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01-012 The Hijrah of Mohammad
Vol. 1- No. 12
2010
Lead: Ironically his hometown, the city of Mecca, proved to be most resistant to the work of Mohammad, the founder of Islam. Intro: A Moment In Time with Dan Roberts. Content: Perhaps it is true that no prophet has honor in his own country, but in Mohammad's case the prejudice was probably also due to tribal rivalry because his clan, the Hashim, were not the most prominent in the city. Three years after the initial vision that launched his career as the messenger of Allah, Mohammad began to preach openly. The year was 613. The people of Mecca worshiped many gods and Mohammad's message that Allah was supreme began to attract opposition. Slowly, however, along with the opposition came support. Several young men of the city, some from the wealthiest families, were attracted to his message and the movement began to grow. By 616, persecution in Mecca had made life very uncomfortable for Mohammad. In hopes that his family would rein in his enthusiasm, the city authorities organized a boycott against the Hashim. Such tactics did little to stop the spread of Islam, which came to mean "surrender to the will of God." In 619, the clan withdrew its protection from Mohammad. This placed his life in danger and meant that he could no longer easily preach in Mecca. Yet, beyond the boundary of Mecca, the word was spreading and in Medina, a city to the north, the influence and teachings of Mohammad were taking root in far more receptive soil. In the summer of 622 he quietly began to urge his followers to make their way across the desert, and in September he too slipped away unnoticed. The flight of Mohammad to Medina has come to be called the Hijrah (Hegira), or emigration. This trip to escape persecution is the traditional starting point of Islam's history and is dated on the western calendar as July 16, AD 622. The Producer of A Moment in Time is Steve Clark. At the University of Richmond, this is Dan Roberts. Resources Peters, F.E. Allah's Commonwealth: A History of Islam in the Near East, 600 - 1100 A.D. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1973. Sabini, John. Armies in the Sand: The Struggle for Mecca and Medina. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1981. Schimmel, Annemarie. Islam: An Introduction. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1992. Copyright 2010 by Broadcast Partners, LLC LAC010709
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