Kort over det før-islamiske Arabien, cirka 600

I det nordlige Arabien var de arabiske kongedømmer Ghassan mod øst og Hira i Mesopotamien under indflydelse fra deres magtfulde naboer, det Byzantinske Rige og det sassanidiske Persien. I kongedømmet Hira var lakhmiderne allieret med perserne. Deres land havde meget stor religiøs diversitet: kristne fra forskellige grene, zorostrianere som fulgte gammel persisk religion reformeret af Zarathustra, osv.
Deres rivaler fra Ghassan i det sydlige Arabien stod i spidsen for en magtfuld alliance af forskellige stammer. Deres politiske centrum lå i fæstningen Jabalya (det nuværende Golan). Samtidig med at de havde allieret sig med Byzans for at modstå angreb fra beduinerne og perserne, var de også Byzans’ rivaler i religiøst øjemed, da de var monofysitiske kristne (som troede, at Jesus kun havde én natur, nemlig den guddommelige). De skrev på arabisk med et alfabet med 22 konsonanter, som de havde lånt fra de kristne i Syrien og Irak.
Den arabiske halvø skabte kulturelle kontakter og nære handelsforbindelser med de arabiske kongedømmer, hvis land lå på handelsruterne til Syrien og Mesopotamien. Halvøen modtog desuden indflydelse fra Indien og Afrika, for eksempel fra det kristne kongedømme Axum i Etiopien.

Forfatter: Renaud Rochette
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Den profetiske missions første åbenbaring

Ta’rikh al-rusul wa-l-muluk (’Profeternes og kongernes historie’) er skrevet af al-Tabari på arabisk. I 1867-74 blev den af Zoltenberg oversat fra den persiske version fra 900-tallet til fransk. Denne bog gengiver verdens historie fra Adam til hijraens første tre århundreder (på latin Hegira). Ifølge traditionen fandt de første åbenbaringer sted i en hule, hvor Muhammed plejede at tage hen for at meditere og bede. Englen Gabriel (Jibril) siges at have vist sig for ham for at åbenbare det guddommelige budskab. Denne engel nævnes tre gange i Koranen.

When Muhammad completed his fortieth year, God sent Gabriel to him to bring him a vision. According to another version, Muhammad was forty-three. Muhammad bin Jarīr (other name of al-Tabarī) mentions a tradition recounting that the Prophet received the vision at the age of twenty. But this is not true, because Muhammad said that no prophet received his mission before the age of forty; only at this age do reason and intelligence reach their full development.
At about the time when Gabriel would bring his prophetic mission to Muhammad, Muhammad was noticing some signs of it. He was seeing, at night, in a dream, Gabriel as a huge being, without knowing him but not without feeling some fear. When he was walking alone in the city of Mecca, he was hearing voices getting out from stones, rubble and animals, voices saluting him as the apostle of God, and he feared these voices.
It was customary among the Quraysh that all those who valued their reputation as pious men would go every year on Mount Hirā' (cave near Mecca), during the month of Rajāb (seventh month of the Muslim calendar, considered by the Tradition as one of the four sacred months of the pre-Islamic calendar), to live day and night in meditation. Pious men wanted to retire from the trade of men, and saw this solitude as an act of religious devotion. This practice was first in use among the Benī Hāshim; the other Quraysh tribes followed their example, but the Benī Hāshim were following this practice more rigorously. Each tribe had a place on the top of the mountain where it had built constructions in which their people could spend the time of their retreat.
This happened on the eighteenth day of the month of Ramadān. According to other traditions, this was on Monday, the twelfth day of the month of Rabī' al-awwal (third month of the Muslim calendar), that Muhammad received his mission, the same day of the same month he was born, and was later the day of its death. The day of Monday, God sent Gabriel with the order to be acquainted to Muhammad, and to bring him his prophetic mission as well as the surah of the Quran named Iqrā, that was the first surah that Muhammad received from him.
Gabriel came down from heaven and found Muhammad on Mount Hirā'. He appeared to him and said, “O Muhammad, Apostle of God!” Muhammad felt extreme fear. He stood up, thinking he had become crazy. He headed to the top of the mountain to kill himself by rushing down from the top, but Gabriel seized him between his two wings, so that he could neither advance nor retreat.
Then Gabriel told him: “O Muhammad, have no fear, because you are the apostle of God, and I am Gabriel, the angel of God.” Muhammad remained motionless between the angel's two wings. Then Gabriel told him: "O Muhammad, read." Muhammad said:" How could I read? I don't know how to read.” Gabriel said: “Read: In the name of Your Lord, who created everything, and who created man out of congealed blood. Read: Your Lord is most bountiful; He is the one who taught the use of the pen; He taught man that which he knew not.” (Quran, 96:1-5) Then Gabriel left Muhammad where he was standing and vanished.
Muhammad came down the mountain. He was seized with trembling and went back to his house, while repeating the surah to himself. His heart was most reassured by these words, but his whole body was shaking as a result of the fear and terror that Gabriel had inspired to him.
* Muhammad ben Jarir: et andet navn for al-Tabarī. * Hira: hule nær Mecca.
* Radjab: den syvende måned i den muslimske kalender, betragtes i traditionen som en af de fire hellige måneder i den før-islamiske kalender.
* Rabi al-awwal: den tredje måned i den muslimske kalender.

Al-Tabari, History of the Prophets and Kings. Oversat af Marie Lebert.

Muhammeds ankomst til Mekka og ødelæggelsen af afgudsbillederne, 630

Der vides kun lidt om de ”hedenske” (den polyteistiske religions) guddommes væsen og natur i Arabien. De nævnes kun i påkaldelser og i nogle henvisninger i Koranen, mens sejren over den tidligere, polyteistiske religion (af sejrherrerne omtalt som ’afgudsdyrkelse’, ’hedenskab’) fejres af den muslimske tradition (Sira og Hadith). I 630, otte år efter hans vandring til Medina, trådte Muhammed triumferende og i spidsen for sine mange tilhængere ind i sin hjemby. Ifølge Sira (den traditionelle biografi over profeten) red han på sin kamel syv gange rundt om Ka’baen, fik templets døre åbnet for sig, gik ind i templet og påbød ødelæggelsen af afgudsbillederne. Derpå henvendte han sig, stående i døråbningen, til de overvundne Quraysh.
Miniaturen fra 1800-tallet illustrerer et episk persisk digt af Muhammad Rafi Bazil, der var født i Iran. Digtet beskriver profetens og hans fætter-og-svigersøn Alis kampe. Miniaturen viser en stor mængde soldater, opstillet efter rangorden og med ansigterne vendt mod Mekka. Dens formål er at vise den styrke, muslimerne har sammen med tilflyttere og hjælpetropper fra Medina samt deres allierede stammer. I kanten af billedets to sider ses en rækker nicher i væggen, hvor afgudsbilleder – nogle temmelig fantasifulde genstande eller væsener – står opstillet. Muhammeds hellighed er illustreret to steder i form af et stort bundt flammer, øverst til venstre på den venstre side og ovenpå kamelen på den højre side. Usynlig for menneskene modtager profeten lyset fra Gud. På venstre side ses nogle muslimer, der iagttager scenen eller hjælper profeten med at ødelægge afgudsbillederne. Nogle af disse er allerede blevet kastet til jorden.

Miniature fra Kashmir, dateret 1808, fra Accounts of Muhammad’s Life, af Bazil.
Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Manuscrits orientaux, supplement persan 1030, folio 305v-306.
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