The Haj - Leon Uris [66]
Islam means ‘the submission to God’s will.’
A Moslem is ‘one who submits.’
Mohammed was an impoverished and illiterate camel driver from Mecca who married a rich widow. This allowed him to pursue his calling. He received his mission by going up to Mount Arafat for forty days and receiving instructions from Allah Himself.
The Koran, a collection of Mohammed’s sermons, was not written until many years after his death, by people who had listened to him and were divinely inspired to remember everything he said. Since he was the final prophet, all other religions were therefore obsolete.
Mohammed was awakened one night by the angel Gabriel in Mecca and was told he was to take a night journey to paradise. To prepare for the journey, the angel slit Mohammed’s body open, removed his heart, and washed it; when it was replaced it was filled with faith and wisdom. Mohammed then mounted a sort of horse, a mare named el-Buraq. I say a sort of horse because the mare had a woman’s face, a mule’s body, and a peacock’s tail. This amazing animal could travel as far as the eye could see in a single stride.
The Koran has a passage that mentions ‘the farthest place.’ Jerusalem is never mentioned by name, but the early wise men figured ‘the farthest place’ was Jerusalem.
Reaching Jerusalem, Mohammed tethered el-Buraq to the Western Wall of the Temple of Herod and ascended to the Temple Mount. Here he discovered the great rock of Abraham’s sacrifice, which had also been the altar of the Hebrew Temple. Mohammed then leaped from the rock onto a ladder of light that led to paradise. The rock started to follow Mohammed, but Gabriel, who had flown to Jerusalem ahead of Mohammed, ordered the rock to stay put and the rock obeyed. Later, a great shrine was built over it, called the Dome of the Rock. Nearby, the Al Aksa Mosque was erected. Al Aksa means ‘the farthest place.’
El-Buraq was waiting for Mohammed when he got to heaven. Once again aboard the mount, Mohammed rode through the seven paradises of heaven. He met the patriarchs and the prophets of the Book and saw all the angels at prayer. He said that Moses was a fairly reddish-faced man and that Jesus was of average height and had a lot of freckles, as did Solomon.
Quickly gaining all the knowledge and wisdom of the saints, angels, and prophets, he was allowed a private audience with Allah and was the only man to ever see Allah unmasked. Mohammed and Allah spoke at length to define the various aspects of Islam. Allah wanted the people to pray to Him thirty-five times a day, but Mohammed argued Him into letting them pray a more practical five times daily. After his visit Mohammed returned to Mecca the same night.
The Koran has many other things besides punishments and rewards. It gives us instructions about fornication, adultery, disobedient peoples, alms, murder, corruption, insults, debtors, the pit, divorce, blame casting, dowries, persecution, fasting, the Day of the Burning, fighting, backsliding, backbiting, covetousness, gambling, infanticide, burying infants, heathenism, inheritance laws, how to sleep, menstruation, parental duties, wet-nursing, marital intercourse, oaths, dissension, orphans, eating in other’s houses, prayer times and requirements, the evil eye, ownership of horses, suckling, the scene of the judgment, prohibition of wine and alcohol, renegades, retaliations, satans, repentance, slanderers, treatment of slaves, widows’ wills, thievery, suspicion, usury, cunning, transgression, omens, diets and food laws, prayers of the evil, sexual abstinence, unscrupulous business practices, vanity, raising the dead, sexual dishonor, eunuchs, motherhood, regulations for keeping concubines, bloodclots, enemies, evil spirits, why Mohammed must be believed, vanquishing the Greeks, veiling the woman’s face, cattle, fraud, niggardliness, idolatry, Allah’s powers of imposing death, hypocrites, breaking bonds with kin, temptation, avarice, ritual washing, head shaving