Primary Documents on Islam Text 1

This excerpt from the biography of the Prophet Muhammad written by Ibn Ishaq discusses the way Muhammad first received revelations from the Angel Gabriel. It is an example of the kind of scholarship written by religious experts to enhance one s understanding of the Prophet s life. Muslims believe that the Prophet lived the exemplary life, therefore, the more one knows about his life, the better one can emulate him. From Ibn Ishaq: The Biography of the Messenger of God When it was the night on which God honored him with his mission and showed the mercy on His servants thereby, Gabriel brought him the command of God. He came to me, said the apostle of God, while I was asleep, with a coverlet of brocade whereupon was some writing, and said, Read! I said, What shall I read? He pressed me with it again so that I thought it was death; then he let me go and said Read! I said, What shall I read? He pressed me with it the third time so that I thought it was death and said Read! I said, What then shall I read? and this I said only to deliver myself from him, let he should do the same to me again. He said: Read in the name of thy Lord who created, Who created man of blood coagulated. Read? The Lord is the most beneficent, Who taught by the pen, Taught that which they knew not unto men. So I read it, and he departed from me. And I awoke from my sleep, and it was as though these words were written on my heart . . . I thought, Woe is me poet or possessed . . . I will go to the top of the mountain and throw myself down that I may kill myself and gain rest. So I went forth to do so and then when I was midway on the mountain, I heard a voice from heaven saying, O Muhammad! Thou art the apostle of God and I am Gabriel. I raised my head towards heaven to see (who was speaking), and lo, Gabriel in the form of a man with feet astride the horizon, saying, O Muhammad! Thou art the apostle of God and I am Gabriel. I stood gazing at him . . . moving neither forward nor backward; then I began to turn my face away from him, but towards whatever region of the sky I looked, I saw him as before. And I continued standing there, neither advancing nor turning back, until Khadija1 sent her messengers in search of me and they gained the high ground above Mecca and returned to her while I was standing in
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Muhammad s first wife.

the same place; then he parted from me and I from him, returning to my family. And I came to Khadija and sat by her thigh and drew close to her. She said, O Abu l-Qasim 2, where hast thou been? By God I sent my messengers in search of thee and they reached the high ground above Mecca and returned to me. I said to her, Woe is me poet or possessed. She said , I take refuge in God from that O Abu l-Qasim. God would not treat you thus since he knows your truthfulness, your great trustworthiness, your fine character, and your kindness. This cannot be, my dear. Perhaps you did see something. Yes I did, I said. Then I told her what I had seen; and she said, Rejoice, O son of my uncle, and be of good heart. Verily, by Him in whose hand is Khadija s soul, I have hope that thou wilt be the prophet of this people.

Text 2 The Story of Joseph Below, you will find excerpts from the Qur an and the Bible discussing the story of Joseph and his brothers. A comparison of the two reveals the shared heritage that Adnan Husain referred to as the Judeo-Christian-Muslim religious tradition. From the Qur an : In the name of Allah, most benevolent, ever merciful. Alif Lam Ra3 These are the verses of the immaculate Book. We have sent it down as a clear discourse That you may understand. Through the revelation of this Qur an We narrate the best of histories Of which you were unaware before. When Joseph told his father: O my father, I saw eleven stars and the sun and the moon bowing before me in homage, He said, O son, do not narrate your dream To your brothers, or they will plot against you. Surely Satan is man s acknowledged foe. Your Lord will choose you And teach you to interpret events,
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Muhammad s name of honor The beginning of each sura or chapter of the Qur an is marked by a series of Arabic letters, in this case they are A L R.

And confer His favors on you and the house of Jacob, As He had done in the case of two ancestors of yours, Abraham and Isaac, before you. Indeed your Lord is all-knowing and all-wise. In the story of Joseph and his brothers are lessons for those who inquire. Surely Joseph and his brother are dearer to our father than we, (said his half brothers), even though we are a well-knit band. Our father is surely in the wrong. Let us kill Joseph or cast him in some distant land So that we may get our father s exclusive affection; Then play innocent. One of them said: If we do so, Then do not kill Joseph, But throw him into an unused well. Some passing caravan may rescue him. (Then going to their father) they said: O father, why don t you trust us with Joseph? We are in fact his well wishers. Let him go out with us tomorrow That he may enjoy and play. We shall take care of him. He said, I am afraid of sending him with you Lest a wolf should devour him when you are unmindful. They replied, If a wolf should devour him When we are there, a well-knit band, We shall certainly be treacherous. So, then when they took him out, they planned to throw him into an unused well. We revealed to Joseph: You will tell them (one day) Of this deed when they will not apprehend it. At nightfall they came to their father weeping, And said, We went racing with one another And left Joseph to guard our things When a wolf devoured him. But you will not believe us even though We tell the truth. They showed him the short with false blood on it. (Their father) said, It is not so; you have made up this story. Yet endurance is best. I seek the help of God alone for what you impute. A caravan happened to pass, and sent The water carrier to bring water from the well. He let down his bucket

And pulled Joseph up with it. What luck, said the man, here is a boy. And they hid him as an item of merchandise; But what they did was known to God. And they sold him as worthless for a few paltry dirham. The Egyptian who bought him instructed his wife: House him honorably. He may be of use to us. We may even adopt him as a son. So, we firmly established Joseph in the land, And taught him the interpretation of dreams. God dominated in his affairs, Though most men do not know

From the Bible (Genesis, 38): Jacob settled in Canaan, the country in which his father had made his home, and this is an account of Jacob s descendants. When Joseph was a youth of seventeen, he used to accompany his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father s wives, when they were in charge of the flock, and he told tales about them to their father. Because Joseph was a child of his old age, Israel loved him best of all his sons, and he made him a long robe with sleeves. When his brothers saw that their father loved him best, it aroused their hatred and they had nothing but harsh words for him. Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, their hatred of him became still greater. He said to them, Listen to this dream I had. We were out in the field binding sheaves, when all at once my sheaf rose and stood upright, and your sheaves gathered round and bowed in homage before my sheaf. His brothers retorted, Do you think that you will indeed be king over us and rule us? And they hated him still more because of his dreams and what he had said. Then he had another dream, which he related to his father and his brothers. Listen! he said. I have had another dream, and in it the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me. When he told his father and his brothers, his father took him to task: What do you mean by this dream of yours? he asked. Are we to come and bow to the ground before you, I and your mother and your brothers? His brothers were jealous of him, but his father did not forget the incident. Joseph s brothers had gone to herd their father s flocks at Shechem. Israel said to him, Your brothers are herding the flocks at Shechem; I am going to send you to them. Joseph answered, I am ready to go. Israel told him to go and see if all was well with his brothers and the flocks, and to bring back work to him. So Joseph was sent off from the vale of Hebron and came to Shechem, where a man met him wandering in the open country and asked what he was looking for. I am

looking for my brothers, he replied. Can you tell me where they are herding the flocks? The man said, They have moved from here; I heard them speak of going to Dothan. Joseph went after his brothers and came up with them at Dothan. They saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, plotted to kill him. Here comes the dreamer, they said to one another. Now is our chance; let us kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns; we can say that a wild beast has devoured him. Then we shall see what becomes of his dreams. When Reuben heard, he came to his rescue, urging them not to take his life. Let us have no bloodshed, he said. Throw him into this cistern in the wilderness, but do him no injury. Reuben meant to rescue him from their clutches in order to restore him to his father. When Joseph reached his brothers, they stripped him of the long robe with sleeves, which he was wearing, picked him up, and threw into the cistern. It was empty with no water in it. They sat down to eat when, looking up, they saw an Ishmaelite caravan coming from Gilead on the way down to Egypt, with camels carrying gum tragacanth and balm and myrrh. Judah said to his brothers, What do we gain by killing our brother and concealing his death? Why not sell him to these Ishmaelites? Let us do him no harm, for after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood, his brothers agreed. Meanwhile some passing Midianite merchants drew Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty pieces of sliver to the Ishmaelites; they brought Joseph to Egypt. When Reuben came back to the cistern, he found Joseph had gone. He tore his clothes and going to his brothers he said, The boy is not there. Whatever shall I do? Joseph s brothers took the long robe with the sleeves, and dipped it in the blood of a goat, which they had killed. After tearing the robe, they brought it to their father and said, Look what we have found. Do you recognize it? Is this your son s robe or not? Jacob recognized it. It is my son s, he said. A wild beast devoured him. Joseph has been torn to pieces. Jacob tore his clothes; he put on sackcloth and for many days he mourned his son. Though his sons and daughters all tried to comfort him, he refused to be comforted. He said, No, I shall go to Sheol4 mourning for my son. Thus Joseph s father wept for him. The Midianites meanwhile had sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, one of the Pharaoh s court officials, the captain of the guard.

The underworld