Evaluating Muhammad's leadership and the authority of the Qur'an

Overview

Recall questions on the influence of pre-Islamic Arabia, whether Islam nearly failed in Makkah, Madinah as a model state, complete leadership, eternal relevance, and the problem of translation.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   Outline the case that pre-Islamic Arabia strongly shaped the content of Muhammad's teaching.

   Model answer

   The Qur'an answers the specific evils of that society, such as infanticide, blood feud and usury, it uses Arabic poetic forms its first hearers valued, and it keeps existing institutions like the Ka'bah and the sacred months in reformed shape.

2. 2

   What is argued against treating the Arabian setting as a major influence on Muhammad's message?

   Model answer

   Muslims answer that the message came from God and merely landed in that setting, that it contradicted rather than reflected Makkan values on idolatry, women and tribe, and that its address to all humanity cannot be reduced to local circumstances.

3. 3

   Give the case that Islam came close to failing in Makkah.

   Model answer

   After thirteen years Muhammad had only a small band of followers, mostly poor and without protection, the boycott had exhausted them, his protectors Khadijah and Abu Talib had died, and the Quraysh had resolved on his murder.

4. 4

   What can be argued against the view that Islam nearly failed in Makkah?

   Model answer

   The Makkan years produced converts of real quality and a body of revelation on endurance, the Abyssinian refuge and the Aqabah pledges show the message travelling, and Muslims hold that a religion under divine protection was never in danger of extinction.

5. 5

   Present the case that Madinah is the ideal model for a community governed by Islam.

   Model answer

   In Madinah worship, law, welfare and government came from one source under a prophet receiving revelation, hostile tribes were bound into a single covenant, the poor were provided for, and non-Muslims kept their own religion.

6. 6

   What weakens the claim that Madinah should be the model for later Islamic states?

   Model answer

   Madinah was a small oasis town led by a prophet whose direct guidance no later ruler can claim, its later years included expulsions and warfare, and critics argue that copying its arrangements ignores the scale and diversity of a modern state.

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