the pandit or bard, who would learn, not only the sacred texts, but also the mythology of Hinduism and tell stories to the villagers, as a form of entertainment and enlightenment, after a hard day working in the fields.  Just like the Celtic bard, Hindu pandits are not only versed in literature and the story-telling tradition, but are usually accomplished musicians, music being an easy way to encode human experiences for generations to come.  In a more formalised system called Sampradaya, the ancient Hindu scriptures were 'remembered' in this way.

There is some debate over which texts are to be considered sruti and the importance of scriptures varies from one part of India to another.  Generally, all four collections of Vedas are considered to be sruti, including the Atharvaveda which is a book of Hindu spells and charms.  The Upanishads are also considered to be sruti and these are secret scriptures that are only taught by a sage to his disciple.  Both the Vedas and the Upanishads were 'revealed' in Sanskrit.

All other scriptures and stories are considered to be smriti or 'handed down/remembered'.  These are the ones that pandits would have recited to entertain their community and include the great Hindu epics, such as the Mahabharata, Bhagavad-gita and Ramayana.  I'm sure the Mahabharata would have been a favourite of the kshatriya or warrior caste, as it deals with an ancient conflict between the Kauravas and Pandavas.  The Bhagavad-gita is considered to be part of the Mahabharata and tells about the life of Lord Krishna.  It's a book that was in my parents' house, as a child and perhaps raised my 'Hindu consciousness' somewhat, with its beautiful pictures and potent symbolism.  Most of all I want to read the Ramayana and perhaps I'll have time to do this, next time I blog about India.  It's a fairly classical story, dealing with the essential Hindu concept of dharma and I'll try to summarise as follows:

Boy (Rama) meets girl (Sita).  Boy is cheated out of his kingdom by wicked step-mother (Kaikeyi).  Boy, girl and boy's best friend (Lakhsmana) head off to the forest for a big adventure.  Girl gets kidnapped by bad guy (Ravana), who is also somewhat of a handsome rebel!  Boy enlists the help of the monkey-king (Hanuman), defeats bad guy, wins back girl and returns in triumph to reclaim his kingdom. 

All pretty standard stuff?  This is where it gets complicated!  Through a heavily symbolic ordeal by fire, Sita manages to convince Rama that she hasn't been violated by Ravana and is as virginal as the day he met her.  Rama believes her and affirms his love by taking her as his wife.  Unfortunately the people in his kingdom can't accept Sita's version of events and Rama banishes her once more to the forest, despite the fact that she is pregnant with twin boys.  It's a clear message of dharma (duty) above all else.  Despite being in love with Sita and going through so many ordeals to win her back, Rama has to sacrifice his love to keep peace in his kingdom.  There are many interesting variations on this theme - some of them painting Ravana as a hero, others telling the story from Sita's point of view. 

I'm following some people from India on Twitter and there's been a lot of chatter in the past few weeks about the new movie Raavan which, interestingly, interprets aspects of the Ramayana for a modern audience, although with more guns and car chases than the original, I would imagine!

Other smriti scriptures include the sutras and puranas.  The sutras are a collection of aphorisms and statements related to concepts such as dharma, yoga etc.  The puranas are mythological stories of Hindu gods, avatars and incarnations.

I often see people reading either the Bible or the Qur'an on my daily commute to work.  After learning about the sacred Hindu texts, I suddenly found myself being more aware of the existence of the vedas and, lo and behold, on my way to work I saw an Indian woman reading, what looked like, a sacred Hindu book.  Although I couldn't quite see the title of the book, I knew it was sacred by the gilded pages and the ornate lettering at the beginning of the chapter she was reading.  I was feeling quite pleased with myself and immensely clever, until the train arrived and she closed the book, revealing its title: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix!  Ah well, I guess it's an epic of sorts!

Credits:

The picture of Rama and Sita on the throne was taken from Wikimedia Commons.  It's in the public domain and copyright free.

The illustration from the Bhagavan Gita Chapter 18, Verse 78 was provided copyright free by flickruser ISKCON desire tree on behalf of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (more popularly known as the Hare Krishnas). 

I owe a lot of the research I did on this topic to a book called Hinduism:  A Very Short Introduction by Kim Knott.  I've used a book in this series before and I absolutely love these books, which are published by Oxford University Press and immensely readable, without losing the essence of a topic.