A Note about Muhammad

Muhammad was a modest man. If you seek to learn of his life from the Koran you will be disappointed. Other than a few unconnected incidents referred to obliquely there is nothing there about the man. Later Muslims tried to preserve as many eyewitness accounts about Muhammad as they could discover after his death. In some cases, long after his death. Martin Lings has taken these accounts to form a narrative of Muhammad's life in English, entitled Muhammad: his life based on the earliest sources.

One of the best and most authoritative accounts was by Ibn Ishaq who tells the story of Muhammad's ascent into Heaven on the back of a winged creature called Buraq. While in Heaven Muhammad approached the Lote Tree of the Uttermost End, which as one of the oldest commentators on the Koran says, 'marks the end of the knowledge of every knower, be he Archangel or Prophet-Messenger. All beyond is a hidden mystery, unknown to any save God Alone.'

According to Ibn Ishaq it was at the Lote Tree, enshrouded in the Divine Light, that Muhammad received the Revelation which contains the creed of Islam: 'The messenger believeth, and the faithful believe in what hath been revealed unto him from his Lord. Each one believeth in God and His angels and His books and His messengers: we made no distinction between any of his messengers. And they say: we hear and we obey; grant us, Thou our Lord, Thy forgiveness; unto Thee is the ultimate beginning.' [my emphasis]

For my own reasons, this message about God's messengers and books appeals to me greatly.