Lesson video

Hi, my name is Miss Speakman and I'm going to be teaching Religious Education, Islamic Beliefs and Teachings Unit for Oak National Academy.

We're lesson two of 14.

This lesson looks at the story of Muhammad and the influence Muhammad has had on the origins of Islam.

Now, as I might has said in previous videos and that you may not have seen, but to explain again, when we talk about the origins of Islam, it's more of a historical point of view because Muslims would say that Islam is an eternal religion.

What we're looking at today is the story of Muhummad within history.

So what historical events have had a really big influence on the religion of Islam.

In this lesson today, we're going to be learning about the story of Muhammad and the revelation of the Qur'an, the Islamic holy book, and then consider the influences this has had on the origins of Islam.

So looking historically at those really, really important events.

You're going to need to make sure, please, that you've got a pen or a pencil, a piece of paper or an exercise book, and different coloured pen for corrections.

You're also going to make sure that you've got a really nice clear working space, so clear of any distractions like TV or music, and that you've also made sure that your phone's off, if you're not using it for the lesson, and that you've got a nice clear working space, perhaps in a really quiet place.

If you need to get any of those things ready or you think, "Well, actually, I've got a pen.

I need to get my paper," and then pause the video now for me, please, and then unpause when you're ready to move on.

Okay, brilliant.

If you've unpaused, I'm assuming that you're ready to learn, and I'm really excited to share this with you today.

So let's look at, first of all, the context of what we we're looking at today.

And first of all, we're looking at where did Muhammad live? Where did this all begin? Where did this all happen? Now we'll talk about a city called Mecca.

Now Mecca is in the country of Saudi Arabia, which is in the Middle East.

You might see on that map there, the black box is around where Saudi Arabia is.

At the time of Muhammad, people lived nomadic lives.

This means they didn't really settle in one place, they would have travelled place to place and it was a place of trade.

So nomadic lifestyles usually meant travelling from place to place selling things to make money.

And therefore, then travelling on to other places.

Mecca was a trade city.

So there were loads of people going to and from Mecca all the time, huge for businesses, and one of the biggest businesses in the centre of Mecca was the Kaaba.

Now the Kaaba is that black box in the centre of Mecca.

And at the time when Muhammad was living, it was being used to worship idols.

So worshipping many gods, polytheism.

And people would make money out of selling entrance to the Kaaba going to worship your idols.

So let's make sure that we understand just the context before we look into the actual story of Muhammad and what happened to him.

So I'm going to do some quick fire questions with you.

Quick fire questions, essentially, where I will give you a question, there'll be two options, I'm going to give you three seconds to either point at your screen or say the answer out loud, and then we'll go through the answers and make sure that we are 100% on those really, really important contextual things.

Okay, ready? Mecca is in the United Arab Emirates.

Is it true or false? Three, two, one.

False, good, because it is in Saudi Arabia.

It was common for people to stay in one place all of the time.

Is it true or false? Three, two, one.

False, because, of course, at that time, people live nomadic lifestyles.

They didn't really settle in one place all of the time.

Mecca was a city of trade, true or false.

Three, two, one.

Good, that is true, it was a city of trade.

And the Kaaba is in Mecca.

Is that true or false.

Three, two, one.

Good, yes, the Kaaba is in Mecca.

Okay, so what we're going to do now is just have a short pause for us to have a look through a question.

We're going to spend about two minutes on this question, please.

Now the question is who built the Kaaba? So a bit of a hint there, we've discussed it in a previous lesson and it's okay if you haven't watched the previous lesson of mine, because you may have done it in a previous lesson at your own school, or you might know this already.

But I want you to just answer for me.

Who built the Kaaba? We're looking for two names.

I want you to pause the video, please, write this down on your piece of paper and unpause when you're ready to go through it.

Okay, have you written down Ibrahim and Ishmael? If you have well done, because that is the answer.

Ibrahim and Ishmael are said to have built the Kaaba after, of course, that story of Hagar searching for water, the angel digs into the ground when she can't find any water and then a well appears.

And then as a shrine to as a place of worship for God, Ibrahim and Ishmael built the Kaaba.

So well done if you got that.

It's really helpful for us to think about what Mecca was like at the time of Muhammad.

And so we have the Kaaba, the black box centre of Mecca, which of course we know was built by Ibrahim and Ishmael and has been used for worshipping God for a long time.

However, in the time of Muhammad, it was used to worship many gods.

So people were worshipping idols in there.

The city of Mecca perhaps wasn't what Muhammad expected.

People gambled, they drank, they mistreated women.

So Muhummad would have said that these people weren't very moral.

They weren't following what he thought was the right thing.

He believed that the Kaaba should be used for worshipping one God.

And he also believed that people should be treated fairly.

So he was not happy with the situation in Mecca.

So let's do some quick fire questions, again.

They're really important for getting the story and getting the key things out of it.

The Kaaba is in Mecca, true or false.

Three, two, one.

Good, yes, the Kaaba is in Mecca.

At this time, people worshipped many gods in Mecca.

Is it true or false? Three, two, one.

Good, it is true.

Most people lived moral lives according to Muhammad.

Was it true or false? Three, two, one.

Good, it was false.

Many people did things that Muhammad believed weren't right such as mistreating women and gambling.

Well done if you got all three of those correct.

Okay, so we know that the people in Mecca, perhaps, maybe weren't living very moral lives.

So what did Muhammad think of this? Muhammad himself was quite upset by this.

He didn't like the way that people lived.

He didn't like that the Kaaba was being used to worship idols.

So he used to take himself away to a cave in Mount Hira, this picture there of where Muhammad was said to have received these revelations.

He would go there to meditate.

He would go there to sort of think about things, to ponder on what he believed was right about creation and about worshipping one God.

And it was here one day where he hears a voice and the voice tells him to read.

And at first, Muhammad's really confused.

First of all, he thinks, "I thought I was the only one in this cave." But second of all, he's confused because he can't read.

He was illiterate, he couldn't read or write.

So at first he starts saying, "No, 'cause I can't read." Yet he's told again to read.

And he says, "No, I've just told you I can't read." Then he feels himself being squeezed really, really tightly so like he's having all the air sucked out of him, like he can't breathe and he feels like he's suffocating.

And a voice tell him again to read.

And it's the angel Jibril.

So in English you might say angel Gabriel, but in Arabic, angel Jibril tells him to read again.

And Muhammad begins to recite these verses, which later become part of the Qur'an, the holy word revealed from Allah through the angel Jibril.

And Muhammad, of course, is really shocked and surprised and doesn't know what to think of it so he goes and tells his wife Khadija and says, "This has happened to me.

I don't know what's going on.

Can you help, can you give me advice?" And she takes him to a Christian cousin of theirs who says, "No, I've heard about these sorts of things.

I think you might be a prophet.

I think you've received this revelation from God." And Muhammad's amazed, but he's also quite scared because he knows what the people in Mecca are like and he knows they worship many gods and this revelation comes from one God.

And so he keeps it to himself for a while.

He keeps returning back to the cave.

He receives more revelations and over a period of 23 years, he begins to receive, and after 23 years, receives the revelation of the Qur'an in it's entirety.

So what we're going to do again is do some quick fire questions.

Muhammad agreed with the way people lived in Mecca.

True or false? Three, two, one.

False, no, he did not like the way that people lived in Mecca.

The name of the angel who came to Muhammad was called Jibril, true or false.

Three, two, one.

Good, it is true.

Jibril, angel Jibril.

Angel Jibril revealed something to Muhammad.

Is it true or false? Three, two, one.

It's true, reveals the Qur'an.

And Muhammad told everyone what happened straight away, true or false.

Three, two, one.

Yes, false, because he doesn't tell everyone straight away.

He tells his friends and his family mostly only.

Well done if you've got all four of those correct.

No worries if you didn't get them all correct.

Obviously, I think this has helped and I hope it's helped you to get to grips more with the story of what happened to Muhammad in Cave Hira.

Okay, so we're going to consider another question now.

We're going to spend about three minutes on this question.

What do you think would have convinced Muhammad that the visit from Jibril actually happened? We may, of course, argue that how do we know it actually happened? Because Muhammad said it that it happened, but no one else was there.

What do you think for Muhammad and for Muslims is a convincing moment or perhaps a couple of moments that convinces them that this actually happened? Pause the video, spend about three minutes answering this question.

Unpause when you're ready, please.

Okay.

I think the two main convincing things are, first of all, it wasn't just that Muhammad heard a voice, he was also physically squeezed.

And then also when he told people, they were also convinced and it seemed to fit with other stories of what happened to prophets in previous times before Muhammad.

So for those two reasons, Muslims would say this is very convincing, this actually happened.

Now sometime after Muhammad starts receiving these revelations, Allah commands Muhammad to go out and preach this to other people, not just to people he knows.

So he starts to preach in Mecca and the Meccans are really angry.

Muhammad is essentially criticising their way of life, their business, worshipping idols.

And they're not happy with that.

They don't like being told that what they're doing is wrong.

So they start to be really hostile towards him.

And Muhammad flees 'cause he's worried for his life.

He flees for a place called Yathrib, which is that city, which is with the arrow there on the map.

And he starts to preach there and people are quite convinced about what he's saying.

The people there ask him to lead them and he renamed the city, Medina.

Medina means city of the prophet.

So he starts to get a really large following in Medina.

But the Meccans of course find that really threatening.

They see that Muhammad's getting a really big following and think this could be something that really, really affects our lives and our business and how much money we're making and et cetera.

So they start to get concerned.

Question, though, before we look at what happens then afterwards.

We're going to spend about three minutes on this as well, please.

Why do you think Muhammad renamed Yathrib to Medina? Obviously, the city already had a name.

What's the purpose of changing its name? What does this establish? What does this mean? So you'll see there I've got a hint.

What does the name of Medina mean? Go back perhaps maybe if you need to in the video to think about what Medina actually means and then write down an answer for me, please.

Have a go even if you're not sure.

So pause the video now, unpause when you're ready to move on.

Muhammad renames Yathrib to Medina.

Medina means city of the prophet.

So he's very clearly establishing this is a city for him and his followers, his community that's the city of the prophet, the city of where Muslims can live in peace and in harmony with each other without fear of being harmed.

So Medina's this idea of city of the prophet establishing that this is a place to worship one God.

So as we said, the Meccans start to get really angry, don't they, about Muhummad preaching and getting this really big following.

So this leads to a battle, the Battle of Badr.

Now this is the only battle mentioned in the Qur'an and essentially the Meccans start to march towards Muhammad and his followers.

A big battle follows.

And in this, the Meccans have a really large army, much bigger than Muhammad's and it doesn't look like it's going to go well.

There are a couple of battles.

Muhammad even gets injured in one.

People unfortunately get killed.

But in the end, Muhammad's army wins.

And people are amazed, they're not expecting this to happen with this small army, not made of people that are particularly worthy of fighting, but they are fighting because they really truly believe it's the right thing to do to protect the religion of Islam.

Muhammad's army only takes 70 prisoners of the Meccans.

And they say to the Meccans, "If we're going to release them, we insist that they are taught to read and write." Now Muhammad himself knows how important that is 'cause he himself was illiterate.

So essentially, the idea that he's protecting Islam, but not wanting to kill people just for the sake of it, he just wants to protect his people.

Muhammad then returns back to Mecca, destroys all the idols in the Kaaba and establishes the Kaaba again for worshipping one God.

And then not long after this, Muhammad gives his last sermon in which he establishes certain things like how to follow the Qur'an properly, what to do to be a good Muslim.

And it's not long after he gives his last sermon that he passes away.

So he's establishing Mecca again as a city of worshipping one God with the Kaaba being that central point.

So let's do some quick fire questions to make sure we've got that from that story.

Muhammad lost all of the battles against the Meccans, true or false.

Three, two, one.

False.

Although Muhammad did get injured, he did eventually win the battles.

Muhummad took as many prisoners as possible, true or false.

Three, two, one.

Of course, that's false.

He takes as little as possible.

Muhammad gave a sermon before he died.

Three, two, one.

True, He does.

He gives a sermon to establish what sort of things he expects Muslims to do after his death.

So what we're going to do now is answer another pause point question.

We're going to spend about three minutes on this.

So we know that from the story, Muhammad insists that the prisoners are taught to read and write if they are released.

Why do you think Muhammad insisted the prisons be treated this way? Why does he make this something that he insists before he releases them? I'd like you to pause the video, please, then unpause when you are ready to look through the answer.

Okay, brilliant.

So if you've unpaused, I'm assuming you've written something down.

We could say because Muhammad knows what it's like, he knows what it's like to not be able to read and write and he wants up for other people that they are able to read and write and able to then contribute to society.

We could also talk about how much he disagreed with things that were unequal, unfair in Mecca.

And this is a way of ensuring that people are perhaps more equal.

So we could say that is the key reason why Muhammad insists the prisoners be treated in this way.

Well done if you wrote something like that down.

Don't worry if you didn't because you've got plenty of time perhaps for you to improve our stuff as the more we learn, haven't we? So well done for giving it a go.

What we're going to do now is do a longer task just to bring everything that we've done so far together.

So what I'm going to ask you to do is to pause the video on the next slide, after I've given the instructions to go through your main task.

As you can see here, I've asked you to write a summary of the story of Muhammad.

Now, I know that some people struggle sometimes with what a good summary should be like.

So your summary should be, and I like the word sum within that, and then using that to break that down.

It should be shorter than the original text or information, so shorter than I've spent explaining this, using your own words, not just copying it from somewhere else, and including the main ideas only.

So a good summary breaks down into the main ideas, it's not too long, and therefore, also using your own words so you make sure that you understand it.

I want your summary to include the following words: Mecca, Kaaba, idols, cave, Jibril, Qur'an, Yathrib, Medina, battle, sermon.

You may need to go back to the video a few times to remind yourself of that story.

If you've unpaused the video, I'm assuming that you've finished your summary and you're ready to go through corrections.

Please make sure you have another coloured pen out ready for your corrections.

And what I'm going to show you is my model answer.

It doesn't have to be word for word like mine, but of course I've included the most important points and all of the key words.

So an example of a good summary, like I said, it doesn't have to be word for word like mine, but it is of course important to make sure you've got the key points and always key words in there.

So my summary says, Muhammad lived in a city called Mecca, which is where the Kaaba, the first house of God is.

However, people were using the Kaaba to worship idols, which Muhummad was upset about 'cause the Kaaba is for worshipping Allah.

When Muhammad was upset, he would go to a cave to think about these things.

When he was in the cave, the angel Jibril came to him and instructed him to read.

Angel Jibril revealed the message, the words of the holy book, the Qur'an to him.

When he preached the message of the Qur'an, the Meccans were angry so Muhammad fled to Yathrib and started a community there.

He renamed the city Medina.

The Meccans were still unhappy and challenged Muhummad to a battle which he won.

Before he died, Muhammad gave a sermon teaching people how to live.

Well done if you include all of those words.

So Muslims would say that Muhammad is what they call the seal of the prophets.

The final prophet, that another prophet will never be sent.

So Muslims do not believe there ever will be another prophet who comes with a revelation and telling them that this is the way to live.

Muslims believe that all other revelations before the Qur'an were either corrupted, changed, distorted, not quite right or not followed correctly.

And therefore, Muslims believe that another revelation had to keep being sent each time.

Apart from the Qur'an, Muslims believe that the Qur'an is the direct unchanged word of Allah, that has not been changed since the moment it was revealed to Muhammad in that cave Hira all those years ago.

Muslims believe a Qur'an in Arabic is exactly the same as Muhammad would have recited in that cave.

And if that is the case, if it's the direct unchanged word of Allah, truth for all people, for all times, then there's no need for another prophet.

And for this reason, Muhummad is called the seal of the prophets.

Not seal as in animal, the seal as in you seal something off.

It's finished, it's final.

So Muhammad is the final prophet.

Never again will there be another prophet sent.

Muslims believe that's because the Qur'an is a direct unchanged word of Allah.

Not been changed since the moment it was revealed by the angel Jibril to Muhammad.

So let's do some questions now just to make sure that we really understand this key concept of Muhammad being the seal of the prophets.

Muslims believe there will be another prophet after Muhammad, true or false.

Three, two, one.

False, of course, Muhammad is the last prophet.

Muslims believe the Qur'an is the direct word of Allah.

True or false.

Three, two, one.

True, yes.

The Qur'an is the direct unchanged word of Allah according to Muslims. What we're going to do now is complete some sentences to make sure that we can really bring together what we mean when we talk about Muslims believing that Muhammad is the seal of the prophets.

So we're going to pause the video on your next slide to do these questions.

What I want you to do is finish these sentences.

Please make sure you've copied out the beginning of the sentences and then finished them in your own words.

Muslims believe that other messages sent by Allah were, what happened to them? Muslims believe Muhammad received the Qur'an which is? Tell me what it is.

Muslims believe another prophet will never be sent because? Tell me why.

Muhummad is called the seal of the prophets because? And tell me why.

So pause the video now.

Please complete these sentences, unpause when you're ready to go through corrections.

Okay, if you can see this screen, I'm assuming then you are ready to correct your work.

So have your different coloured pens out, please.

Muslims believe the other messages sent by Allah were changed, lost, or forgotten.

They are no longer the original message.

Muslims believe Muhammad received the Qur'an which is the direct word of Allah and can never be changed.

Muslims believe another prophet will never be sent because if the Qur'an can never be changed or lost, no other prophet or revelation is needed.

And Muhammad is called the seal of the prophets because he is the last prophet and another will not be sent.

If you need to make any corrections, please pause the video now and do so.

But well done for having a go at these questions.

Waiting for my camera to pop up.

So I want to say a huge thank you and a huge well done.

You've worked so hard.

You've dealt with a lot of new information today, which I hope has been really interesting and I hope you've really enjoyed it.

So thank you again for working so hard.

And I really hope that you tune in for some of the other lessons that we will be looking at in the Islamic Beliefs and Teachings Unit.

Te next lesson, lesson three of 14, we'll look at the Sunni-Shia split.

So we'll take up the question of what happens after Muhammad dies, after that last sermon, what happens to his community, what happens to the religion of Islam.

So I really hope that you want to tune in to that and learn lots.

So thank you again so much, see you later.