Mohammad (570-632 A.D.)

Mohammad is mainly recognized by most to be the founder of the religion of Islam, and is considered by Muslims to be a prophet, that he was a messenger from God just like the other prophets such as Noah, Moses, Enoch.  He was born in the city of Mecca (Saudi Arabia), but he became an orphan and was raised by his uncle, a man named Abu Talib.  At one point he worked as a merchant, and at another point as a shepherd and he got married at the age of 25 to an older woman.  During his whole life it is said that he had thirteen wives / concubines.  But he was unhappy with his life in Mecca and went away and became a hermit in a cave in the surrounding mountains.  At the age of 40 he received his first vision from God, which is communicated to him through the angel Gabrielle, and three years later he started preaching about these visions to the public.

At the time the the Arabs believed in many gods, and Mohammad was teaching that there is only one God, the Living Everlasting God.  Nevertheless, he gained some supporters, but mainly hostility from Meccan tribes which forced him to escape persecution and flee to Abyssinia (Medina/Yathrib).  In Medina, Mohammad managed to unite the tribes, and in 622 with over 10,000 followers he returned to conquer Mecca, several years later in 630 he succeeded.  In 632 after his first and final pilgrimage, he fell ill and died.

The revelations that he received during his lifetime became the verses of the Quran, and were combined into a single book after his death.  These verses are considered to be the Word of God by Muslims.  Although Mohammad is believed to be the author of the Quran, he is only mentioned in it by name  four times, which has meant that sources for information about his life have to be found elsewhere.

The earliest surviving biography of his life by Ibn Ishaq was written 150 years after Mohammad's death.  Although scholars generally believe the early biographies to be accurate, it is not ascertainable.  In early days, both Christians and Jews saw Mohammad as a false prophet, saying that prophets do not arrive with swords and chariots.  And Mohammad after all, was involved in several battles during his lifetime.

It is however recorded that when Mohammad was twelve that he was travelling in a caravan to Syria, he met a Christian monk called Bahira, and that the monk gave Mohammad a copy of the Old testament and put forward the idea that he should become a prophet to the Arabs.

It is this record that confuses me most, was Mohammad converted to a Christian as a child?  With biographies of his life only being written about him hundreds of years after his actual existence, how do we know the he wished to create a  belief that was separate to Christianity.  Apparently it is also recorded that when they took Mecca, that he instructed all his soldiers not to destroy any images of Jesus or Mary.  In fact Mary is mentioned more often in the Quran than in the Bible!

My point is that, we cannot know for sure where his beliefs came from for sure, and maybe we will never know, but the idea that Mohammad was converted to Christianity is intriguing to say the least.  Yet those texts given to him by the monk became part of the Quran, recording the existence of Adam, Noah, Moses, Abraham and more.

Jeremiah (est 626-585 B.C.)

Jeremiah son of Hilkiah was from Anathoth, and was part of the Benjamin tribe, he was a priest and first started to hear God when he became thirteen.  He is told that despite his young age that he is to tell a message of doom and destruction to Judah followed by rising and rebuilding, and he starts to see visions.  He is told to go to Jerusalem and Judah to tell the people to turn from their wicked ways, and he is also told that he will be protected as other prophets have been killed by the people there.

He sees a vision of a barren earth with no life and the mountains are shaking, all done by the God's fierce anger.  God tells Judah that he will use Babylonians to destroy Israel and Judah to punish them for their wicked ways.  God speaks to Jeremiah by experience, through rotten buried clothes, through drought, through a pottery wheel.  God tells Jeremiah that the people are now destined for starvation, war and disease so he is asked to be a prophet once more, to deliver the message and that he will be protected, he will be make strong.

God has "put a curse on those who turn from him and trust in human strength"

People try and stop Jeremiah from his words, including people who falsely accuse him or event arrest him and hold him overnight.  However some just throw insults at him, but he suffers to the point whether he questions whether he should have been born at all.  Jeremiah is on trial, and they reference Micah how he had foretold the destruction of the temple, but the King had listened and destruction was adverted, and that Jeremiah should not be killed.

Hananiah challenges Jeremiah, but then Jeremiah foretells his death and Hananiah dies within two months.  Jeremiah writes to the King after he is taken as a captive to Babylonia, and explains that they will be brought back to Jerusalem after 70 years of Babylonian rule.  One of his letters went to Shemaiah, who then wrote letters to deny him, one went to the priest Zephaniah(not the Prophet) who showed Jeremiah and so Jeremiah cursed Shemaiah.

Jeremiah declares that the Lord will make a new convenant that will be written into the hearts and minds of people, foretelling a king in the line of David.

While a prisoner in Jerusalem, Jeremiah buys a pice of land belonging to the Benjamin tribe, later, he gets Baruch to write down what he says onto a scroll and the scroll is read out to the people then brought before the king, but the king chops it up and throws it into the fire, but another scroll is written this time including a curse upon the King

First Jeremiah is imprisoned in Jonathon's house, the in the palace prison but then he is thrown down a well but later rescued, and then he was kept in the palace gaurds residence.  When Jerusalem fell after a 18month siege, Jeremiah was going to be led away but he was set free and allowed to stay behind and have a house, he went to live with Gedaliah (the new leader of Judah) in Mizpah, but Gedaliah gets killed by Ismael, who takes everyone in Mizpah captive.

But the captives are rescued and plan to flee to Egypt but they stop at Geruth Chimham near Bethlehem, fearing for backlash from the Babylonians, but Jeremiah tells them to stay in Judah.  They refuse to listen and are all led to Egypt by Johanan.  But then the Lord tells Jeremiah that the Babylonains will now attack Egypt, Gaza, Philistine, Crete, Moab, Ammon, and the Kedar tribe.