Editing Political aspects of Islam (section)

===Quran===
[[File:Birmingham Quran manuscript - closeup.jpg|thumb|right|Close-up of one leave showing chapter division and verse-end markings written in [[Hijazi script]] from the [[Birmingham Quran manuscript]], dated between c. 568 and 645, held by the [[University of Birmingham]].]]

Most likely Muhammad was "intimately aware of Jewish belief and practices," and acquainted with the ''Ḥanīf''.{{sfn|Rogerson|2010}}{{sfn|Hazleton|2013|p="a sense of kinship"}} Like the ''Ḥanīf'', Muhammad practiced ''[[Taḥannuth]]'', spending time in seclusion at mount Hira and "turning away from paganism."{{sfn|Bleeker|1968|p=32-34}}<ref>Sally Mallam, [https://humanjourney.us/ideas-that-shaped-our-modern-world-section/mohammad-and-the-beginnings-of-islam-community-of-believers/ ''The Community of Believers'']</ref> When he was about 40 years old, he began receiving at mount Hira' what Muslims regard as divine revelations delivered through the [[Angels in Islam|angel]] [[Gabriel#Islam|Gabriel]], which would later form the [[Quran]]. These inspirations urged him to proclaim a strict [[Monotheism|monotheistic faith]], as the final expression of [[Bible prophecy|Biblical prophetism]] earlier codified in the sacred texts of Judaism and Christianity; to warn his compatriots of the impending [[Judgement Day]]; and to castigate social injustices of his city.{{#tag:ref|"Key themes in these early recitations include the idea of the moral responsibility of man who was created by God and the idea of the judgment to take place on the day of resurrection. [...] Another major theme of Muhammad's early preaching, [... is that] there is a power greater than man's, and that the wise will acknowledge this power and cease their greed and suppression of the poor."<ref name="Buhl1993">{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Buhl |first1=F. |last2=Ehlert |first2=Trude |last3=Noth |first3=A. |last4=Schimmel |first4=Annemarie |last5=Welch |first5=A. T. |title=Muḥammad |orig-date=1993 |year=2012 |editor1-last=Bearman |editor1-first=P. J. |editor1-link=Peri Bearman |editor2-last=Bianquis |editor2-first=Th. |editor2-link=Thierry Bianquis |editor3-last=Bosworth |editor3-first=C. E. |editor3-link=Clifford Edmund Bosworth |editor4-last=van Donzel |editor4-first=E. J. |editor4-link=Emeri Johannes van Donzel |editor5-last=Heinrichs |editor5-first=W. P. |editor5-link=Wolfhart Heinrichs |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopaedia of Islam#2nd edition, EI2|Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition]] |location=[[Leiden]] and [[Boston]] |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |pages=360–376 |doi=10.1163/1573-3912_islam_COM_0780 |isbn=978-90-04-16121-4}}</ref>|group=Note}} Muhammad's message [[Timing of Sahabah becoming Muslims|won over a handful of followers]] (the ''ṣaḥāba'') and was met with [[Persecution of Muslims by Meccans|increasing opposition from Meccan notables]].<ref name="Donner2000">{{cite book |author-last=Donner |author-first=Fred M. |author-link=Fred Donner |year=2000 |origyear=1999 |chapter=Muhammad and the Caliphate: Political History of the Islamic Empire Up to the Mongol Conquest |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=imw_KFD5bsQC&pg=PA5 |editor-last=Esposito |editor-first=John L. |title=The Oxford History of Islam |location=[[Oxford]] and [[New York City|New York]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |pages=5–10 |isbn=0-19-510799-3 |oclc=40838649}}</ref>{{#tag:ref|"At first Muhammad met with no serious opposition [...] He was only gradually led to attack on principle the gods of Mecca. [...] Meccan merchants then discovered that a religious revolution might be dangerous to their fairs and their trade."<ref name="Buhl1993"/>|group=Note}} In 622 CE, a few years after losing protection with the death of his influential uncle [[Abu Talib ibn Abd al-Muttalib|ʾAbū Ṭālib ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib]], Muhammad migrated to the city of Yathrib (subsequently called Medina) where he was joined by his followers.{{sfn|Robinson|2010|p=187}} Later generations would count this event, known as the ''[[Hegira|hijra]]'', as the start of the Islamic era.<ref name="Hourani15-19">{{cite book|author=Albert Hourani|title=A History of the Arab Peoples|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=egbOb0mewz4C&pg=PA15|year=2002|publisher=Harvard University Press|pages=15–19|isbn=9780674010178}}</ref>

In Yathrib, where he was accepted as an arbitrator among the different communities of the city under the terms of the [[Constitution of Medina]], Muhammad began to lay the foundations of the new Islamic society, with the help of new Quranic verses which provided guidance on matters of law and religious observance.<ref name="Hourani15-19"/> The [[surah]]s of this period emphasized his place among the [[Prophets and messengers in Islam|long line of Biblical prophets]], but also differentiated the message of the Quran from the sacred texts of Christianity and Judaism.<ref name="Hourani15-19"/> Armed conflict with the Arab Meccans and [[Jewish tribes of Arabia|Jewish tribes]] of the Yathrib area soon broke out.<ref>{{cite book|author=W. Montgomery Watt|title=Muhammad at Medina|url=https://archive.org/details/muhammadatmedina029655mbp|date=1956|publisher=Oxford at the Clarendon Press|pages=[https://archive.org/details/muhammadatmedina029655mbp/page/n22 1]–17, 192–221}}</ref> After a series of military confrontations and political manoeuvres, Muhammad was able to [[Occupation of Mecca|secure control of Mecca]] and allegiance of the Quraysh in 629 CE.<ref name="Hourani15-19"/> In the time remaining until [[Death of Muhammad|his death]] in 632 CE, [[Tribes of Arabia|tribal chiefs across the Arabian peninsula]] entered into various agreements with him, some under terms of alliance, others acknowledging his claims of prophethood and agreeing to follow Islamic practices, including paying the [[Zakat|alms levy]] to his government, which consisted of a number of deputies, an army of believers, and a public treasury.<ref name="Hourani15-19"/>

In Islam, "the [[Quran|Qurʾān]] is conceived by [[Muslims]] to be the word of [[God in Islam|God]] spoken to Muḥammad and then passed on to humanity in exactly the same form as it was received".<ref name="Calder 2004">{{cite book |editor1-last=Calder |editor1-first=Norman |editor2-last=Mojaddedi |editor2-first=Jawid |editor3-last=Rippin |editor3-first=Andrew |year=2004 |chapter=The life of Muḥammad |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZySCAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA16 |title=Classical Islam: A Sourcebook of Religious Literature |location=[[New York City|New York]] and [[London]] |publisher=[[Routledge]] |edition=1st |pages=16–35 |isbn=9780415505086 |lccn=2003043132}}</ref> While the Quran doesn't dwell on politics, it does make mention of concepts such as "the oppressed" (''mustad'afeen''), "emigration" (''[[Hegira|hijra]]''), the "Muslim community" (''[[Ummah]]''), and "fighting" or "struggling" in the way of God (''[[Jihad|jihād]]''), that can have political implications.<ref name="Cook-1983-51-60">{{cite book |last=Cook |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Cook (historian) |year=1983 |title=Muhammad |location=[[Oxford]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=0192876058 |pages=51–60}}</ref> A number of Quranic verses (such as {{Cite Quran|4|98|expand=no|style=nosup}}) talk about the ''mustad'afeen'', which can be translated as "those deemed weak", "underdogs", or "the oppressed", how they are put upon by people such as the [[pharaoh]], how God wishes them to be treated justly, and how they should emigrate from the land where they are oppressed ({{Cite Quran|4|99|expand=no|style=nosup}}). [[Abraham in Islam|Abraham]] was an "emigrant unto my Lord" ({{Cite Quran|29|25|expand=no|style=nosup}}). War against "[[Kafir|unbelievers]]" (''kuffār'') is commanded and divine aid promised, although some verses state this may be when unbelievers start the war and treaties may end the war. The Quran also devotes some verses to the proper division of spoils captured in war among the victors. War against internal enemies or "[[Munafiq|hypocrites]]" (''munāfiḳūn'') is also commanded.<ref name="Cook-1983-51-60"/> Some commands did not extend past the life of Muhammad, such as ones to refer quarrels to Allah and Muhammad or not to shout at or raise your voice when talking to Muhammad.<ref name="Cook-1983-56-7">{{cite book |last=Cook |first=Michael |year=1983 |title=Muhammad |location=[[Oxford]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=0192876058 |pages=56–7}}</ref> Limiting its political teaching is the fact that the Quran doesn't mention "any formal and continuing structure of authority", only orders to obey Muhammad,<ref name="Cook-1983-56-7"/> and that its themes were of limited use when the success of Islam meant governance of "a vast territory populate mainly peasants, and dominate by cities and states" alien to [[Nomad|nomadic life]] in the [[desert]].<ref name="Cook-1983-59">{{cite book |last=Cook |first=Michael |year=1983 |title=Muhammad |location=[[Oxford]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=0192876058 |page=59}}</ref>