One muslim group though, the sufis, claim to try to replicate muhammads mystical experience of god through intense prayer, the chanting of gods name and singing verses from the quran. Emre yildirim when Prophet Muhammad was saying his prayers, while he was mediating and communicating with god he used to hear the divine instructions and then act, thats why in sufism and in islam, we also try and come close to god. Through our rituals we try to be one with him. Prophet muhammad is an example of this. Whatever he did during his prayers or during his daily life is there for us to take example. Rageh omaar the sufis have developed their own elaborate rituals and techniques and here in turkey they even dance. Although there is no evidence to suggest that muhammad followed these rituals, the sufis see him as an inspiration for their spiritual experience. Prof. Sajjad rizvi the prophet as a perfect human thats very much a part of theological and sufi traditions in islam. His perfection lies in the fact that it is only through him that one can know god. Rageh omaar at the center of the ceremony is the practice of zhikr or the repeated lyrical chanting of gods name, to bring people closer to god. The chanting is followed by a particularly turkish sufi practice to induce a trance like condition through dance. Ziauddin sardar every religion has its own diversity of spiritual practices, islam is no exception. We have number of different spiritual traditions of which sufism is but one, now the prophet prayed, he meditated he contemplated, but he also said, pray but tie your camel, that means praying itself is not good enough you have to do good you have to create a healthy Better Society at the same time. Anybody who follows this spiritual tradition and does good and the emphasis on doing good is very, very important is in fact following on the way of muhammad. Rageh omaar but muhammads spiritual experiences were firmly rooted in the practical necessities of life. He was not someone who retired from the world but worked continually to reform arabian society. Instead of simply waiting for paradise at the end of the world, muhammad tried to create his own ideal society in his own lifetime. By 627 a. D. Muhammad had become a powerful ruler in medina but by all accounts in his personal habits and way of life he remained modest. He continued to live next to his small mosque that served both as a place of worship and as center for his work. Everyone was free to enter and speak with him jews, christians, nonbelievers, even slaves. Ziauddin sardar if you read the accounts it is clear that he is a very charismatic figure he is a person that numerous people came for advice constantly came for advice, but it was not just that he was dispensing sage advice he was always listening to people, he comes out as a very humane and warm person. Dr. Amira bennison i think muhammad does come across in many different contexts as being quite gentle, quite reluctant to find fault. He seemed a very fair individual. Rageh omaar muslim sources talk of his simple taste in clothes and his dislike of gold or silk or other luxuries. He did not care for possessions and gave much away in charity or as gifts. John adair i havent personally detected any sign that muhammad was guided by power. I think his integrity remained intact and he was scrupulous over any corruption or financial issues. I think he stood out as a kind of exemplary human being who could combine that moral vision with the requirements of being a leader of a growing organization. Barnaby rogerson hes a searcher. A searcher for truth and understanding throughout his life and hes a man who used the magic of his own language. Used the genius of the arab people and infused it with something worldwide to make it something that humankind could understand. Rageh omaar muhammad received revelations throughout his life, but between mecca and medina their content changed significantly. Whereas in mecca the revelations dealt with inward principles of spirituality and faith here in medina the revelations would be far more practical. They provided a blueprint for how one should live life on a day to day basis as a muslim from the social to the political. A blueprint that many muslims try to follow today. Dr. Amira bennison whilst in mecca he is very much a religious preacher he talks much more about issues such as the end of time, you know about morality, about of justice and these kinds of things, but once he moves to medina he is the functioning leader of a community, he therefore has to get much more involved in the day to day running of a community. How people interact with each other; how people manage inheritance; how people greet each other even. Rageh omaar the revelations could be quite explicit all muslims should pay a tax to support the sick and needy. Or they could be general guidelines about how to treat others to promote justice and human dignity. Muhammad used these principles in deciding matters brought to him as the ruler of medina. Over time a moral code was revealed to muhammad based on ideas of social justice for all. In the quran, it was called sharia or the way to know god. Prof. Tariq ramadan we have three verses where the concept is revealed in one way or another, on one form or another. And in fact what was understood by the prophet and his companions is that what they were trying to implement was in fact this way towards god so this is why we have a problem of defining the word because the scholars afterward defined sharia as gods law but because they were jurists so for them sharia is all about law but what he was doing is just promoting you know brotherhood, justice, equality, freedom, this is sharia in fact. Rageh omaar what is known today as sharia law, the sacred law of islam is very different. It only came into existence two centuries after muhammads death when muslim legal experts devised a legal code to help run the everexpanding islamic empire. They used a mixture of quranic teachings and examples from muhammads life. Many muslims now regard that version of sharia as the unalterable law of god. Dr. Amira bennison the underlying principles of islamic law appear in the quran and there are some detailed regulations relating to very specific areas such as inheritance which you do find in the quran but the sharia itself is a human edifice constructed over time. Its mans attempt to understand gods will and implement it. But there are divergent views within the sharia, there are contradictory rulings, and so it is certainly not a code sent down directly from god. Its something much more flexible and fluid and adaptive to circumstance. Rageh omaar in medina, muhammad made many radical changes to the customs of his tribal past. He abolished the brutal tradition of blood feuds. Women acquired a share in inheritance and secured rights to own property. But the quran also ordered more traditional penalties such as the amputation of limbs for stealing, although there is no evidence muhammad ever did this. Many of these brutal punishments still form part of sharia law today. Dr. David wood there was the practice of female infanticide in 7th century arabia, so if you had a daughter and you didnt want to take care of a daughter for 13 or 15 years until someones going to marry her you toss her out into the desert and she would die muhammad put an end to that. Muhammad put an emphasis on helping orphans and widows we would look at that and say great, thats a great teaching. But certainly we find many teachings that we would consider barbaric by todays standard. Stoning of adulterers and adulteresses, chopping off body parts of those who steal things. These are certain things i would regard as backwards. Prof. Tariq ramadan today because we are facing the west because we are having a very narrow understanding we come with something that sharia is how we are going to implement very narrow understanding of what a marriage is, of what punishment are, and i think that this is not the way and this is why i am saying today if i am speaking about sharia i live in the west and in the west we have laws where you and me we are equal before law, this is my sharia, this is where we have to come with a better, a deeper understanding of the very essence of sharia. Rageh omaar some muslim states, such as saudi arabia and iran, base their entire legal system on sharia law with punishments that many regard as medieval in their brutality. So calls by muslim extremists to introduce sharia law in europe and in britain have led to street protests and the rise of Political Parties campaigning against what they see as the spread of islamic influence. Nonie darwish and this is the problem, that in the 21st century we still have nations who are beheading people, who are cutting the limbs off people, cutting the hands and feet. There are women today being stoned to death by the government for sexual violations, not for murder, its not for a crime of taking someone elses life, and its just an inhumane way of killing. Prof. Tariq ramadan all these people who are stoning the people and are just starting with punishments say this is sharia. I say no, thats not sharia, this is a way you are instrumentalizing religion for your own sake. I have one question how have you been elected . Are you elected . Are you representing the people . Let me start with the first question because you have no legitimacy, no way for you to implement this in the name of islam if you are not legitimate. And many of the people who are doing it starting with this are not really elected and they are not chosen by the people so their own status is important and then there is a second question, what about social justice . What about equal rights . What about education . Are you going to punish people without educating them . Is this islam . No, islam is starting with education. And as for the punishments is another story, do not start with punishment, start with dignity and rights, not with punishment because punishment is the way you instrumentalize religion just to make yourself being legitimate while you are not. Ziauddin sardar like all laws sharia law at least in theory supposed to be changing, evolving institution. But what we have under the rubric of sharia law today is actually frozen in history. It is the interpretations of jurists undertaking during the 8th and 9th century that is what we call sharia law. That is why whenever sharia law is implemented it recreates the conditions of 8th and 9th century. And thats, this reformulation to be continuous and constant because the word sharia itself means the way to the watering hole. Why do you go to the watering hole . To drink water. It is something that we need. To drink all the time. That means it has to be refreshed, rethought and reformulated from epoch to epoch. Rageh omaar it was now 627 a. D. Muhammad had a secure power base in medina. Although he had frustrated all the efforts of his enemies the quraysh to destroy him, they were still powerful and in control of mecca. If muhammad was to succeed in bringing his message to all the people of arabia, he had to find a solution to break this stalemate. One of the key lessons from the battles for muhammad was that he was going to find it very difficult to overcome the meccans militarily. He had to try to undermine them politically. What he needed was to strike alliances with other tribes across arabia and one of the key ways of doing this was through marriage. For muhammads critics his polygamous marriages have always been a problem. But at that time in arabia polygamy was the norm; and it wasnt until after the death of his first wife that muhammad had several wives at the same time. Some accounts say 9 others 11 or 13. Some were widows. Some were women captured after battles who by marrying him were granted their freedom. One was even a christian coptic slave presented to him by the byzantine ruler of egypt. But his most controversial marriage was to the daughter of his closest companion, a young girl called aisha. According to some sources, aisha is supposed to have been betrothed at age 6 or 7, then formally married at 9, other accounts make her older nearly 16 or 17, its this lack of clarity that has left muhammad open to serious condemnation from many critics. Prof. Tariq ramadan my position on this is that she was older, she was between 16 and 18 and not six and nine, so these are scholars of today but not today but in fact last century, trying to get a sense of that might be we are repeating this but this is not really true it is not something which is in the quran, is in the prophetic traditions and we have to check about this and i would say that each year is problematic in itself. Rageh omaar muhammads marriage to aisha lasted till his death. And she later became a prominent political leader in her own right. Muslim historians claim that it was her differences with muhammads cousin and son in law ali that eventually led to the great schism in islam, between the sunni and the shia sects. Merryl wyn davies the real point in this and it is lost in all this argument is who was aisha and what did she become, she grew up in the prophets household to become a really feisty, independent, intelligent, politically aware women and she is a foundation of our understanding of the prophets life. Without aisha half of what we know of the prophet disappears. Rageh omaar a series of further revelations defined islamic marriage. They also provided muhammads critics with more ammunition as they said that while muhammad was allowed to keep all his wives, in future muslim men would only be allowed a maximum of four wives as long as they could support them and treat them all equally. Abdurraheem green we have to understand the Prophet Muhammad in the context of his time. Pagan arabia is a place where there is unlimited polygamy that is the normal practice. Islam comes and limits that polygamy. For muslims it is limited to four wives the prophet is allowed and the prophet is previously married up to nine wives, he is also prohibited from adding any more to that number but those wives that he is married to he is allowed to keep and there is a simple reason for that the importance of building tribal alliances. This is very, very important the prophet is not only a prophet he is a leader of his people and building those alliances is hugely important. Dr. David wood now the justification for muhammad having more wives is sort of 33 50 which gave muhammad and only muhammad permission to marry as many women as he wanted to marry and we have to be somewhat skeptical so many people have claimed to be prophets when we look at a prophet and his revelations give him more sexual partners than anyone else is allowed to have i say we have some reason for suspicion here. Karen armstrong it would be entirely a mistake to imagine the prophet basking decadently in a garden of earthly delights. These are political marriages. He marries aisha because he wants to bind himself more closely with their fathers hes creating a new community not based on tribe or blood but somehow this helps to make the transition easier if you make a marriage link. Rageh omaar we know from muslim sources that some of muhammads marriages even caused him problems during his own lifetime. For example when he married the divorced wife of his adopted son, his enemies spread rumors that it was an incestuous relationship, in an attempt to divide the Muslim Community. Robert spencer his marriage to his former daughter inlaw zaynab bint jahsh, when he married her its clear that there were protests from the community and people thought that this was a shocking, scandalizing kind of thing for him to have done. Rageh omaar according to the sources, muhammad faced another marital crisis when aisha went missing during a journey. She was eventually found and brought back to medina by a man who had known her before her marriage to muhammad. Again his enemies spread rumors that something scandalous must have happened between them. According to muslim tradition muhammad himself was at first unsure who to believe, but eventually after a new revelation from god, he accepted aishas protestations of innocence. At that time in arabia, adulterers were traditionally stoned to death. This new revelation defined how any future allegations of adultery should be dealt with, and surprisingly in complete contrast to the extreme views held by groups like the taliban. Ajmal masroor the punishment of stoning to death was borrowed from christianity and judaism from the Old Testament of course as we know, in the quran punishment for having sex outside marriage is lashing hundred times on your backside, only if it can be proven that four people have seen the act of penetration. Which is very difficult to prove. Rageh omaar muhammads wives lived with him in specially built rooms adjoining the courtyard of his mosque in medina. It was a very busy public place and privacy was hard to find. With the continual attempts of muhammads enemies to create division, the potential for future scandal was always there so something had to be done. One day muhammad received a new revelation that instructed his wives to cover themselves to maintain their modesty. This act of veiling or covering has had a profound effect on muslim women and also how the outside world views islams attitudes to women in general. Karen armstrong there are injunctions about the prophets wives wearing some kind of covering, its not exactly clear what that covering is but its to distinguish them and this is all part and parcel of the difficult divisions in medina because muhammads enemies in medina were using his wives to discredit him and so some kind of distinction needed to be made, but veiling was not for all women. Rageh omaar today the veil is seen by islams critics as symbolic of its attitude to women in general and its desire to oppress them. But the more universal veiling of women did not become an islamic custom until more than a hundred years after muhammads death. Princess badiya bint el hassan as far as the religion is concerned there is a requirement of modesty for both men and women, but how you fulfill that requirement is open to debate, you know i do not feel that i am compromising myself as a muslim by not wearing the hijab, and i certainly dont not wear it because i am trying to say that i am not a serious muslim. You cant judge the seriousness of some ones faith and belief by what they wear. Rageh omaar over the last 20 years, in britain as in many western countries, the veil has become a form of identity for many muslim women. Some just cover their hair, others their entire face. It is a controversial issue with some European Countries now banning women from using the veil. Fatima barkatullah is a writer on islamic women. Fatima, are you wearing the veil because you are obliged to because of your family or do you do it out of free will . Fatima barkatullah for me it is absolutely 100 free will its very much about a spiritual journey and about wanting to be the best i can be in gods eyes. When im getting ready in the morning to go out i will just cover what i would normally be wearing, you know whether its jeans, or whatever i am wearing, with Something Like this. Rageh omaar . Which is a gown, essentially. Fatima barkatullah yes its an outer garment, people call it the abaya, or a jilbab and then i wear this which is a khimar or a scarf and then i wear this small face veil, this is very much my public face if you like. Rageh omaar but why do you choose to wear the full Face Covering as opposed to this the khimar, the scarf . Which you see a lot of other muslim women wearing as well. Fatima barkatullah i believe that the more modest i can be the more of a virtue it is, so essentially im doing it to please god. Rageh omaar where do you think this comes from, is it in the quran . Is it. Fatima barkatullah yes youll find it in the quran, a verse in the surat alahzab clearly says o prophet tell your wives your daughters and the women of the believers. Meaning the muslim women that when they go out of their homes they should wear their outer garments, and the word in arabic is jalabib, which has two orthodox interpretations actually. Rageh omaar thats the point this is all an interpretations, there isnt anywhere in the quran which says it is a rule for muslim women that they must wear a veil, its in the interpretation. Fatima barkatullah as far as the face is concerned there is some difference of opinion. Merryl wyn davies the one verse that specifically does deal with veiling actually says cover your nakedness not shroud yourself in a black bag, now muslim women have interpreted it muslim men have interpolated practices from other societies into the interpretation of the religion and identity politics has a great deal to do with it. But i say women should be free to choose but there is no compulsion and there is no requirement for them to veil themselves. Rageh omaar despite the best efforts of his enemies to discredit him through his marriages, muhammad had used them to confirm and widen his power base in arabia. He could now turn his attention again to mecca. In early 628 a. D. He told his followers that they were going to set out to perform the annual hajj rites of the kaaba, in mecca. For muhammad and his followers, the kaaba had become central to their worship, the place to which they turned in prayer. They believed it had been originally built by the prophet abraham and regarded it as the ultimate symbol of their faith the unity of the one god, allah. But access to the kaaba was controlled by muhammads enemies, the quraysh, the rulers of mecca. It contained shrines to the hundreds of gods worshipped by all the tribes in arabia. Muhammad was now determined to challenge their control of this sacred shrine. Karen armstrong the prophet announces that he is going to make the hajj, must have been astonishing because on the hajj you are not allowed to carry weapons he was going unarmed in to the enemy territory. Barnaby rogerson its when again you touch the magic of muhammad as a man. He fought wars and now he just said right were off to pray to god. Rageh omaar muhammad and the convoy of followers were forced to stop here at hudaibiya, which is about 8 miles outside of the holy city, because the quraysh had reacted with characteristic aggression and they had sent a cavalry in order to stop the convoy. And so began a series of frenetic negotiation with emissaries going between muhammad and the quraysh. They eventually arrived at an agreement but the so called treaty of hudaibiya signed at a spot marked by a mosque just behind me looked like the most humiliating of compromises for muhammad. The quraysh insisted that muhammad and his followers return to medina without performing the hajj rites. They also insisted that all raids on meccan caravans by the Muslim Forces under muhammads command should stop. In return they would allow muhammad and his followers to return to mecca as pilgrims to perform the hajj but only in the following year. And when it came to signing the document which describes muhammad as the messenger of god the quraysh emissary objected saying that to them he was only muhammad the son of abdullah. For muhammads followers, this was an unbearable insult. According to muslim tradition, when muhammads young cousin ali, who was doing the writing, heard this he refused to strike out the words, the messenger of god. Karen armstrong muhammads says give me the pen point out the words messenger of god and he strikes it out himself. See it as a striking out of your ego, not standing on your right, the quran says that if the enemy asks for peace you must lay down your arms immediately and accept any terms however disadvantageous. Rageh omaar for muhammads followers, the terms of this treaty and particularly the treatment of muhammad were completely humiliating. It was only muhammads adamant attitude that kept them from mutiny. What muhammad was trying to do was totally unheard of in 7th century arabia. In a society of honor, traditionally blood feuds ruled the day. But after years of bloody but inconclusive conflict, muhammad now wanted to defeat his enemies not through war but by peace. By signing a truce with the quraysh he had not only gained access to the kaaba, albeit at a later date but also extracted from them the crucial acknowledgement that he and they were now equals. Prof. Sajjad rizvi in the sense hudaibya does represent a minimal option which is okay we cant get what we want now but we can get it in the future if we make this agreement and a truce in which people were not fighting was always preferable to war. This is again something which is quranically given, you know, peace is better than war; its repeated again and again. So it very much fits within that particular type of principle. Rageh omaar as he and his followers were returning to medina, muhammad then received a new revelation confirming that the treaty of hudabiya was a not a humiliating defeat. Karen armstrong he said ive just had a revelation. He said this was a manifest victory says the god, it may have looked like a defeat but it was a manifest victory. The quraysh were filled with all the violence of the old tribal spirit, they were filled with contempt and pride. It was the muslims, the spirit of peace that filled their hearts. Sometimes this is forgotten, we hear all about muhammads wars but we forget this extraordinary nonviolent offensive. After hudabiya the tide had turned in his favor with a campaign of nonviolence. Prof. John esposito a primary vehicle that muhammad did use was diplomacy at the time. He went out visited the tribes, engaged with major religious leaders, attempted to form pacts, created if you look at the community at medina created a space for other faiths and other people; and i think that that is clearly there. Rageh omaar the treaty of hudabiya marks a turning point in muhammads attempts to spread his message throughout arabia. But it also shows that he was prepared to suffer the utmost humiliation from his worst enemies in pursuit of peace. And yet in todays world the most commonly held views of muhammad is that he is the enemy of peace and that islam is the religion of jihad commonly taken to mean holy war. Thousands have been killed all over the world by groups that are now called jihadi, a term never used in muhammads time. And yet these groups all claim the quran and muhammad himself as inspiration and justification for their actions. Mohammad sidique khan its very clear brothers and sisters that the path of jihad and the desire for martyrdom was deeply embedded in the holy prophet, salla llah alayhi wa alihi wa sallam, and his beloved companions. Rageh omaar most socalled jihadis usually refer to a verse in the quran, now known as the sword verse, as justification for their violent acts. Prof. Tariq ramadan if you come back to the quran you have these verses, no one can deny that there are verses very, very much dealing with war and violent. Now as we have to deal with the quran its an eternal book dealing with history these verses were revealed in a very specific period of time where the muslims were under oppression and trying to resist, just to survive. So we have to contextualize this, the main stream Classical Tradition in the shia and the sunni tradition is saying you cant use these verses just to promote war and kill innocent people this is wrong. Rageh omaar the interpretation of individual quranic verses goes to the heart of this controversy, but most scholars now agree that the term jihad does not mean holy war. Its real meaning is completely different. Reverend prof. Richard bonney the concept of jihad emerges out of the holy quran, out of the revelation that the prophet receives and there are about 35 examples in the quran of the word jihad or the term basically being used and often in the case of striving. Now striving can be all sorts of things, it can be striving against the baseness of oneself it can be a seeking to overcome evil and being good, it can be striving in the sense of fighting. But jihad is always distinguished from fighting and a different terminology is used for the words fighting. Rageh omaar in all the battles that muhammad fought, the rules of engagement were always carefully delineated within the context of his time and what was generally acceptable. But there are no recorded instances of deliberate attacks on civilian populations. Reverend prof. Richard bonney one of the points about jihad in the early islamic tradition, both in his lifetime and afterwards, is that there is a gradual evolution of an idea towards Something Like a just war. And the just war is a constraint on the army, does not attack or massacre the civilians, doesnt kill women or children, doesnt kill priests of other religions incidentally and so on. And this draws on the practice in the lifetime of the prophet. Rageh omaar these rules of engagement appear to have been forgotten by todays muslim extremists. Suicide bombers kill people not only in western cities but also in mosques and other places of worship in the muslim world itself. In britain today no muslim activist or group will openly defy the law by accepting or agreeing to the use of violence. But over the last 10 years more than 200 muslims have been convicted of terrorist related offences. In 2008 abdul muhid was convicted and jailed for two years for terrorist funding. Mizanur rehman was charged for soliciting murder and jailed for four years in 2006. Both have now served their sentences but still have strong views about the role of jihad in todays world. Has the modern interpretation of jihad changed in any way, because for most people today jihad means just one thing doesnt it, it means fighting in the physical struggle . Mizanur rehman the scholars of islam in the past they all agreed that jihad means fighting non muslims yes, but not just for the sake of forcing them to be muslim but to make the word of allah the highest by removing obstacles from the implementation of sharia and for the call of islam to spread across the world. Rageh omaar from your interpretation of the prophets life, i mean is it permitable at any time in jihad to attack noncombatants . Abdul muhid if i cut straight to the point the argument of islamic terrorists is this if you choose a government that represents you and they decide to bomb a country and kill people than you have blood on your hands its like hiring for example a murderer if i pay a murderer to go and kill someone its not just the murderer who is blame worthy i share that blame so if you say by noncombatants these people are a voted for government that is carrying out crimes than they share the blame, and obviously in their eyes in that of the islamic terrorist they are blame worthy. Rageh omaar these ideas are abhorrent to muslims and nonmuslims and would have been unrecognizable to muhammad. For him the concept of jihad was not just simply about killing and war, but it was about striving to improve yourself in the eyes of god. There is the concept of a just war in islam and muhammad himself fought many battles, but for him there was no justification of the killing of innocent people. Ajmal masroor the verses of the quran that talks about fighting and defending yourself doesnt legitimize killing yourself deliberately and killing others in that process. Remember in islam Collateral Damage is not allowed. Intentionally bombing a group of people assuming that your target would be killed as well as others and the others would be Collateral Damage is completely disallowed in islam. Rageh omaar muhammads peaceful jihad was now about to come to fruition. Under the terms of the treaty of hudabiya, he could embark on a journey that would take him back to the city of his birth; the city he had left nearly seven years ago as a refugee, penniless and in fear of his life. He was now returning as the head of an everexpanding religious community, the most powerful leader in arabia. In february 629, muhammad agreed with the quraysh to be allowed back into mecca in order to visit the kaaba. The quraysh agreed to allow muhammad and his followers into the kaaba for three days and yet during that time it marked a change in peoples perceptions towards muhammad and his followers. The people of mecca saw the muslims enter the kaaba and they observed how well behaved they were, how sincere they were and it was important because it showed that slowly but surely the stranglehold of the quraysh in mecca was beginning to crumble. A year later, the quraysh broke the truce by attacking one of muhammads allies. It was a fatal mistake. In january 630, the prophet gathered a massive army of ten thousand men and marched towards mecca. The quraysh were powerless to resist and they fully expected muhammad to storm into mecca and exact a bloody revenge for the many years of persecution and war. Their control of city was at an end. But it was what he did next, that this hour of ultimate victory that left people stunned. Muhammad declared that he forgave all his former enemies. He then said that there was to be a general amnesty and he said that no one was to be forced to convert to islam. Instead of revenge muhammad consciously chose reconciliation. Prof. Sajjad rizvi the conquest of mecca is very important because theres a wide ranging amnesty given, and people were given options of accepting the faith or going elsewhere or whatever. But certainly there was this notion that okay once mecca is taken and mecca is considered to be the cultic center now of this new faith, it certainly the first stage of the mission is complete, and so theres no need for fighting. Rageh omaar for muhammad this was the moment he had been waiting for. He had come back to mecca not to kill the quraysh but to restore the kaaba to its role as the sacred shrine to the one god. According to muslim tradition, when he and thousands of his followers entered the kaaba, they destroyed the many gods and effigies placed there. Barnaby rogerson he pardons the meccans, but he doesnt just pardon them he pardons them with kindness and he almost drowns their criticism with gifts. And there is that sort of wonderful instance of just the tribal sheikhs who never really opposed, never listen to his message, all they wanted were cattle, more camels, and more silver he gives it to them. Merryl wyn davies it seems to me thats the heart and the essence of the life of the prophet the moment it was building to. From what i understand and know of the personality of the prophet it is the most characteristic moment in his entire life, he was not a vengeful man, his message was not about vengeance, but about constructing a transformative reformative process, Building Society by including everybody, so it seems to me that when he came back to mecca thats when i say, yes thats the point from which we begin, thats the model we need to build on. Karen armstrong and then he goes home. There is no attempt to impose what we call today an islamic state, so we are not talking about doctrinal conformity; we are talking about ending this tribalism which sets people up against one another. Rageh omaar although mecca was now his, muhammad chose not to move back to the city of his birth. Instead he returned to his adopted home, medina. And with the quraysh defeated it wasnt long before the rest of arabia joined his cause. Muhammads bloodless conquest of mecca was clear proof that his movement was succeeding. And whats more his message of justice and using peace and reconciliation as a means of delivering that message was beginning to attract huge numbers of converts; in fact tribes were beginning to convert wholesale. By 631 the last pagan stronghold of taif fell, now muhammad was effectively the ruler of the whole of muslim arabia. More than twenty years had passed since he had received his first revelation. For over a decade he and his followers had eked out a precarious existence. Time after time they had been on the verge of destruction but they had managed to survive through a combination of muhammads spiritual, military and political leadership, and finally after a seemingly humiliating treaty, to triumph over their enemies. John adair muhammad expressed and exemplified the qualities that we now see universally. Our characteristic of a good leader and a leader for good, enthusiasm, integrity. Then the combination of toughness and demandingness and fairness is very important in leaders universally and muhammad had all those attributes, very clearly. I think warmth, humanity, kindness is important too. And again if you look at the traditions of the life of muhammad, there are plenty of examples where he showed those kinds of humane qualities. Rageh omaar by the year 632 muhammad had achieved almost all he had set out to achieve. He created a level of peace and security that arabia had rarely known, he laid out the foundations and rules of islam and he created the foundations of a new Muslim Community but by this time he was 60 years old and his health was beginning to fail. In that year he came to mecca for the last time and he performed his first and only hajj, or pilgrimage, and he gave what would become known as the farewell sermon. Sitting here on a camel, on the plains of arafat, he spoke to a vast crowd with strategically placed announcers relaying his words. It was a deeply emotional speech in which in his own words muhammad summarized what he felt he and his followers had achieved. Quote from sermon o people lend me an attentive ear, for i know not whether after this year i shall ever be amongst you again. Therefore, listen carefully to what i am saying and take these words to those who could not be present here today. Abdurraheem green you see in the final sermon this heartfelt plea from the prophet warning the muslims about certain things advising them about certain things. You can see his worries about the future of muslims, and that these words are something that they should take note of and they should hang on to and they should be aware because in here is a very, very Important Message for every muslim. Rageh omaar quote from sermon do not therefore do injustice to yourselves. Remember one day you will meet allah and answer your deeds. So beware, do not astray from the path of righteousness after i am gone. Prof. John esposito remember what gods earliest message was, to abraham, to adam, to moses, to jesus, etc. And remember that the only real reality, the ultimate reality, is the one true god and that that god is the creator, sustainer, and judge of the universe. Rageh omaar quote from sermon all mankind is from adam and eve, an arab has no superiority over a nonarab nor a nonarab has any superiority over an arab; also a white has no superiority over black; nor a black has any superiority over white except by piety and good action. Karen armstrong hes saying all humans are one; god has called you from the tribalism of paganism, and its pride in ancestors, but remember all men came from adam and adam came from dust. And then he quotes these words from the quran which really speak to our time. Oh people god says to humanity we have formed you from a male and a female and have formed you into tribes and nations so that you may get to know one another not so that you may fight of oppress or occupy or convert or terrorize but so that you may get to know one another. Rageh omaar quote from sermon all those who listen to me shall pass on my words to others and those to others again; and may the last ones understand my words better than those who listen to me directly. Be my witness o allah, that i have conveyed your message to your people. Karen armstrong and he asks them oh people oh muslims have i fulfilled my mandate to you, and they cry naam, yes and it rings around, and he asks them three times have i and each time they reply naam and i think its a most moving moment. Ziauddin sardar well thats the summation of his life so he emphasizes all the principles that he has been teaching for the last twenty three years, he says for example there is no difference between arab and nonarab look after your family, so its kind of summation of his life, if he did nothing else but simply read the last sermon you will get the essence of the life of muhammad. Merryl wyn davies the prophets final sermon sets the agenda for modern contemporary muslim society. It shows where we failed and it shows were we have to try to get to, it sums up the Transformative Mission that was the life of the prophet. Rageh omaar after his farewell pilgrimage, muhammad returned to his small house in medina exhausted. He had begun to have headaches and fainting fits. He tried to attend public prayers in the mosque but he was more and more confined to his bed where aisha nursed him. One day he appeared to get better and the news spread like wildfire around the oasis. But it was only a brief reprieve. On the 8th june 632, muhammad died in the house of his wife aisha. The news stunned his followers. Some refused to accept the truth. Panic began to take hold. How could the messenger of god be dead . His closest companion abu bakr calmed their fears reminding them that muhammad had never claimed to be anything other than a mere mortal and that only god is to be worshiped, not muhammad. He was buried here next to his mosque, his face turned towards mecca, a practice still common today among muslims. Within a hundred years, muhammads message had spread across the world, as far as india and china in the east, and as far north africa and spain and france in the west. But in many ways, his struggle for a peaceful jihad was already in tatters. Within just a generation of muhammads death his closest companions and family were already squabbling, breaking out into open and bloody warfare that lead to the deep schism that still exists within the muslim world today between sunni and shia. But today muhammads message seems under threat like never before. Many muslims feel humiliated and condemned by the sheer power of western culture and military might whilst many in the west see islam as the religion of some of the most oppressive states on earth, a violent intolerant faith. But the question is how much of this can be blamed on muhammad himself . Muhammad left the world with three things his faith in god, the example of his own life and above all else the quran itself. Now people will always choose and high light those aspects of his life they want to support their own arguments whilst ignoring the rest. But if we examine his life in total we find that he left arabia a better place than he found it. When faced with persecution he chose to suffer rather than to retaliate. Although he did fight many military battles, he turned his back on war when he could. His ultimate victory came through peace not through conflict. And with that victory he chose the path of reconciliation rather than revenge. And finally in his farewell sermon, muhammad left us with the most important lesson of all, that we are all equal, arab and nonarab, muslim and nonmuslim. A universal message that is as relevant today as it was in 7th century arabia, and it seems to me this is the true legacy of the life of muhammad. The life of muhammad was made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Im susie gharib with a nightly Business Report news brief. Home depot and best buy report Solid Earnings and strong sales but j. C. Penney continues to lose money. It boosted wall street socks on wall street. The dow fell for a fifth straight session, down seven points today but closed above the 15,000 level. The nasdaq up 24, the s p 500 added six points. The white house is reviewing the annual aid sent to egypts military. Nearly 1. 5 billion. A federal judge approved kodaks problem to emerge from bankruptcy protection. The tesla s got the highest safe tiff rating from the government and darrell isa from california is worth 355 million. Be sure to tune into nightly Business Report right here on your Public Television station. Rose welcome to our summer sere wrez we bring you some of our favorite programs from the past year year. Tonight lee daniels the butler. Joining me to talk about the film with screenwriter danny strong and two of its stars Forest Whitaker and oprah winfrey. It was a challenge. It was one of the most challenging roles ive ever played. I think because of the sort of being able to communicate without words, you know . The process of going through all these years and the age prog says, trying to carry these experiences that were painted in the script by danny and lee, the side of myself so that you could feel them and know them and theyd be a part of me and understanding the history so i could take that tapestry and pull it together. Because its also for me a love story. A love story through the eyes of this man and one of the reasons i said yes to lee after he was relentless in asking me to do it is because i wanted the tapestry the depth, the broadness of that communication between a husband and a wife and particularly a middleclass black family to be seen by the rest of the world. Its something we dont see very often and i think that women have been the backbone regardless of race during that period for a number of reasons and i wanted to be able to show that in that one character. Rose lee daniels the butler for the hour. Funding for charlie rose was provided by the following give a little bit give a little bit of my life for you nows the time when we need to share so send a smile were on our way back home rose additional funding provided by these funders and by bloomberg, a provider of news and multimedia Information Services worldwide. From our studios in new york city, this is charlie rose. Rose you gene allen was born on a virginia plantation in 1919 he worked in a country club until 1952. He then found a job as be a butler in the white house. He ended up spending 34 years there. He served under eight president s from harry truman to ronald reagan. He saw some of the pivotal events in u. S. History the cuban missile crisis, the freedom rides, the assassinations of j. F. K. And Martin Luther king, jr. , the vietnam war and watergate. His life, wrote president obama after allens death in 2010, represented an important part of the american story. Now a new movie has been made inspired by eugene allens story. Here is the trailer for lee daniels the butler. Are you political mr. Gaines . No, sir. Good. We have no tolerance for politics at the white house. Im cecil gaines. Im the new butler. You hear nothing, you say