Defending the Christian Faith in Conversation with Islam — Unit 2: The Origins of Islam and the Life of Muhammad

Key Verse

"Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world." (1 John 4:1, NKJV)

Learning Objectives

When you finish this unit, you should be able to:

1. Describe what Muslims believe about Muhammad in a way a Muslim would recognize as fair.

2. Tell the main events of Muhammad's life as the traditional Islamic sources report them.

3. Name the main sources for Muhammad's life (the Qur'an, Ibn Ishaq through Ibn Hisham, al-Tabari and the hadith collections) and say roughly when each was written.

4. Explain the time gap between Muhammad's life and the written accounts of it, and why historians care about that gap.

5. Summarize the main questions historians raise about these sources.

6. Speak about Muhammad with honesty and with respect, in the spirit of 1 Peter 3:15.

Why Begin with Muhammad?

Every religion rests on a story about how it began. For Christians, that story centers on Jesus of Nazareth: His life, death and resurrection in the first century. For Muslims, the story centers on Muhammad, a man from the Arabian city of Mecca who lived from about 570 to 632 after Christ. Muslims believe God (in Arabic, Allah) spoke through him and gave him the Qur'an, the holy book of Islam.

A pastor who wants to answer Islamic claims must know this story. Muslim friends and neighbours will often speak of Muhammad with deep love. Some Muslim preachers will also say that the history of Muhammad is perfectly clear and certain, while the history of Jesus is confused and corrupted. To respond wisely, we must know what Muslims believe, what the sources actually say, and how old those sources are.

This unit has two goals. First, we will listen. We will describe Muhammad's life the way the Islamic tradition describes it. Second, we will think. We will ask the same kind of historical questions about these sources that sceptics ask about the Bible. The Apostle John tells us to "test the spirits" (1 John 4:1). Testing is not insulting. It is simply asking whether a claim is true.

What Muslims Believe About Muhammad

Muslims do not worship Muhammad. This is important. Islam teaches that Muhammad was a man, not God and not a son of God. Muslims are offended when outsiders call them "Muhammadans," because the name suggests that they worship him the way Christians worship Christ. The Qur'an says, "Muhammad is but a messenger, messengers (the like of whom) have passed away before him" (Qur'an 3:144, Pickthall).

At the same time, Muslims give Muhammad the highest honour of any human being. Here are the main beliefs most Muslims hold about him:

• He is the last prophet. The Qur'an calls him "the messenger of Allah and the Seal of the Prophets" (Qur'an 33:40, Pickthall). Most Muslims understand "Seal" to mean that no prophet will come after him.

• He received the Qur'an, word for word, from God through the angel Gabriel (in Arabic, Jibril) over about 23 years.

• He brought the same basic message as earlier prophets such as Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses and Jesus: worship the one God alone. Muslims therefore say Islam is not a new religion but the original faith of all the prophets.

• His life and example, called the Sunnah (the "way" or "custom" of the Prophet), show Muslims how to pray, wash, eat, marry, trade and govern. We will study the Sunnah in Unit 3.

• Most Muslims believe he was protected by God from serious sin, and they see him as the best model of human conduct.

When Muslims say or write Muhammad's name, they usually add "peace be upon him." This shows how deeply they love and honour him. A Christian who speaks of Muhammad carelessly or with mockery will quickly lose the trust of a Muslim listener. We must be truthful, but we must never be cruel.

The Life of Muhammad in the Traditional Account

What follows is the story as the Islamic sources tell it. Most Muslims accept it as accurate. Later in the unit we will ask how much of it historians can confirm.

Mecca: Birth, Youth and Marriage

Muhammad was born in Mecca, in western Arabia, around the year 570. Mecca was a trading town and a place of pilgrimage. At its center stood the Kaaba, a cube-shaped shrine that, according to the sources, then held many idols worshipped by the Arab tribes. Muhammad belonged to the powerful tribe of Quraysh, which controlled Mecca, and to the clan of Hashim within it.

His early life was marked by loss. His father, Abdullah, died before he was born. His mother, Amina, died when he was about six. He was raised first by his grandfather, Abd al-Muttalib, and then by his uncle, Abu Talib. As a young man he worked in the caravan trade and earned a reputation for honesty.

At about age 25 he married Khadija, a wealthy widow who had employed him in her business. The sources say she was older than he was. Their marriage lasted about 25 years, until her death, and while she lived he took no other wife.

The First Revelation

Muhammad often went alone to a cave on Mount Hira, near Mecca, to pray and reflect. Around the year 610, when he was about 40, Muslims believe the angel Gabriel appeared to him there and commanded him to recite. The first words revealed, according to the tradition, are the opening of Sura 96: "Read: In the name of thy Lord Who createth" (Qur'an 96:1, Pickthall). A sura is a chapter of the Qur'an, and an ayah is a verse. So "Qur'an 96:1" means chapter 96, verse 1.

The sources report that this first experience frightened Muhammad. The hadith collection of al-Bukhari says he returned home trembling and asked Khadija to cover him. He was afraid that something was wrong with him. Khadija comforted him and took him to her cousin Waraqa ibn Nawfal, a Christian, who told him that he had received the same kind of message that came to Moses. Muslims see this as confirmation of his call. Christians may note that Muhammad's own first response was fear and uncertainty about the source of the experience. We will not build too much on this, but it is part of the record the Muslim sources themselves preserve.

Preaching and Opposition in Mecca

For about twelve years Muhammad preached in Mecca. His message was simple and strong: there is only one God; idols are false; a day of judgment is coming; God commands care for the poor and the orphan. A small group believed him, including Khadija, his young cousin Ali, his friend Abu Bakr and a freed slave named Zayd.

Most of the leaders of Quraysh rejected him. His message threatened their gods and also the pilgrim trade that brought money to the city. Some of the weaker believers were persecuted, and a group of them fled across the Red Sea to the Christian kingdom of Abyssinia (Ethiopia), where the Christian king gave them protection. African pastors may find it meaningful that one of the first places of refuge for early Muslims was a Christian kingdom in Africa.

Around 619 Muhammad suffered two great losses. Both Khadija and his uncle Abu Talib died. Abu Talib had protected him as head of the clan. Without that protection, Muhammad's position in Mecca became dangerous.

The Hijra and Medina

In 622 Muhammad and his followers moved to the town of Yathrib, about 350 kilometres north of Mecca. The town came to be called Medina, "the city" of the Prophet. This move is called the Hijra (migration). It is so important that the Islamic calendar begins with it.

In Medina, Muhammad's role changed. In Mecca he had been a preacher with few followers and no power. In Medina he became the leader of a community, a judge, a lawgiver and a military commander. The sources describe a series of battles with the Meccans, including Badr (624), Uhud (625) and the Battle of the Trench (627). They also describe conflict with the Jewish tribes of Medina. Two tribes were expelled, and after the Battle of the Trench the sources report that the men of the tribe of Banu Qurayza were executed. These accounts come from Muslim historians, not from enemies of Islam.

Return to Mecca and Death

In 628 Muhammad made a treaty with Quraysh at a place called Hudaybiyya. In 630 he entered Mecca with a large force, and the city surrendered with little fighting. The idols in the Kaaba were destroyed, and the Kaaba became the center of Islamic worship. By the time of his death, many of the tribes of Arabia had submitted to his rule.

Muhammad died in Medina in 632, at about 62 years of age. His followers then chose leaders called caliphs (successors): Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Ali. Within a hundred years Arab Muslim armies had conquered lands from Spain to Central Asia, including Egypt and North Africa, which had been Christian regions for centuries.

Two Founders, Two Kinds of Mission

The contrast between Jesus and Muhammad must begin with their own lives, not with what later followers did. Jesus preached the kingdom of God, taught openly, called people to repent, healed the sick, suffered at the hands of His enemies and allowed Himself to be crucified. He had disciples, not an army to establish His authority. When one of His disciples drew a sword at His arrest, Jesus told him to put it away (Matthew 26:52; John 18:10-11), and before Pilate He said that His kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36). These are not small details. They show the character of His mission. The apostles spread the message by preaching and by enduring opposition, not by commanding conquered peoples to accept Christ.

In the traditional Muslim accounts, Muhammad was more than a preacher. After the Hijra he governed a community in Medina, made treaties, judged disputes and led military campaigns. Badr, Uhud, the Trench, Hudaybiyya and the return to Mecca are all part of that history. Muslims usually understand his actions in their seventh-century Arabian setting. They point to persecution, war, broken treaties and the need to protect the community, and they honour his conduct as a model for faithful life. Christians should understand these explanations first, before judging whether the two founders give the same example.

This comparison is about faith and history. It is not an invitation to despise Muslims. Christians believe that God has spoken most fully in Jesus Christ (Hebrews 1:1-3). So the church measures its own faithfulness by Christ's teaching, not by everything done in the church's name. In the same way, we should judge claims about Muhammad from sources read carefully, not by assuming that every later Muslim represents him.

The Sources: What We Know and How We Know It

Now we ask the historian's question: how do we know all this? The answer surprises many people, including many Muslims. Almost all the details of Muhammad's life come from writings produced long after his death.

The Qur'an

Muslims believe the Qur'an is the very word of God, revealed to Muhammad and memorized and written by his companions. The tradition says it was gathered into one official text under the third caliph, Uthman, around 650. We will study this process in Unit 3.

For our purpose here, the key point is that the Qur'an tells us very little about Muhammad's life. It is not a biography. It names Muhammad only four times (Qur'an 3:144, 33:40, 47:2 and 48:29). It often speaks of events without explaining them, such as "a battle" or "a city," without giving names, dates or places. To understand what a verse is talking about, Muslims usually depend on later writings that explain the background. So even the Qur'an, for the story of Muhammad, leads us back to the later sources.

Ibn Ishaq and Ibn Hisham

The most important early biography of Muhammad is the Sira (life of the Prophet) written by Muhammad ibn Ishaq, who died around 767. That is more than a century after Muhammad's death. Even more important, Ibn Ishaq's original work has not survived as a complete book. We know it mainly through an edited version made by a later scholar, Ibn Hisham, who died around 833, about two hundred years after Muhammad.

Ibn Hisham himself tells us that he left out parts of Ibn Ishaq's material, including some things he thought were improper or might offend people. Other parts of Ibn Ishaq survive only as quotations in other writers, especially al-Tabari. So the oldest full biography of Muhammad that we have is an edited version of a lost book, written by men who never saw him.

Al-Tabari

Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari, who died in 923, was a great Muslim scholar in Baghdad. He wrote a huge History of the Prophets and Kings and a large commentary on the Qur'an. He collected many reports about Muhammad, often giving several different versions of the same event, each with its own chain of reporters.

Al-Tabari was honest about his method. He said that he passed on reports as he received them, and that if a reader found something objectionable, the fault lay with those who reported it, not with him. In other words, even this great collector did not claim that every report he recorded was true. And he wrote nearly three hundred years after Muhammad.

The Hadith Collections

A hadith (plural ahadith, though English usually says "hadith" for both) is a report of something Muhammad said or did, or approved by his silence. Each hadith has two parts: the isnad, the chain of people who passed it on ("A told me that B told him that C heard the Prophet say..."), and the matn, the actual content.

Thousands of such reports circulated in the early Islamic world. Muslim scholars themselves knew that many were invented. People made up hadith to support their party, their school of law or their personal views. To deal with this problem, Muslim scholars developed a careful science of judging hadith, mainly by examining the chains of reporters. They graded hadith as sahih (sound), hasan (good) or da'if (weak), among other categories.

The two most respected collections among Sunni Muslims are those of al-Bukhari (died 870) and Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj (died 875). The tradition says al-Bukhari examined a very large number of reports and accepted only a small fraction of them as sound. Muslims honour him for this care. But his work also shows how many reports were in circulation that even Muslim scholars rejected. These collections were completed more than two hundred years after Muhammad's death.

How Late Are the Sources?

Here is a simple way to see the time gap. Muhammad died in 632.

• The official text of the Qur'an, according to Islamic tradition: about 20 years later (around 650). But it contains very little biography.

• Ibn Ishaq's biography: written over a century later (he died around 767), and now known mainly through Ibn Hisham.

• Ibn Hisham's edition: about 200 years later (he died around 833).

• The hadith collections of al-Bukhari and Muslim: more than 200 years later (870 and 875).

• Al-Tabari's history: nearly 300 years later (he died in 923).

A few non-Muslim writings from the 630s and 640s do mention Arab conquerors and speak of a prophet among them. These are valuable, but they are short and give very few details. For the story of Muhammad's life, we depend almost entirely on the later Muslim sources.

Questions Historians Raise

Scholars of early Islam disagree about how much of the traditional story can be trusted. Some Western scholars are deeply sceptical and believe much of it was shaped by later needs. Others believe the basic outline (Mecca, the Hijra, Medina, the conquest of Mecca) is broadly reliable, even if many details are uncertain. Muslim scholars generally trust the sound reports. As Christian pastors, we do not need to settle every scholarly debate. But we should understand the main questions.

• The time gap. The detailed accounts were written down between one and three centuries after the events. During that time, memories could be lost, changed or added to.

• Invented reports. Muslim scholars admit that many hadith were fabricated. The chain of reporters can be checked, but a chain can also be invented. A careful science helps, but it cannot remove every doubt.

• Stories that explain verses. Because many Qur'an verses are unclear without background, later storytellers and commentators supplied the background. Historians ask whether some stories were created to explain a verse rather than remembered from real events.

• Political and religious interests. The sources were written under the Abbasid rulers, in a time of conflict between groups such as the early Sunni and Shia parties. Each group had reasons to tell the story in a way that supported its leaders.

• Conflicting versions. Al-Tabari and others often record several versions of the same event that do not agree with one another.

We should notice something important. These questions are not invented by enemies of Islam. Many of them come from the Muslim scholars themselves, who worked hard to separate true reports from false ones. We can respect their effort while recognizing the difficulty.

Hard Questions About Muhammad: Sources, Not Rumours

Many Christians have heard hard claims about Muhammad's life in sermons, videos or phone messages. A faithful pastor must not repeat rumours, and he must not pretend that hard reports do not exist. The rule is simple: tie every claim to a named source, and say exactly what that source reports. Many of the hardest reports come from Sahih al-Bukhari, the collection most Sunni Muslims trust more than any other book except the Qur'an. So the question is not what enemies of Islam say, but what Islam's own trusted books record.

One example is the age of Aisha at her marriage. Sahih al-Bukhari 5134 (Book of Marriage) contains a report, passed on from Aisha, that the Prophet married her when she was six and that the marriage was consummated when she was nine. Muslims respond in different ways. Many accept the report and say it must be judged by the customs of seventh-century Arabia. Some modern Muslim writers argue from other reports that she was older. A careful pastor states the report accurately, notes these responses, and adds nothing to it.

A second example is the Jewish tribe of Banu Qurayza in Medina, mentioned above. Here we must keep the Qur'an's own words apart from the later reports. The Qur'an speaks of "those of the People of the Scripture" who supported the enemy and says, "Some ye slew, and ye made captive some" (Qur'an 33:26, Pickthall). It does not name the tribe; Muslim commentators identify these people as Banu Qurayza. The details come from the hadith and the biographies. Sahih al-Bukhari 4121 (Book of Military Expeditions) reports that Sa'd ibn Mu'adh judged that their fighting men should be killed and their families taken captive, and that Muhammad said Sa'd had judged with God's judgment. The later biographies give different numbers of men killed, so we should not state a number as certain. Muslims usually explain the event as the punishment of treason in time of war.

Why study these things at all? Because the Qur'an calls Muhammad "a good example" for believers (Qur'an 33:21, Pickthall), and Muslims honour him as the best model of human life. It is fair to compare that example with the example of Jesus, who told Peter to put away his sword (Matthew 26:52), taught His followers to love their enemies (Matthew 5:44), and gave His own life rather than take the lives of others. We must also be honest that Christians have done terrible things in Christ's name. Those acts are judged by Jesus' teaching, not excused. The same fair standard applies to both.

A word about your safety and your witness. These are subjects for the pastor's study and for quiet, accurate answers to sincere questions. Do not use these reports to provoke, mock or shame Muslims, especially in public or online. Consider local law and personal safety, and discuss sensitive material only where it serves a genuine pastoral or educational purpose. In many places, words heard as insulting the Prophet have led to violence, arrest or loss of work, and they close hearts that might have listened. If a friend asks you honestly, answer briefly and truthfully, and then turn to Jesus: "Whatever we conclude about these reports, I want you to see the One I follow."

Before you repeat or answer any hard claim about Muhammad, ask four questions:

• Does the claim come from the Qur'an, a named hadith, or a later biography?

• How do Muslim scholars judge that report?

• Is it about Muhammad himself, or about a later ruler?

• Are we speaking of one person, of Islamic law, or of what millions of Muslims believe today?

For further reading, Qureshi's No God but One: Allah or Jesus? (2016) compares Muhammad and Jesus as founders.

Conquest Is Not the Same Thing as Conversion

The spread of Muslim rule after Muhammad's death is not the same thing as Muhammad's own military career. The early caliphs ruled over conquests far beyond Arabia, but a land brought under Muslim government did not become a land of Muslim believers overnight. In many regions large Christian and other communities remained for generations. Islamic law developed rules of protection, taxation and limited rights for non-Muslims, including the jizya, a tax paid by non-Muslims under Muslim rule (Qur'an 9:29). These arrangements varied from place to place and were often unequal. Qur'an 2:256 says, "There is no compulsion in religion" (Pickthall). Both this verse and 9:29 must be considered, together with how Muslim scholars have explained them.

A careful lesson separates four questions. What did Muhammad do in his lifetime? What did later caliphs do? What rules did later teachers of Islamic law draw from the sources? What do particular Muslims believe and practise today? The answers are not the same. Christians have also had states, armies, laws that forced belief, and shameful persecutions. Those wrongs must be judged by the teaching of Jesus, not excused because the people who did them were baptized. The comparison is stronger when it is honest about both traditions.

Comparing the Sources for Jesus

Muslim preachers sometimes say that the Bible is unreliable because it was written long after Jesus. It is fair, and helpful, to compare the time gaps. We will study the New Testament's reliability in detail in Unit 9, so here we give only an outline.

Jesus was crucified around AD 30 or 33. The Apostle Paul's letters were written within about 20 to 30 years of that time. In 1 Corinthians 15:3-8, Paul passes on a summary of the gospel that he himself had received, which most scholars, including sceptical ones, date to within a few years of the crucifixion. The four Gospels were written within the lifetime of people who had seen Jesus, roughly 30 to 65 years after His death. Luke tells us he carefully investigated what was handed down by "those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word" (Luke 1:2, NKJV).

So the earliest Christian sources stand much closer to Jesus than the earliest detailed biographies stand to Muhammad. This does not by itself prove that Christianity is true. But it does mean a Muslim cannot fairly reject the Gospels because they are "too late" while trusting sources about Muhammad that are much later. We ask only for one fair standard, applied to both.

Nabeel Qureshi, whose story we met in Unit 1, described how he studied the evidence for Jesus and also examined the sources on Muhammad and the Qur'an. Qureshi argued that when both sets of sources are tested honestly by the same historical methods, the case for the death, resurrection and deity of Jesus stands firm. His books are recommended for further reading.

How a Pastor Should Use This Knowledge

Knowledge can be used to build bridges or to burn them. The goal of this unit is not to give you weapons for insulting Muhammad. Peter tells us to give a defence of our hope "with meekness and fear" (1 Peter 3:15, NKJV). Here are some guidelines.

First, speak accurately. Do not repeat rumours or stories you cannot support. If you misrepresent Islam, a Muslim will rightly stop trusting you. It is better to say less and be correct.

Second, ask questions rather than make attacks. Instead of saying, "Your sources are worthless," you might ask, "How do we know what Muhammad said? When were these reports written down? How do Muslim scholars decide which ones are true?" Honest questions invite honest thinking.

Third, keep Jesus at the center. Our main task is not to tear down Muhammad but to point to Christ. The most important contrast is not between two biographies but between two persons. Muhammad became a ruler and military leader. Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world" (John 18:36, NKJV), and He laid down His life for His enemies.

Fourth, test every message by God's Word. Paul warned the Galatians that even if "an angel from heaven" preached another gospel than the one they had received, they must not accept it (Galatians 1:8, NKJV). Christians therefore cannot accept a message simply because it is said to come from an angel. The test is whether it agrees with the gospel of Jesus Christ already revealed. We will see in later units that the Qur'an denies the deity of Christ and His crucifixion, which stand at the heart of the apostolic gospel.

Fifth, think of safety. In some places, public criticism of Muhammad can put you, your church and Muslim converts in danger. Wisdom does not mean silence about the truth, but it does mean choosing the right time, place and words. Personal conversation in a home is often wiser than public argument in the market.

Summary

Muslims honour Muhammad as the last and greatest prophet, a man and not God, who received the Qur'an from God through the angel Gabriel. The traditional account says he was born in Mecca around 570, received his first revelation around 610, moved to Medina in 622, and became a religious, political and military leader before his death in 632. Almost all the details of this story come from sources written long after his death: the Sira of Ibn Ishaq (died around 767), known mainly through Ibn Hisham (died around 833); the hadith collections of al-Bukhari and Muslim (870 and 875); and the history of al-Tabari (died 923). The Qur'an itself gives very little biography. Historians, including Muslim scholars, raise serious questions about invented reports, late dates, conflicting versions and later interests. By comparison, the New Testament sources about Jesus are much closer to the events. Hard reports about Muhammad must be tied to named sources and stated accurately. Muslims honour his example, so it is fair to compare it with the example of Jesus, who loved His enemies and laid down His life. A faithful pastor uses this knowledge carefully: speaking accurately, asking honest questions, keeping Christ at the center, testing every message by Scripture and protecting the safety of believers.

Questions for Reflection

1. Why is it important to describe what Muslims believe about Muhammad in a way they would recognize before we respond to it?

2. What surprised you most about the dates of the sources for Muhammad's life?

3. How would you explain, kindly and simply, the difference between the time gap for the Gospels and the time gap for the biographies of Muhammad?

4. How does the contrast between Muhammad as ruler and Jesus who said "My kingdom is not of this world" help you point a Muslim friend to Christ?

5. In your own setting, what does it mean to speak about Muhammad "with meekness and fear" while still being truthful?

6. Why should we distinguish the teachings of Jesus and Muhammad from the actions of later followers when discussing religious violence?

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