Ambulances were called but were delayed by the shooting. Bassam al-Bilbeisi, the driver of the first ambulance to arrive, was reported to have been shot and killed, as was a Palestinian jeep driver. Time magazine said he had received a fatal wound to the abdomen, confirmed by a pathologist Dr Abed El-Razeq El Masry, who said the boy's intestines had been expelled. The pathologist's post-mortem photographs were seen by the French channel Canal+ in 2008, and showed the body with injuries to the abdomen (but see ). He was flown instead to the King Hussein Medical Centre in Amman, Jordan, where he was visited by King Abdullah. Doctors there said his right hand would be permanently paralyzed. Abu Rahma told National Public Radio on October 1, 2000:

... I saw the boy getting injured in his leg, and the father asking for help. Then I saw him getting injured in his arm, the father. The father was asking the ambulances to help him, because he could see the ambulances. I cannot see the ambulance ... I wasn't far away, maybe from them [Jamal and Muhammad] face to face about 15 meters, 17 meters. But the father didn't succeed to get the ambulance by waving to them. He looked at me and he said, "Help me." I said, "I cannot, I can't help you." The shooting till then was really heavy ... It was really raining bullets, for more than for 45 minutes. Then I find, I hear something, "boom!" Really is coming with a lot of dust. I looked at the boy, I filmed the boy lying down in the father's lap, and the father really, getting really injured, and he was really dizzy. I said, "Oh my god, the boy's got killed, the boy's got killed," I was screaming, I was losing my mind. While I was filming, the boy got killed ... where Enderlin watched the footage and compiled his report. An affidavit sworn by Abu Rahma on October 3, 2000, says the Israeli soldiers shot the boy in cold blood: "I can assert that shooting at the child Mohammed and his father Jamal came from the above-mentioned Israeli military outpost, as it was the only place from which shooting at the child and his father was possible. So, by logic and nature, my long experience in covering hot incidents and violent clashes, and my ability to distinguish sounds of shooting, I can confirm that the child was intentionally and in cold blood shot dead and his father injured by the Israeli army." The affidavit was given to the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights in Gaza, and signed by the cameraman in the presence of Raji Sourani, a human rights lawyer. France 2's communications director, Christine Delavennat, later said Abu Rahma denied having accused the Israeli army of firing at the boy in cold blood, and that this had been falsely attributed to him.|alt=photograph]] The position of the Israeli government and IDF changed over time, from accepting responsibility in October 2000 to retracting that admission in September 2007. The IDF's first response when Enderlin contacted them before his broadcast was that the Palestinians "make cynical use of women and children," which he decided not to air. The day after the shooting, the IDF issued a statement saying it was impossible to determine the origin of the fire. On October 3, the Israeli army's chief of operations, Major-General Giora Eiland, said the shots had apparently been fired by Israeli soldiers; the soldiers had been shooting from small slits in the wall, he said, and had not had a clear field of vision. Second Lieutenant Idan Quris, who was at the time in command of an engineering platoon at the Israeli outpost, and Lieutenant-Colonel Nizar Fares of the Herev Battalion, at the time acting commander of the outpost, said they did not know who killed the boy, and that no one had seen him from the Israeli position.

Controversy

Minimalist and maximalist narratives

Next to the view that Israeli gunfire killed the boy, two alternative narratives emerged, which commentators call the "minimalist" and "maximalist" narratives. The "minimalist" narrative, also called the "third way," is that Palestinian gunfire caused his death, or that no one knows who did. The "maximalist" narrative is that the incident was staged by the Palestinians for propaganda purposes—without Enderlin's knowledge—and that the boy may not be dead at all, or may have been killed as part of the staging.

In an interview with Esther Schapira for Three Bullets and a Dead Child, a 2002 documentary for Germany's ARD channel, Abu Rahma, the cameraman, said that bullets had indeed been recovered. He suggested Schapira ask a named Palestinian general about them. The general told Schapira that he had no bullets, and that there had been no Palestinian investigation because there was no doubt as to who had shot the boy. When told the general had no bullets, Abu Rahma said that France 2 had collected bullets at the scene. He said: "We have some secrets for ourselves ... We cannot give anything ... everything." Brian Whitaker wrote in The Guardian in 2000 that the news first arrived in London from the Associated Press at 6:00 pm BST (GMT+1), followed minutes later by a similar report from Reuters. According to Stéphane Juffa of the Israeli Metula News Agency, another doctor at the Shifa hospital, Dr. Joumaa Saka, said that Muhammad was admitted before 1:00 pm.

Fallows also said there was a discrepancy regarding the time of the funeral. A boy wrapped in a Palestinian flag, with his face exposed, who Fallows said looked like Muhammad, was carried through the streets of the refugee camp in front of thousands of mourners. Several news organizations said this occurred on the evening of September 30. Fallows said that it appeared to take place in full sunlight, with shadows suggesting it was midday.

In addition to confusion about the timing, early reports named the boy as Rami Aldura. Abu Rahma explained later that it was believed his name was Rami until a local CBS stringer, who was married to Jamal's sister, identified the couple in the footage as Jamal and Muhammad al-Durrah.|alt=photograph]] Major General Yom Tov Samia, the IDF's southern commander, set up a team of investigators shortly after the incident, though the extent to which it was an official investigation remains unclear. IDF Chief of Staff Shaul Mofaz said the team was put together by Samia alone, not by the IDF's General Staff, The team appears to have been led by Nahum Shahaf, a physicist, and Joseph Doriel, an engineer and former director of the Israel Institute of Productivity.

Nahum Shahaf

Nahum Shahaf is known as one of the leading developers of pilotless light aircraft and video instrumentation, and was awarded a medal in 1997 by the Israeli Ministry of Science for his work on compressing digital video transmission. Shahaf contacted Samia shortly after the al-Durrah incident to say he had noticed an anomaly, namely that the concrete drum itself seemed undamaged, though the people sheltering behind it were alleged to have been hit from a direction that should have seen the drum punctured too. He suggested that he and Doriel—they knew each other from previous discussions about the Rabin assassination, according to Cygielman—be engaged to conduct an investigation, free of charge. Enderlin said that Shahaf wrote to him requesting a copy of the unedited footage, saying it was for "various professional audiences, including film schools," with the name of a company, Eye to Eye Communications, next to his signature. Enderlin declined, and was subsequently concerned to learn that Shahaf was associated with an IDF inquiry.

They also concluded that the round shape of the bullet holes in the wall showed the fire did not come from the IDF. They fired into the reconstructed concrete wall from different angles, and found that, to produce a round hole, they had to fire from more or less straight on. A shot from the angle representing the position of the IDF post produced an elongated hole. They concluded that the evidence was consistent with shots coming from a position behind the France 2 cameraman, roughly in the location of "the pita," the circular dirt berm in the north-west quadrant of the junction, where Palestinian police officers are alleged to have been standing, armed with automatic rifles (see above).

Conclusions, withdrawal of Israeli responsibility

member Ophir Pines-Paz said the inquiry had "foregone conclusions."|alt=photograph]] On October 23, 2000, Shahaf and Doriel invited a CBS camera crew to film the reenactment, Doriel telling the correspondent, Bob Simon, that he believed the boy's death was real, but had been staged to besmirch Israel's reputation. Those in the know included the cameraman and the boy's father, Doriel said, though the latter had not realized the boy would be killed. The interview was aired on November 12.

The report was never published. It was shown to the head of Israeli military intelligence, and the key points were presented to the media in November 2000 as not ruling out that the IDF had shot the boy, though describing it as unlikely. The investigation provoked widespread criticism. and in 2008, an IDF spokesman, Col. Shlomi Am-Shalom, said the Shahaf report showed the IDF could not have shot Muhammad and asked France 2 to send the IDF the unedited 27 minutes of raw footage, as well as footage the France 2 cameraman shot the day after the incident.

Questions about the footage

How much was taken

There is confusion regarding how much footage was taken and what it shows. Abu Rahma said that the gunfight lasted 45 minutes, and that he filmed about 27 minutes of it. though Enderlin did announce his death: "Another burst of fire. Mohamed is dead and his father seriously wounded." Enderlin cut a final few seconds from the end, during which the boy appears to lift his hand away from his face, leading critics to say he was peeking at the camera. Enderlin said he cut this scene in accordance with the France 2 ethical charter, because it showed the boy in his death throes ("agonie"), which he said was "unbearable". While they did not believe the scene was staged, they said the footage did not show the boy's death throes. "This famous 'agony' that Enderlin insisted was cut from the montage," they wrote, "does not exist." a comment that Leconte said he found disturbing. "I think that if there is a part of this event that was staged, they have to say it," he said, "that there was a part that was staged, that it can happen often in that region for a thousand reasons." Leconte did not conclude that the shooting was faked. He said, "At the moment of the shooting, it's no longer acting, there's really shooting, there's no doubt about that." In an interview with Cybercast News, he said he believed the Palestinians had shot the boy. "The only ones who could hit the child were the Palestinians from their position," he said. "If they had been Israeli bullets, they would be very strange bullets because they would have needed to go around the corner." He dismissed France 2's explanation—that perhaps the bullets that hit the boy had ricocheted off the ground. "It could happen once, but that there should be eight or nine of them, which go around a corner? They're just saying anything."

The third journalist to view the raw footage, Luc Rosenzweig—who had previously written material about the incident for the Metula News Agency (Mena; see above)—disagreed with Jeambar and Leconte. He concluded that the shooting had been staged, calling it "an almost perfect media crime."

Enderlin's response

On January 27, also in Le Figaro, Enderlin responded to Leconte and Jeambar's article. He said the whispering campaign against him had resulted in death threats against him that were taken seriously by the Israeli police, forcing him to move house. He wrote that he had said the bullets were fired by the Israelis because he trusted the cameraman, who had worked for France 2 since 1988. It was the cameraman who made the initial claim during the broadcast, and later had it confirmed by other journalists and sources. Enderlin said the Israeli army did not respond to France 2's offers to cooperate in an investigation. "The image corresponded to the reality of the situation," he wrote, "not only in Gaza but also in the West Bank." Citing Ben Kaspi in the Israeli newspaper, Maariv, he said during the first months of the Second Intifada, the IDF had fired one million rounds of ammunition—700,000 in the West Bank and 300,000 in Gaza. He said that, from 29 September to late October 2000, 118 Palestinians were killed, including 33 under the age of 18, compared to 11 adult Israelis killed during the same period.

==Esther Schapira documentaries==

2002: Drei Kugeln und ein totes Kind

Timeline

In March 2002, the German network ARD broadcast Drei Kugeln und ein totes Kind ("Three Bullets and a Dead child"), a documentary by German journalist Esther Schapira. Schapira interviewed Jamal, his wife, and the cameraman. Muhammad's mother said Muhammad had had breakfast at 10 am (GMT+3), then left with his father for Gaza. She had forbidden him from going to the Nezarim junction because she feared for his safety. Jamal said he and Muhammad approached the junction on their way to Gaza around 11 am, then headed to a car auction. On the way back, they clubbed together with other passengers and hired a cab, approaching the junction for a second time around midday. Jamal told Schapira the junction was closed to traffic to allow ambulances through, and as they approached it, a police officer stopped the cab, and they proceeded on foot across the junction. At around midday, there was suddenly live fire. At the point at which Muhammad was seen lying in Jamal's lap, Schapira said a hand covered the lens of the France 2 camera, and the film was cut, returning only when the dust had settled.

Interviews with soldiers

Schapira also interviewed three anonymous Israeli soldiers who were among the 25 on duty at the IDF post. One of them told her, "We know that when cameramen turn up, that's when something is going to happen. That day we knew immediately that something big was going down, as there were a lot of TV crews." She said that at least ten photographers and camera crews had gathered, Palestinians working for Western news agencies. Around midday, the situation began to escalate, as protesters climbed on top of the IDF base. One of the soldiers told Schapira that the live fire had started from the high-rise Palestinian blocks known as "the twins"—see this image by Abu Rahma, where "the twins" are marked on the lower right quadrant as "Two Palestinian Housing Buildings". Someone was shooting from there down at the IDF post, the soldier said. He said he had not seen the al-Durrahs. Enderlin described the event as a deliberate incitement to hatred and violence.

2009: Das Kind, der Tod und die Wahrheit

In a second ARD film broadcast in March 2009, Das Kind, der Tod und die Wahrheit ("The Child, the Death, and the Truth"), Schapira and reporter George M. Hafner suggest that two Palestinian boys may have been injured that day, and that the boy who died may not have been Muhammad.

Hospital records show that, at midday, a young boy was examined in the pathology department. Schapira argues that it was the same boy that Tawil had admitted, because the pathologist noted the same kind of injury. The pathologist, Dr Abed El-Razeq El Masry, examined the boy for about half and hour, and told Schapira that the boy's abdominal organs had been expelled and were lying outside his body. He showed Schapira images that he had taken of the body, with cards identifying it as Muhammad's. Enderlin submitted as evidence a February 2004 letter from Jacques Chirac, then president of France, which spoke of Enderlin's integrity. The court upheld the complaint on October 19, 2006, fining Karsenty €1,000 and ordering him to pay €3,000 in costs. He lodged an appeal that same day. The court asked France 2 to turn over the 27 minutes of raw footage the cameraman said he had shot, to be shown during a public hearing on November 14. France 2 produced only 18 minutes; Karsenty refers to this as "the first tampering of the evidence." Enderlin told The Jerusalem Post on the day of the hearing that France 2 had produced all the raw footage it had, based on "an original tape that was kept in a safe until now. We presented a DVD that was made in front of a bailiff from the original tape... not from the various copies you can find here and there." He said, "I do not know where this 27 minutes comes from. In all there were only 18 minutes of footage shot in Gaza."

The screening lasted from 2:15 to 4 pm, interrupted several times so that Enderlin could describe what was happening. The footage showed the incident with the al-Durrahs in the last minute. The court heard that the boy put his hand to his forehad and moved his leg after the cameraman had said he was dead, and that there was no blood on the boy's shirt. Enderlin argued that the cameraman had not said the boy was dead, but that he was dying, ).]]

Karsenty commissioned Jean-Claude Schlinger, a ballistics expert, to write a 90-page report for the court. This position did not appear in the cameraman's report; see the image on the left above. Schlinger concluded: "If Jamal and Mohammed al-Dura were indeed struck by shots, then they could not have come from the Israeli position, from a technical point of view, but only from the direction of the Palestinian position." He said there was no evidence that the boy was wounded in his right leg or abdomen, as reported, and that if the injuries were genuine, they did not occur at the time of the televised events. Had the shots come from the Israeli position, he wrote, only the lower limbs could have been hit.]] The judges overturned the ruling against Karsenty on May 21, 2008 in a 13-page decision. They ruled that he had presented a coherent mass of evidence, had exercised in good faith his right to criticize, and that the cameraman's statements were "not perfectly credible either in form or content." with Helen Schary Motro arguing that it took its place alongside other iconic images of children under attack: the boy with raised hands in the Warsaw ghetto (1943), the Vietnamese girl doused with napalm (1972), the firefighter carrying the dying baby away from the Oklahoma City bombing (1995). Arab countries issued postage stamps bearing the images, parks and streets were named in Muhammad's honor, and Osama bin Laden mentioned Muhammad in a "warning" to President George Bush after 9/11. The images were blamed for the lynching of two Israeli reservists in Ramallah on October 12, 2000, the burning of synagogues and a general rise in antisemitism in France, Both sides invoked the idea of the "blood libel"—the ancient allegation against the Jewish people that they are willing to sacrifice other people's children. Mid-East expert Jonathan Randal said: "Charles Enderlin is an excellent journalist! I don't care if it's the Virgin Birth affair, I would tend to believe him." Other journalists say Enderlin made a mistake but can't admit it. "Guy sends him pictures from Gaza, tells him the Israelis shot the kid, he believes him—I mean, even the Israeli Defense Forces spokesman believed it!" Jean-Ives Camus said. "But you can't own up one, two years after the fact." French journalist Catherine Nay wrote that Muhammad's death "cancels, erases that of the Jewish child, his hands in the air before the SS in the Warsaw Ghetto," arguing in effect that anti-Arabism or Islamophobia are the new antisemitism.

See also

Décryptage

Pierre Rehov

Notes

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Rosenzweig, Luc (2007). "Quelques remarques après l'audience de visionnage des rushes de France 2, le 14 novembre 2007, devant la Cour d'appel de Paris", Media Ratings, November 14, 2007, accessed January 7, 2009. Rosenzweig, Luc (2009a). France 2 fait lanterner le CRIF, Causeur, November 22, 2009, accessed January 11, 2010. Rosenzweig, Luc (2009b). "Faut-il sauver le soldat Enderlin?", The Jerusalem Post (French edition), December 31, 2009; Google translation, accessed January 13, 1010.

Schapira, Esther. (2002a). Three Bullets and a Child: Who Killed the Young Muhammad al-Dura?, ARD television, MyPetJawa, accessed January 24, 2010.

Schapira, Esther (2009). Das Kind, der Tod und die Wahrheit, part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, ARD Germany, courtesy of YouTube, accessed January 8, 2010.

Schary Motro, Helen (2000). among the headlines", Salon, October 7, 2000, accessed January 24, 2010.

Schemla, Élizabeth (2002). "Un entretien exclusif avec Charles Enderlin, deux ans après la mort en direct de Mohamed Al-Dura à Gaza", Proche-Orient.info, October 1, 2002, accessed January 13, 2010.

Schlinger, Jean-Claude (2008). Ballistics report prepared for Karsenty, February 19, 2008, accessed October 19, 2009.

Schoumann, Helen (2007). "French court sees raw footage of al-Dura", The Jerusalem Post, November 14, 2007, accessed January 24, 2010.

Schwartz, Adi (2007). "In the footsteps of the al-Dura controversy", Haaretz, November 8, 2007, accessed January 24, 2010.

Schwartz, Adi (2008). "Independent expert: IDF bullets didn't kill Mohammed al-Dura", Haaretz, February 3, 2008, accessed January 24, 2010.

Seaman, Daniel (2008). "We did not abandon Philippe Karsenty", The Jerusalem Post, June 25, 2008, accessed January 24, 2010.

Sieffert, Dennis (2009). "Après le drame, la diffamation?", Politis, October 29, 2009, accessed January 24, 2010.

Segev, Tom (2002). "Who killed Mohammed al-Dura?", Haaretz, March 22, 2002, accessed January 24, 2010.

Shuman, Ellis (2002). "German TV: Mohammed a-Dura likely killed by Palestinian gunfire", IsraelInsider.com, March 20, 2002, accessed February 5, 2006.

Simon, Roger (2008). Interview with Philippe Karsenty, Pajamas Media, March 2, 2008, accessed January 7, 2009.

Sofer, Roni (2008). "Court allows al-Durrah affair reporter to keep press pass", YNet News, January 7, 2008, accessed January 24, 2010.

Taguieff, Pierre-Andre (2007). "Imposture mediatique et propagande antizioniste", First Ratings Media Agency, November 22, 2007, accessed January 6, 2010.

Taguieff, Pierre-André (2008). "L'affaire al-Dura ou le renforcement des stéréotypes antijuifs...", Le Meilleur des mondes, September 2008; Google translation, accessed January 12, 2010.

The New York Times (September 28, 2000). "Palestinians And Israelis In a Clash At Holy Site", accessed January 24, 2010.

The New York Times (November 27, 2000). "Israeli Army Says Palestinians May Have Shot Gaza Boy", accessed January 24, 2010.

The Wall Street Journal Europe (May 28, 2008). "Al-Durra case revisited", accessed January 24, 2010.

The Jerusalem Post (May 29, 2008). "Myth & Muhammad al-Dura", accessed January 24, 2010.

Thiel, Thomas (2009). "Was geschah mit Mohammed al-Dura?", an interview with Esther Schapira, Frankfurter Allgemeine, March 4, 2009, accessed January 24, 2010.

Waked, Ali (2007). "Al-Dura's father: Israel's claims ridiculous", YNet News, February 10, 2007, accessed January 24, 2010.

Bergius, Michael (2009). "So kann es nicht gewesen sein", Frankfurter Rundschau, April 19, 2009, accessed January 24, 2010.

Whitaker, Brian (2000). "War of words in the Middle East", The Guardian, October 5, 2000, accessed January 24, 2010.

Zomersztajn, Nicolas (2004). "Affaire Al-Dura: la pseudo enquête d’une imposture ("The Al-Dura Affair: the pseudo-inquest of an imposture"), Regards, February 17, 2004, accessed October 19, 2009.

Further reading

Google translator, accessed January 13, 2010.

Enderlin, France 2 v. Karsenty October 19, 2006; English translation by Richard Landes (2006). Decision du 19 octobre 2006 par la 17ème Chambre du Tribunal correctionnel de Paris, no. 0433823049, accessed January 3, 2010. Karsenty v. Enderlin-France2, May 21, 2008; , accessed January 3, 2010. Website of Phillipe Karsenty, accessed January 7, 2009; in English. Charles Enderlin's blog at France 2, accessed January 9, 2010.

Le Meilleur des mondes debate:

:*Taguieff, Pierre-André (2008). "L'affaire al-Dura ou le renforcement des stéréotypes antijuifs...", Le Meilleur des mondes, September 2008; Google translation, accessed January 12, 2010. :*Response to Taguieff: Grizbec, Gérard (2008). "Affaire al-Dura: Gérard Grizbec réagit à la contribution de Pierre-André Taguieef", Le Meilleur des mondes, October 2008; Google translation, accessed January 12, 2010. :*Response to Grizbec: Rosenzweig, Luc (2008). "Affaire al-Dura: Luc Rosenzweig réagit à la contribution de Gérard Grizbec", Le Meilleur des mondes, October 2008; Google translation, accessed January 12, 2010. :*Reichstadt, Rudy. "L'affaire al-Dura: des mythes concurrents sur fond d'intifada", Le Meilleur des mondes, October 2008; Google translation, accessed January 14, 2010.

Schapira, Esther (November 11, 2002). "Die Bilder im Kopf", Frankfurter Rundschau, accessed January 24, 2010.

Schapira, Esther (2008). Propaganda against Israel: The Mohammed Al Durah Case and Staging Reality in the Media, European Forum on Antisemitism, June 18, 2008, accessed January 3, 2010.

Schlinger, Jean-Claude (2008). Ballistics report prepared for Philippe Karsenty, Media-Ratings, February 19, 2008, accessed October 19, 2009.

Stack, Megan K (2003). "Israeli Tanks Leave Ruins and Anger in Their Wake", Los Angeles Times, July 1, 2003, accessed January 24, 2010.

Vidal, Dominique (2008). "Acharnement contre Charles Enderlin", Le Monde, May 29, 2008; Google translation, accessed January 14, 2010.

;Video

Original France 2 report, September 30, 2000, Charles Enderlin's blog, France 2, accessed January 12, 2010.

France 2 raw footage, Seconddraft.org, the al-Durrah material begins around 02:10 mins.

Final moments of the footage, not shown by France 2, September 30, 2000, courtesy of YouTube, accessed 18 September 2010.

180 seconds of the same scene, filmed by a Reuters cameraman crouching behind the al-Durrahs, Seconddraft.org, accessed January 3, 2010.

Eight seconds of the same scene, filmed by an Associated Press cameraman, Seconddraft.org, accessed January 3, 2010.

Debate between Arlette Chabot of France 2 and Philippe Karsenty (French), part 1/21, filmed September 18, 2008, courtesy of YouTube, accessed January 12, 2010.

Category:1988 births Category:2000 deaths Category:Conspiracy theories Category:Historical controversies Category:History images Category:Palestinian casualties during the Second Intifada Category:Palestinian children Category:People from the Gaza Strip Category:Photographs (people)

This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.

Muhammad

Name	Muhammad ibn ‘Abdullāh
Caption	The name Muhammad in traditional Thuluth calligraphy by the hand of Hattat Aziz Efendi
Birth date	ca. 570/571
Birth place	Mecca, Arabia (present day Saudi Arabia)
Death date	June 8, 632 (age 63)
Death place	Medina, Arabia
Death cause	Illness
Religion	Muslim
Parents	Father: Abd Allah
Spouse	see below

Muhammad ibn ‘Abdullāh (;

The Qur'an

Muslims regard the Qur'an as the primary source of knowledge about the historical Muhammad. The Qur'an has a few allusions to Muhammad's life.

Early biographies

Next in importance are historical works by writers of the 3rd and 4th centuries of the Muslim era.

Many scholars accept the accuracy of the earliest biographies, though their accuracy is unascertainable. Recent studies have led scholars to distinguish between the traditions touching legal matters and the purely historical ones. In the former sphere, traditions could have been subject to invention while in the latter sphere, aside from exceptional cases, the material may have been only subject to "tendential shaping". Scholars such as Madelung do not reject the narrations which have been compiled in later periods, but judge them in the context of history and on the basis of their compatibility with the events and figures.

Non-Arabic sources

The earliest Greek source for Muhammad is the 9th-century writer Theophanes. The earliest Syriac source is the 7th-century writer John bar Penkaye. According to Watt, because of the general disregard of the guardians in taking care of weak members of the tribes in Mecca in the 6th century, "Muhammad's guardians saw that he did not starve to death, but it was hard for them to do more for him, especially as the fortunes of the clan of Hashim seem to have been declining at that time." According to tradition, when Muhammad was either nine or twelve while accompanying the Meccans' caravan to Syria, he met a Christian monk or hermit named Bahira who is said to have foreseen Muhammed's career as a prophet of God. It is known that he became a merchant and "was involved in trade between the Indian ocean and the Mediterranean Sea."

Wives and children

Muhammad's life is traditionally defined into two periods: pre-hijra (emigration) in Mecca (from 570 to 622), and post-hijra in Medina (from 622 until 632). Muhammad is said to have had thirteen wives or concubines (there are differing accounts on the status of some of them as wife or concubine Aisha, who became known as Muhammad's favourite wife in Sunni tradition, survived him by many decades and was instrumental in helping to bring together the scattered sayings of Muhammad that would form the Hadith literature for the Sunni branch of Islam.

After migration to Medina, Muhammad (who was now in his fifties) married several women. These marriages were contracted mostly for political or humanitarian reasons, these wives being either widows of Muslims who had been killed in the battles and had been left without a protector, or belonging to important families or clans whom it was necessary to honor and strengthen alliances. Shi'a scholars contend that Fatimah was Muhammad's only daughter. Muhammad was confident that he could distinguish his own thoughts from these messages. Muhammad is not only a warner to those who reject God's revelation, but also a bearer of good news for those who abandon evil, listen to the divine word and serve God.

The key themes of the early Qur'anic verses included the responsibility of man towards his creator; the resurrection of dead, God's final judgment followed by vivid descriptions of the tortures in hell and pleasures in Paradise; and the signs of God in all aspects of life. Religious duties required of the believers at this time were few: belief in God, asking for forgiveness of sins, offering frequent prayers, assisting others particularly those in need, rejecting cheating and the love of wealth (considered to be significant in the commercial life of Mecca), being chaste and not to kill newborn girls.

Opposition

at the Kaaba by Muhammad, in L'Histoire Merveilleuse en Vers de Mahomet, anonymous 11th century illustration.]] According to Muslim tradition, Muhammad's wife Khadija was the first to believe he was a prophet. Around 613, Muhammad began his public preaching (Qur'an ). The powerful merchants tried to convince Muhammad to abandon his preaching by offering him admission into the inner circle of merchants, and establishing his position therein by an advantageous marriage. However, he refused.

Tradition records at great length the persecution and ill-treatment of Muhammad and his followers. Sumayyah bint Khabbab, a slave of Abu Jahl and a prominent Meccan leader, is famous as the first martyr of Islam, having been killed with a spear by her master when she refused to give up her faith. Bilal, another Muslim slave, was tortured by Umayyah ibn Khalaf who placed a heavy rock on his chest to force his conversion.

An early hadith known as "The Story of the Cranes" (translation: قصة الغرانيق, transliteration: Qissat al Gharaneeq) was propagated by two Islamic scholars, Ibn Kathir al Dimashqi and Ibn Hijir al Masri, where the former has strengthened it and the latter called it fabricated Ibn Ishaq, author of the first biography of Muhammad, presents this event as a spiritual experience whereas later historians like Al-Tabari and Ibn Kathir present it as a physical journey. The recurring slaughters and disagreements over the resulting claims, especially after the Battle of Bu'ath in which all clans were involved, made it obvious to them that the tribal conceptions of blood-feud and an eye for an eye were no longer workable unless there was one man with authority to adjudicate in disputed cases.

Muhammad instructed his followers to emigrate to Medina until virtually all his followers left Mecca. Being alarmed at the departure of Muslims, according to the tradition, the Meccans plotted to assassinate Muhammad. With the help of Ali, Muhammad fooled the Meccans who were watching him, and secretly slipped away from the town with Abu Bakr.

Establishment of a new polity

Among the first things Muhammad did in order to settle down the longstanding grievances among the tribes of Medina was drafting a document known as the Constitution of Medina, "establishing a kind of alliance or federation" among the eight Medinan tribes and Muslim emigrants from Mecca, which specified the rights and duties of all citizens and the relationship of the different communities in Medina (including that of the Muslim community to other communities, specifically the Jews and other "Peoples of the Book"). The community defined in the Constitution of Medina, Ummah, had a religious outlook but was also shaped by practical considerations and substantially preserved the legal forms of the old Arab tribes. It effectively established the first Islamic state.

The first group of pagan converts to Islam in Medina were the clans who had not produced great leaders for themselves but had suffered from warlike leaders from other clans. This was followed by the general acceptance of Islam by the pagan population of Medina, apart from some exceptions. According to Ibn Ishaq, this was influenced by the conversion of Sa'd ibn Mu'adh (a prominent Medinan leader) to Islam. Then Muhammad instituted brotherhood between the emigrants and the supporters and he chose Ali as his own brother. The Qur'anic verses of this period, unlike the Meccan ones, dealt with practical problems of government and issues like the distribution of spoils. Following the Battle of Badr, Muhammad also made mutual-aid alliances with a number of Bedouin tribes to protect his community from attacks from the northern part of Hijaz.

Conflict with Mecca

The attack at Badr committed Muhammad to total war with Meccans, who were now anxious to avenge their defeat. To maintain their economic prosperity, the Meccans needed to restore their prestige, which had been lost at Badr. When Muhammad heard of men massing with hostile intentions against Medina, he reacted with severity. During the battle, the Jewish tribe of Banu Qurayza, located at the south of Medina, had entered into negotiations with Meccan forces to revolt against Muhammad. Although they were swayed by suggestions that Muhammad was sure to be overwhelmed, they desired reassurance in case the confederacy was unable to destroy him. No agreement was reached after the prolonged negotiations, in part due to sabotage attempts by Muhammad's scouts. While returning from one of these (or some years earlier according to other early accounts), an accusation of adultery was made against Aisha, Muhammad's wife. Aisha was exonerated from the accusations when Muhammad announced that he had received a revelation confirming Aisha's innocence and directing that charges of adultery be supported by four eyewitnesses.

Truce of Hudaybiyyah

Although Muhammad had already delivered Qur'anic verses commanding the Hajj, According to Watt, although Muhammad's decision to make the pilgrimage was based on his dream, he was at the same time demonstrating to the pagan Meccans that Islam does not threaten the prestige of their sanctuary, and that Islam was an Arabian religion.

Many Muslims were not satisfied with the terms of the treaty. However, the Qur'anic sura "Al-Fath" (The Victory) (Qur'an ) assured the Muslims that the expedition from which they were now returning must be considered a victorious one.

After signing the truce, Muhammad made an expedition against the Jewish oasis of Khaybar, known as the Battle of Khaybar. This was possibly due to it housing the Banu Nadir, who were inciting hostilities against Muhammad, or to regain some prestige to deflect from what appeared to some Muslims as the inconclusive result of the truce of Hudaybiyya. In the years following the truce of Hudaybiyya, Muhammad sent his forces against the Arabs on Transjordanian Byzantine soil in the Battle of Mu'tah, in which the Muslims were defeated. A clan of the Bakr made a night raid against the Khuza'a, killing a few of them. The Meccans helped the Banu Bakr with weapons and, according to some sources, a few Meccans also took part in the fighting. After this event, Muhammad sent a message to Mecca with three conditions, asking them to accept one of them. These were that either the Meccans paid blood money for those slain among the Khuza'ah tribe; or, that they should disavow themselves of the Banu Bakr; or, that they should declare the truce of Hudaybiyyah null. However, soon they realized their mistake and sent Abu Sufyan to renew the Hudaybiyyah treaty, but now his request was declined by Muhammad.

Muhammad began to prepare for a campaign.

In the same year, Muhammad made the expedition of Tabuk against northern Arabia because of their previous defeat at the Battle of Mu'tah as well as reports of the hostile attitude adopted against Muslims. Although Muhammad did not make contact with hostile forces at Tabuk, he received the submission of some local chiefs of the region. However, the bedouins were alien to the system of Islam and wanted to maintain their independence, their established code of virtue and their ancestral traditions. Muhammad thus required of them a military and political agreement according to which they "acknowledge the suzerainty of Medina, to refrain from attack on the Muslims and their allies, and to pay the Zakat, the Muslim religious levy." Muhammad was forced to return to Mecca. A Meccan man named Mut'im b. Adi (and the protection of the tribe of Banu Nawfal) made it possible for him safely to re-enter his native city.

Many people were visiting Mecca on business or as pilgrims to the Kaaba. Muhammad took this opportunity to look for a new home for himself and his followers. After several unsuccessful negotiations, he found hope with some men from Yathrib (later called Medina). The Arab population of Yathrib were familiar with monotheism because a Jewish community existed there. Converts to Islam came from nearly all Arab tribes in Medina, such that by June of the subsequent year there were seventy-five Muslims coming to Mecca for pilgrimage and to meet Muhammad. Meeting him secretly by night, the group made what was known as the "Second Pledge of al-`Aqaba", or the "Pledge of War"

After completing the pilgrimage, Muhammad delivered a famous speech known as The Farewell Sermon. In this sermon, Muhammad advised his followers not to follow certain pre-Islamic customs such as adding intercalary months to align the lunar calendar with the solar calendar. Muhammad abolished all old blood feuds and disputes based on the former tribal system and asked for all old pledges to be returned as implications of the creation of the new Islamic community. Commenting on the vulnerability of women in his society, Muhammed asked his male followers to “Be good to women; for they are powerless captives (awan) in your households. You took them in God’s trust, and legitimated your sexual relations with the Word of God, so come to your senses people, and hear my words ...”. He also told them that they were entitled to discipline their wives but should do so with kindness. Muhammad also addressed the issue of inheritance by forbidding false claims of paternity or of a client relationship to the deceased and also forbidding his followers to leave their wealth to a testamentary heir. He also upheld the sacredness of four lunar months in each year. According to Shia tafsir, it refers to appointment of Ali ibn Abi Talib at the pond of Khumm as Muhammad's successor, this occurring a few days later when Muslims were returning from Mecca to Medina. Umar ibn al-Khattab, a prominent companion of Muhammad, nominated Abu Bakr, Muhammad's friend and collaborator. Others added their support and Abu Bakr was made the first caliph. This choice was disputed by some of Muhammad's companions, who held that Ali ibn Abi Talib, his cousin and son-in-law, had been designated the successor by Muhammad at Ghadir Khumm. Abu Bakr's immediate task was to make an expedition against the Byzantine (or Eastern Roman Empire) forces because of the previous defeat, although he first had to put down a rebellion by Arab tribes in an episode referred to by later Muslim historians as the Ridda wars, or "Wars of Apostasy". Muhammad's message transformed the society and moral order of life in the Arabian Peninsula through reorientation of society as regards to identity, world view, and the hierarchy of values. The association of rain with mercy in Oriental countries has led to imagining Muhammad as a rain cloud dispensing blessings and stretching over lands, reviving the dead hearts, just as rain revives the seemingly dead earth (see, for example, the Sindhi poem of Shah ʿAbd al-Latif). Muhammad's birthday is celebrated as a major feast throughout the Islamic world, excluding Wahhabi-dominated Saudi Arabia where these public celebrations are discouraged. When Muslims say or write the name of Muhammad or any other prophet in Islam, they usually follow it with Peace be upon him (Arabic: sallAllahu `alayhi wa sallam) like "Muhammad (Peace be upon him)".

According to the Qur'an, Muhammad is only the last of a series of Prophets sent by Allah for the benefit of mankind, and thus commands Muslims to make no distinction between them and to surrender to one God Allah. states that "...it (the Qur'an) is a confirmation of (revelations) that went before it, and a fuller explanation of the Book - wherein there is no doubt - from The Lord of the Worlds.". Similarly states "...And before this was the book of Moses, as a guide and a mercy. And this Book confirms (it)...", while commands the believers of Islam to "Say: we believe in God and that which is revealed unto us, and that which was revealed unto Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes, and that which Moses and Jesus received, and which the prophets received from their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them, and unto Him we have surrendered."

Historian Denis Gril believes that the Qur'an does not overtly describe Muhammad performing miracles, and the supreme miracle of Muhammad is finally identified with the Qur’an itself. Popular European literature of the time portrayed Muhammad as though he were worshipped by Muslims in the manner of an idol or a heathen god. Some medieval Christians believed he died in 666, alluding to the number of the beast, instead of his actual death date in 632; Dante's Divine Comedy (Canto XXVIII), puts Muhammad, together with Ali, in Hell "among the sowers of discord and the schismatics, being lacerated by devils again and again." Cultural critic and author Edward Said wrote in Orientalism regarding Dante's depiction of Muhammad:

Empirical data about the Orient...count for very little; ... What ... Dante tried to do in the Inferno, is ... to characterize the Orient as alien and to incorporate it schematically on a theatrical stage whose audience, manager, and actors are ... only for Europe. Hence the vacillation between the familiar and the alien; Mohammed is always the imposter (familiar, because he pretends to be like the Jesus we know) and always the Oriental (alien, because although he is in some ways "like" Jesus, he is after all not like him). Guillaume Postel was among the first to present a more positive view of Muhammad. Boulainvilliers described Muhammad as a gifted political leader and a just lawmaker. Gottfried Leibniz praised Muhammad because "he did not deviate from the natural religion". Thomas Carlyle defines Muhammed as "A silent great soul, one of that who cannot but be earnest". Later Western works, many of which, from the 18th century onward, distanced themselves from the polemical histories of earlier Christian authors. These more historically oriented treatments, which generally reject the prophethood of Muhammad, are coloured by the Western philosophical and theological framework of their authors. Many of these studies reflect much historical research, and most pay more attention to human, social, economic, and political factors than to religious, theological, and spiritual matters.

It was not until the latter part of the 20th century that Western authors combined rigorous scholarship as understood in the modern West with empathy toward the subject at hand and, especially, awareness of the religious and spiritual realities involved in the study of the life of the founder of a major world religion. According to William Montgomery Watt and Richard Bell, recent writers have generally dismissed the idea that Muhammad deliberately deceived his followers, arguing that Muhammad "was absolutely sincere and acted in complete good faith"

Other religious traditions

Bahá'ís venerate Muhammad as one of a number of prophets or "Manifestations of God", but consider his teachings to have been superseded by those of Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahai faith.

Muhammad is regarded as one of the Saints of Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does not regard Muhammad as a prophet, nor accept the Qur’an as a book of scripture. However, they do respect Muhammad as one who taught moral truths which can enlighten nations and bring a higher level of understanding to individuals. Guru Nanak, a founder of Sikhism, viewed Muhammad as an agent of the Hindu Brahman.

Criticism

Muslims consider Muhammad to be the final prophet, the messenger of the final revelation that he called the Qur’an. However, criticism of Muhammad has existed since the 7th century, for his marriages, military expeditions and the laws he established, such as those concerning slavery.

See also

Arabian tribes that interacted with Muhammad

Glossary of Islamic terms in Arabic

Judaism's view of Muhammad

List of films about Muhammad

List of founders of religious traditions

Mohammad, Messenger of God (aka The Message)

(documentary)

Paraclete

Notes

References

Bibliography

Al-Hibri, Azizah Y. (2003). "An Islamic Perspective on Domestic Violence". 27 Fordham International Law Journal 195.

(New edition 1974)

Encyclopedias

Further reading

Musa, A. Y. Hadith as Scripture: Discussions on The Authority Of Prophetic Traditions in Islam, New York: Palgrave, 2008

External links

Non-Muslim biographies

Muhammad, article on Encyclopædia Britannica Online

Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet — PBS Site

Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet — UPF (Producer's Site)

Muslim biographies

Ar-Raheeq Al-Makhtum

The Life of Muhammad by Muhammad Husayn Haykal

About the Prophet Muhammad (MSA West)

Category:570s births Category:632 deaths Category:7th-century rulers Category:Arab politicians Category:Founders of religions Category:Islam Category:People from Mecca Category:Quraish Category:Medina Category:Prophets of Islam

This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.

Philippe Karsenty

Name	Philippe Karsenty
Birth date	25 June 1966
Birth place	Issy-les-Moulineaux
Death date
Resting place coordinates
Residence	Paris, France
Nationality	French
Known for	Became known when he was sued by France 2 for saying they had broadcast a hoax about the shooting of Muhammad al_Durrah.
Occupation	Media analyst, founder of the watchdog, Media-Ratings
Website	http://www.m-r.fr/

Philippe Karsenty (born 25 June 1966 in Issy-les-Moulineaux, Hauts-de-Seine) is a French media analyst and the founder of Media-Ratings, which monitors the media in France for bias.

Karsenty came to public attention internationally in 2004, when he was sued for libel by the French television network, France 2, after accusing the network of having broadcast staged footage of the reported killing of a 12-year-old Palestinian boy, Muhammad al-Durrah, during a gun battle in the Gaza Strip in 2000.

Notes

Further reading

Website of Media Ratings

Fallows, James. "Who shot Mohammed al-Durra?", The Atlantic Monthly, June 2003.

Karsenty, Phillipe. French Court Vindicates Al-Dura Hoax Critic, Pajamas Media, May 21, 2008.

Category:1966 births Category:Living people Category:People from Issy-les-Moulineaux Category:French Jews Category:Media critics Category:Writers on antisemitism

This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.

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