Thanks for answering my question. I was curious because I know both Islam and Christianity are abrahamic in origin, but there were probably not many Jews where Muhammad lived: that is how my question arose.
I do have another question. If his parents died in his infancy, than who raised Muhammed? Was the person who raised him a pagan like his father, or a non-religious monotheist?
Your question? did you just shapeshift into another user? Whoooooaaa! :hypno:
Anyways, Muhammad’s mother, Amina, died when Muhammad was six, so he was, obviously, not an infant at that time. After his mother died, Muhammad [peace be upon him] was raised by his grandfather, Abdul-Muttalib, and his uncle, Abu Talib, respectively. Abdul-Muttalib called Muhammad his son as a sign of affection, even though Muhammad was actually his grandson. Abdul-Muttalib died two years after Amina, so Muhammad would’ve been eight at the time Abu Talib stepped up as his father-figure.
I don’t know what religion Abdul-Muttalib was, but given that his name, Abdul-Muttalib, containts an insinuation of shirk [idolatry], I wouldn’t be surprised if he was a pagan (I don know, though). Abu Talib was an outright pagan, though, and this is well known.
There was pressure that Abu Talib put on Muhammad so as to abandon his preaching because Muhammad’s message which one of Tawheed and Monotheism, which the Quraish resented because it repudiated the idol worship that Mecca was famous for. Abu Talib was one of the leaders of the Quraish…the other leaders of the Quraish wanted to kill Muhammad, but they knew they couldn’t because of Abu Talib’s influence?
What did they do, then? they would often storm up to Abu Talib, demanding that his nephew, Muhammad, would stop his preaching. He never did, though-- and when Abu Talib confronted Muhammad about this, Muhammad’s reply was legendary: “
I swear by God, if they put the sun in my right hand and the moon in my left on condition that I abandon this course before He hath made it victorious, or I have perished therein, I would not abandon it”. (you can find that on page 58 of Martin Lings’ book and in Ibn Ishaq’s ‘Sirat Rasul-Allah’, page 168)
There was no influence that Abu Talib had upon Muhammad as far as religiousity is concerned. Believe you me, if there was, Muhammad’s message would not have been so controversial, the Quraish would have welcomed it rather than resenting it and Muhammad’s early followers would not have been stoned, whipped, prohibited from buying food in marketplaces and even murdered, in the case of Sumayyah bint Khayyat, who was the first person to be martyred.
). It’s a good source-- I highly reccomend it. Muhammad [peace be upon him] was an orphan for most of his life. He never knew his father and his mother died when he was six.