Lesson video

Hello and good morning to students up and down the country.

Once again, my name is Mr Latif, and I'm really looking forward to having you as part of our learning today.

We're going to continue on with this unit on Islam and beliefs.

And today we're going to be looking at the life of a very important and very significant individual for Muslims around the world today.

So today's key learning will focus on the life of Prophet Muhammad.

So we will be looking at some key and significant events in his life, but also the importance of the revelation of the Qur'an that was given to the Prophet Muhammad during his lifetime for all of humanity.

So just a reminder of some key things that you would need for your learning today.

If you don't have these, please ensure that you have them ready as soon as possible.

You will need your exercise book or some lined paper, a black or blue pen, you will need a different colour pen for any corrections but hopefully you guys won't have to make any corrections, your curious brain as always and those attentive ears that we need for you to listen to me and to further the learning today.

So let's get into our learning today, on the life of Prophet Muhammad.

Okay and welcome to our lesson today on the life of Prophet Muhammad.

So your title is "The Life Of Prophet Muhammad" as you can see, just here.

That's the right way, isn't it? And today we're going to be looking at and understanding the significance of the Prophet Muhammad as a final messenger for humankind and the revelation of the Qur'an.

So, the Prophet Muhammad is a very very significant individual when we look at this religion of Islam.

Likewise how the Buddha is a very important significant figure for the religion or practise of Buddhism.

Likewise, how Jesus Christ is a very important significant individual within Christianity.

And likewise how Prophet Abraham is very significant and important for those of the Jewish faith, of the tradition of Judaism.

We would say the same about thoughts of Islam.

Prophet Muhammad is a key important individual when we look at the Religion of Islam.

Okay, so just a reminder of these things that you needed.

Please ensure that you have them.

I went over them in the introduction video.

If you don't have these, please ensure that you got them right now and I really appreciate those attentive ears and that curious brain, which are two very important things when we look in the religion of Islam.

Which are just generally very important skills that we need as students, isn't it? When we looking at a great subject and a fantastic subject, like Religious Education.

So who was the Prophet Muhammad? Okay, the first thing I'd like you to do, yeah before we actually go into anything whatsoever, is I would like you to have a go at this task yourselves.

So there's a few things missing here, as you can see from this paragraph.

So I would like you to go back, and think about the learning already that you've done on the life of Prophet Ibrahim, but then have a go at this task here.

So what I'd like you to do now, in a moment, is to pause the video and to have a go at finishing off this paragraph.

So muslims believes that the Prophet something, is the final and last Prophet of Islam.

His heritage links back to that of the Prophet something, through his family tree.

Muslims believe that he was born as an something, in something, in some, at a certain date, hint hint, and he was known as a pious individual and is given the final revelation of God known as something, through the Angel something.

Okay, so there's a lot of somethings there for you to fill in.

This part of the video, I'd like for you to pause.

And I like to spend about five minutes with that curious brain to see if you can get the right answers.

And in five minutes, we'll go over them together.

Okay, so let's look at our answers.

You should have had the following.

If you need to make any corrections, now's the best time to use your different coloured pen.

So muslims believe that the Prophet Muhammad is the final and last Prophet of Islam.

And also really important, a key thing here, is that the Prophet Muhammad is the final Prophet for all of humankind, according to Muslims. Now, his heritage goes back to his lineage and his lineage comes from Prophet Ibrahim, as that is where, if we go back to his family tree, his history lies.

Now muslims believe he was born as an orphan, in Makkah.

In 570 common era.

So what's really important here is his life from a very early time, from an early time, Muhammad had it very, very difficult.

Yeah, he lost both his mother and a father at a very, very young age, and he was raised, as we'll look at in a moment, by his paternal uncle.

And he is known as a pious individual and he was given the final revelation of God, known as the Qur'an, which is one of the most important and significant miracles for Muslims today.

And the Qur'an was revealed through the Angel Jibreel.

Now the Qur'an itself is the final revelation that God gives for all of mankind.

And the revelation occurred and was given to Prophet Muhammad, which testifies and signifies for Muslims that he was the Prophet and the final Prophet of Islam.

Now what we have just below me, just here, is some Arabic.

Yeah, and the Arabic here says, Muhammad.

Now what's really important for you to know is that there are no images of the Prophet Muhammad in the majority of Islamic thinking and Islamic schools of thoughts.

And the reason for that is that Prophets are not drawn for a very simple reason.

It's because Prophets are seen as Holy and significant individuals.

And by drawing images of them, there's two very important things we need to take into account.

Number one, that over time, many people may just start worshipping the Prophet, rather than the message.

And number two, we cannot know what they looked like.

Yeah, we know of their descriptions, but it's not for us to draw images of them.

Yeah, 'cause much of that we know already or we will learn about, that depictions of Prophets and also of God are seen as haram, they're not permissible.

And it's done out of respect as well.

So moving on.

What we're going to look at now is the following.

We're going to do a timeline.

Yeah, so if you have a pencil and a ruler, fantastic.

That would be really, really helpful.

We're going to be looking at some key events during the life of the Prophet, from the very early stages of his life or basically over here to the very end stages of his life.

Yeah, so this way, there we go.

That's the right way.

So what I suggest is if I have got a small star at one point that you definitely put that down.

So there's three things I'd like for you to do now, as we move ahead.

Your attentive ears, as you listen and feel free to make additional notes, as you hear me mention some key things about life of Prophet Muhammad.

To ensure that you're doing this in chronological order.

And number three, that your writing is nice and neat to your best ability.

So now let's look at the life of Prophet Muhammad.

So we have to consider his life, when we look at his early life.

So he was brought up in the city of Makkah, in 570 Common Era, and was brought up by his uncle Abu Talib.

Now, Abu Talib was a very important person because he was part of the tribe known as Quraysh.

Now the Quraysh are a tribe which had social and economic power of the city.

So one of the key things they had power of, was the pilgrimage.

Now at this time, the pilgrimage that we will look at later on, is actually that of idols.

So they would charge people to come and do pilgrimage and charge them to worship certain gods.

Now, Prophet Ibrahim, sorry, Prophet Muhammad, was part of a very important tribe himself.

But he was also known and he was given this title from a young age as Al-Amin.

So a bit of a story time now, why he was known as 'the trustworthy.

' So at one point in history during his early life, the Kaaba, which at that time used to hold idols, so there were many idols in there, had been flooded.

So, it had been destroyed.

Now the Quraysh tribe got together to build the Kaaba back.

Now, one of the key things here was about power and authority.

So the Quraysh all wanted to put a very significant stone.

There's a black stone and it's at one of the corners of the Kaaba even today.

So there's a bit of a disagreement.

They disagree who should put the stone 'cause you have to remember, there's a tribe and there's tribe leaders.

So there's a couple of them.

Now this disagreement ends up going to shouting and abuse, and it nearly ends up in an actual war.

So they all are really concerned that actually there's going to be a full on fight.

So they all agree, okay.

The one person who would decide who puts this stone in the Kaaba would be the first person tomorrow morning who walks towards the Kaaba.

So they all agree, they say that's absolutely fine.

So who's that person? It was the Prophet Muhammad.

Prophet Muhammad, early in the morning, walks towards the Kaaba and the Masjid.

Yeah, known today as the Masjid.

Yeah, 'cause it's a mosque today.

And they all start crying and shouting out.

They're not crying, not like that, they're crying and saying, oh, trustworthy, trustworthy.

They're shouting out.

So they gave him this title, the trustworthy, the trustworthy 'cause he's known in society to be a pious and honest and a trustworthy person.

He doesn't necessarily put himself before others, and he doesn't have this ego, this sense of an ego.

So they ask him, they say, "Oh Muhammad, who should put this stone here?" So Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, does the following, he takes off his robe, he puts it on the floor, he takes the stone, he puts the stone on the road.

And he tells all the leaders to take one certain part of the cloth and to take it to the Kaaba.

And they all agreed.

And actually the were all amazed, they're like, wow.

This was such an easy thing to do.

So what's really interesting here, is none of them feel insulted and they all agree that this should be the way to do so.

And they all agreed that actually Prophet Muhammad, because of his trustworthiness, that he can put a stone in the corner of the Kaaba.

Just some key things there, how he was known, by the people in this society at the time.

So he wasn't known as a liar.

Now Muhammad would often reflect and ponder upon injustices in society.

So he reflects upon the fact his society was godless, there was polytheism, there was injustices.

And many of these injustices were the following.

There was inequality, there wasn't the rights of the women, there wasn't the rights of the orphans, there was racism at the time and there's tribalism.

And also a really, really significant and very saddening thing, was the killing of female infants.

So he would ponder upon this.

Why would his society kill female infants? So it was quite common in that time because there's a sense of gender inequality, that females were seen as, of less, yeah, inferior.

So newborn babies would be killed.

Yeah, and unfortunately, those newborn babies would be thrown down a well.

So he would ponder and reflect upon this.

He'd be like, why is my society like this? So he would go to Mount Hira and contemplate or reflect and worship Allah, the one God.

Now a very, very important event that changed the course of humanity.

In 610 Common Era, when the Prophet Muhammad was 40, he received the first of many revelations of Allah through Angel Jibreel.

Now this revelations stamps the following key things.

It stamps that he was a Prophet and it indicates that the Qur'an is a revelation of God and not of man, and also stamps and indicates that the Qur'an is the final revelation for all of mankind, and it is the biggest miracle according to Muslims. The reason for this is 'cause the Qur'an, unlike other revelations, is not distorted.

It has remained in its original form of this revelation, from 1400 years ago, even up until today.

Now when we do a lesson on the Qur'an, we'll be looking at this in much more detail.

Yeah, so watch out for that lesson, please.

Now, a key thing here of this revelation.

Prophet Muhammad is illiterate and he cannot read.

So the Angel Jibreel visits him on this night and the Angel Jibreel said the following, "Read." And he replies, "I cannot read, I cannot read." "Read" and he says, "I cannot read." And then the Angel Jibreel gives him the first revelation, "Read in the name of your Lord, who created you." So this is the first revelation which indicates the prophethood of the Prophet Muhammad.

And these revelations occur for many, many years.

Yeah, 23 years of his life.

And he receives this revelations in both Makkah and Medinah, these two famous cities.

Now, a key thing you may not know, but when muslims write the name of Prophet Muhammad, they also write the following.

Peace be upon him.

And this is seen as a form of respect and a form of adoring the Prophet.

So all Prophets that are mentioned by muslims, when they write it down, they write down, peace be upon him, which is very important.

Now with this new revelation, Prophet Muhammad actually goes public and preaching this revelation, three years after the first revelation and at 613 Common Era.

But actually he receives a lot of hostility from people.

So some of the hostility that he faces is actually from his own tribe, the Quraysh.

So this is the name of the ruling tribe of Makkah.

And they were opposed to Prophet Muhammad's monotheistic message.

'Cause they impacted their pilgrims. 'Cause you have to remember, those pilgrims would come to visit the Kaaba, to which the Quraysh had social and economic influence and power over.

And these people would come, these pilgrims and they pray to certain idols.

And the Quraysh would receive money from accepting these pilgrims. So for them, this message of the one God, Allah, for the form of Tawhid, indicator of big, big hostility for the Quraysh.

They didn't like it.

They were like, they were worried about their business.

Now from this, we have the following.

A really important and key event.

Now, this key event is known as the Night Journey in 620 Common Era.

And this is seen as a miracle of Prophet Muhammad, by Muslims. Now this event, the Prophet Muhammad, has a night journey from Makkah, in Saudi Arabia today, to Jerusalem, in modern day Israel, Palestine.

Now this Night Journey occurs in the moment of like a split few seconds.

And he goes on a winged horse, known as Buraq.

And he goes to visit, Al-Aqsa mosque, which is the third, most Holy site for Muslims. Now from Al-Aqsa mosque, he then has his ascension into heaven.

Now this ascension to heaven is really important, 'cause the Prophet Muhammad goes to each seven heavens.

So the way I remember and the way I teach my kids is seven up, yeah, the drink seven up, there's seven heavens as well.

Yeah, not to indicate that seven up is anything like yeah, the concept of heaven.

But just a key way to remember it.

Seven up, 'cause he goes to the seven heavens.

Now, when he goes to the seven heavens, he visits the many different Prophets.

So Prophet Adam, Prophet Yahya, known as John the Baptist, Prophet Abraham, but then he visits Prophet Moses.

There's a really, really important event that occurs.

Now the Prophet Muhammad does not come in sight of Allah.

But he comes to this tree.

Okay, and this tree, there's still a step between the tree and being in the sight of God.

Now he's received instructions by Allah.

And Allah says, I instruct you to tell your people that they are to pray 50 times a day.

So he goes back down.

Now Moses stops him, Musa stops him.

And Moses, here Musa, he's cautious.

'Cause he's cautious out of the years he used to preach and he was a Prophet for.

And he said look, my people, yeah, the children Israel, they struggled.

And he says, now go and plead with God.

Yes, ask God for his mercy.

So it goes from 50 to only five prayers a day.

Yeah, this shows the mercy of God.

And this is when Muslims are told to pray five times a day.

And this is something that we'll go over together, when we do a lesson on the Salah, which is one of the five pillars.

So yeah, just a bit of a recap here.

From 50 to then 10, then finally five.

So this is seen as a very, very important thing, 'cause Muslims were once obliged to pray 50 times a day, but due to the mercy of God, it gets reduced to five times a day.

Now, even after this miracle event, there's still hostility from those in Makkah.

So because of this, they continue to reject him, to ridicule him, to insult him.

So the Prophet Muhammad and the early Muslims, they left and Makkah to go to Medinah, which is the second most sacred site, for Muslims today.

And this occurs in 622 Common Era.

So the early Muslims, yeah, are very important.

Because they're the first people that accept his message.

So depending on the school of thought, there's different opinions.

For some, Abu Bakr is one of the first, who is a companion of the Prophet Muhammad, and he's the first adult who accepts the message.

There's also Khadija, the Prophets first wife.

But other school of thoughts, it's actually Ali, the cousin and son-in-law and a young infant who accepts the message of the Prophet Muhammad.

Now this migration is known as the Hijrah, the departure.

And what it indicates is something known as the Ummah.

So the Ummah are the Muslim community.

So muslims today are still part of the community of Prophet Muhammad, 'cause remember, he's the final Prophet of humanity.

So his community are those that were with him until the end of time.

So muslims today, are part of the Ummah, or the Prophet Muhammad, which has grown, you know, in a huge, huge amount.

So we look back at 622 Common Era.

The muslims may have been only in the hundreds.

Yeah, and now today, the estimate of the Muslims indicates from what I last checked, about 1.

2 billion.

Yeah, so one in seven people today are Muslim in the world.

So this hostility still continues.

Okay, so here are some key events that occur that you can see just from this side, yeah.

So in 624, there's a battle.

The battle of Badr, which occurred in Medinah, in which the Quraysh attacked the Muslims, which led to a victory for Prophet Muhammad and his followers.

In 629, the Prophet Muhammad returns to Makkah, and he performed the Umrah, which is a lesser pilgrimage.

In 630, he conquers Makkah with no bloodshed, coming back to his home city.

And in 632, the final revelation of the Qur'an was revealed.

And the Prophet Muhammad performed the Hajj pilgrimage, which is one of the five pillars, and his farewell sermon.

And he passed away in six, oh, apologies, I was going to say 632.

Yes, if you could just make a correction there, 632 not 623.

Yeah, Mr. Latif's mistake there, just to let you guys know.

You should have a timeline done, which is complete, with the key dates from our learning.

So at this point in the video, I'd just like you to pause and to check your spellings, to check your timeline of key events, and then we'll go over it together.

Something like this, if I just move my screen.

There you go.

We should have, in 570, he was born in Makkah.

In 610, the Prophet Muhammad receives his first revelation through the Angel Jibreel.

In 620, the miracle journey, known as the Night Journey.

622, the early migration known as Hijra, H I J R A, and which occurs in Medinah.

In 624, the Battle of Badr occurs.

And, oh, there's another mistake.

Can we please make this correction.

In 632, yeah, not 623.

I've got my dates wrong, apologies, year eights.

In 632, after 23 years, the final revelation occurs, which completes the revelation of the Qur'an for the whole of mankind.

Yeah, so make sure you've got that right, yeah.

Like I haven't just done, 632 please, not 623.

'Cause then we're going back in time, of the timeline, that's the end of the timeline.

And a key thing here as well, he performs the Hajj pilgrimage and the last sermon.

And we'll hopefully get an opportunity to look at the last sermon, later on in this course of this unit.

Now we're going to be looking at the revelation of the Qur'an.

So this is a very important and fundamental part of the history and biography of the Prophet Muhammad.

And we're just going to kind of summarise our learning today.

Each messenger was given a book of guidance to their community.

There's a Torah, there's the gospels, there's Psalms, there's the scrolls, but the Qur'an, is the last divinely revealed book, or revelation of God, according to Muslims. And it's the final and complete revelation of God given to Prophet Muhammad, revealed through the Angel Jibreel.

Now the key thing with the Qur'an, unlike previous revelations, according to Muslims, is that it is unchanged and it serves as a proof of God for humankind.

And it is a guardian.

The Qur'an is a revelation which is not distorted and cannot be changed.

Yeah, and the key thing is that, Allah says in the Qur'an, that he's perfected it and protected it from distortion, like previous revelations.

So it was revealed 1400 years ago in Arabic and over the span of 23 years.

So the Qur'an itself, wasn't revealed in one big go.

Certain revelations occurred in two cities, both Makkah and Medinah and at certain times.

And it's seen as the biggest miracle in Islam as it contains miracles itself.

And is the evidence of God.

Now one of the key themes is the focus on Tawhid, the oneness and unity of God.

And Muhammad would memorise the revelations and then share it with his companions and his family, who would write it down but also read it and remember it.

So recitation and memorising the Qur'an was a key and important part of completing and learning the Qur'an.

Yeah, so this was a skill during that time, when the Qur'an was revealed.

And that students, summarises our learning today, on the life of Prophet Muhammad.

So hopefully you enjoyed today's learning.

And some key things to take away from.

Number one, Prophet Muhammad is the final and last messenger of Islam.

Number two, he was given the revelation of the Qur'an, which is the final and complete revelation for all of humankind.

And number three, those key and significant events during his life, from 610, the first revelation, to 610, the miracle of the ascension and the Night Journey, and to 632, the final sermon and the final pilgrimage, and also the final revelation as well.

So, I really hope you enjoyed today's learning, with me, Mr. Latif.

And I really look forward to seeing you all very soon.

And on that note, I will see you guys soon, and look after yourself, best wishes, take care.