Was muhammad's family pagans or muslims?.

The bigest idols were Latta and Uzza. The Latta in arabic Al-Latta and the Uzza in arabic is Al-Uzza. Article "THE" in arabic is "AL".  So the word Allah is nothing to do with Latta.

Edited by semar - 04 March 2009 at 8:13pm

Edited by semar - 05 March 2009 at 11:25am

owen.grandison wrote: His family were pagans or mushrikiyn before he ever claimed to be a prophet of your god, allah!  Look at the facts, if muhammad was born in 570 A.D. and didn't proclaim his mission, until the age 40, in 610 A.D., when he was forty years old, so his family couldn't have possibly had been muslims!  The quraysh's main idol in mecca, at that timwe was allat or allah, - his female counterpart.  Thus allah was not coined by muhammad.  You can find many examples of the proper name in pre-islamic literature.  This word was used amongst the pagan arabs.  So muhammad wanted to make his clan's idol, allat or allah the greatest or biggest deity; as you muhammadans say "allah or allat akbar!" (also refer to qur'aan 71:23)

 To owen.grandison

It is the accepted belief of the Shi'a Ithna-Asheris, the Hanafis, and the Shafi'is that the ancestors of the Holy Prophet from 'Abdullah to Qidar ibn Isma'il, and from there right up to Adam, were true believers. They believed in the One and Only God and faithfully followed the Divine religion of their times. From Qidar to 'Abdullah, all of them followed the Shari'ah of Prophet Ibrahim (a.s.), which was the religion prescribed for them by God.

The famous Sunni scholar Imam Jalaluddin as-Suyuti has written nine books on this subject and has proved beyond doubt that all the ancestors of the Holy Prophet were true believers. Shaykh 'Abdul-Haqq Muhaddith Dehlawi has written: "All the ancestors of the Holy Prophet from Adam up to 'Abdullah were pure and clean from the uncleanness of disbelief and paganism. It was not possible for Allah to put that Holy Light (of the Holy Prophet) into dark and dirty places, i.e. the loin of a pagan man or the womb of a pagan woman. Also, how could it be possible for Allah to punish the ancestors of the Holy Prophet on the Day of judgement and thus humiliate him in the eyes of the world?"

The Holy Prophet himself has said: "I was always being transferred from the loins of the clean ones to the wombs of the clean ones."

'Allamah al-Majlisi has written that it is the unanimous belief of Shi'a scholars that the father, mother and all ancestors of the Holy Prophet followed the true religion, and his Light never entered into the loin of any pagan man or the womb of any pagan woman. Also, the accepted traditions say that all his ancestors were "Siddiqun" (Truthful Ones): They were either prophets or successors of prophets.

After Isma'il, all his ancestors were successors of Isma'il (a.s.). Other traditions specify that 'Abdul-Muttalib was a "Hujjat (Proof) of Allah and that Abu Talib was his successor."

Amirul-Mu'minin 'Ali ibn Abi Talib (a.s.) said: "By Allah, neither my father ever worshipped the idols, nor my grandfather 'Abdul-Muttalib, nor his father Hashim, nor his father 'Abd Munaf. They prayed facing towards the Ka'bah and followed the religion of Ibrahim."

If you look again at the preceding life-sketches of some of the ancestors of the Holy Prophet, you will find that many traditions established by them are now included into the tenets of Islam. Qusayi started the night-stay at Mash'arul-Haram during the hajj, and Allah kept that system in Islam. Can anybody think that Allah would confirm a religious rite established by a pagan?

Likewise, as we have seen the customs established by 'Abdul-Muttalib were adopted in Islam. Could Allah glorify 'Abdul-Muttalib if he were a pagan?

Also, read again the events of the discovery of Zamzam and the appearance of the well in the desert. Read again the events of 'Amul-Fil, and see the firm conviction that Allah would surely save His House. That statement, repeated several times, shows that 'Abdul-Muttalib knew what was going to happen. Why was he so sure? There can only be one explanation: He was informed by Allah. And this, in turn, proves the earlier statement that he was a "Hujjat" of Allah.

In all these events and narrations, he is always seen praying to Allah, and there is no hint from any quarter that he ever prayed to the idols of Quraish (to Hubal, Lat or 'Uzza). When he finds Zamzam, he exclaims "Allahu Akbar!" When he emphasizes anything, he swears by the name of Allah. When he stakes his claim, he says that Allah gave it to him. What further proof is needed to show that it was a family of True Believers?

The Holy Prophet said: "Jibril (Gabriel) said to me: 'I searched the east and the west of the earth, but I did not find anyone superior to Muhammad; and I searched the east and the west of the earth, but I did not find the children of any father better than the children of Hashim."

Also, the Holy Prophet said: "Verily, Allah chose Kinanah from the children of Isma'il, and He selected Quraish from Kinanah and chose the children of Hashim from the Quraish, and selected me from the children of Hashim."

 'Abdullah

When, at the discovery of Zamzam, 'Abdul-Muttalib encountered the enmity of Quraish, he was quite worried because he had only one son to help him. He, therefore, prayed to Allah, making a nadhr (vow) that if Allah gave him ten sons to help him against his enemies, he would sacrifice one of them to please Allah. His prayer was granted, and Allah gave him twelve sons, out of whom five are famous in the Islamic history: 'Abdullah, Abu Talib, Hamza, 'Abbas and Abu Lahab. The other seven were: Harith (already mentioned), Zubayr, Ghaydaq, Muqawwim, Dharar, Qutham., and Hijl (or Mughira). He had six daughters: 'Atikah, Umaymah, Baydha', Barrah, Safiyyah, and Arwi.

 When ten sons were born, 'Abdul-Muttalib decided to sacrifice one of them according to his nadhr. Lot was cast and 'Abdullah's name came out. 'Abdullah was the dearest to him, but he did not flinch from the decision of the fate. He took 'Abdullah's hands and started towards the place where sacrifices were offered. His daughters started crying and begged him to sacrifice ten camels in place of 'Abdullah. At first 'Abdul-Muttalib refused. But when the pressure of the whole family (and in fact, the whole tribe) mounted, he agreed to cast lot between 'Abdullah and ten camels. Again the name of 'Abdullah came out. On the suggestion of the people, the number of the camels was increased to twenty, again, the same result. Repeatedly, the number was increased to thirty, forty, fifty, sixty, seventy, eighty and ninety. But the result was always the same. At last the lot was cast between 100 camels and 'Abdullah. Now the lot came out for the camels. The family was jubilant, but 'Abdul Muttalib was not satisfied. He said: "Ten times the name of 'Abdullah has come out. It is not fair to ignore those lots just for one lot." Three times more, he repeated the lot between Abdullah and 100 camels, and every time the lot came out for the camels. Then he sacrificed the camels and the life of 'Abdullah was saved.

It was to this incident that the Holy Prophet referred when he said: "I am the son of the two sacrifices." He meant the sacrifices of Isma'iI and 'Abdullah.

The name of the mother of 'Abdullah was Fatimah, daughter of 'Amr ibn `Aidh ibn 'Amr ibn Makhzum. She was also the mother of Abu Talib, Zubayr, Baydha', Umaymah, Barra and 'Atikah.

A year before "the year of the elephant," 'Abdullah was married to Aminah daughter of Wahb ibn 'Abd Munaf ibn Zuhrah ibn Kilab. In that very gathering, 'Abdul-Muttalib married Hala, daughter of Wuhaib, i.e. cousin of Aminah. Hala gave birth to Hamza, and Thawbiyah, the slave-girl of Abu-Lahab, breast-fed him. She also gave her milk to the Holy Prophet for some time. Thus, Hamza was the uncle of the Holy Prophet and also his cousin as well as foster brother. Various traditions put the age of 'Abdullah at the time of his marriage at 17, 24 or 27 years.

'Abdullah went with a trade caravan to Syria. While returning, he fell ill and stayed at Yathrib (Medina). When 'Abdul-Muttalib sent Harith to look after him and bring him back, he had already passed away. 'Abdullah was buried in Yathrib. The Wahhabis walled up his grave and nobody was allowed to visit it. Then, in the 1970s the Wahhabis dug up his body together with those of 7 companions of the Prophet (s.a.w.a.) and buried them somewhere else under the pretext of extending the Mosque.

'Abdullah had left some camels, goats, and a slave-girl, Ummu Ayman. The Holy Prophet got it all as his inheritance.

According to "Glimpses of islamic history," by irfan faqih he said this:

"The arabs of the jahiliya period also had certain vices and moral degradations deeply rooted in their social fabric.  During this dark age the firmament of arabia was over-clouded with arrogance, injuustic, intransigence, vice and superstition.  The position of women was very precarious.  They were regarded as mere chattels and commodities.  They possessed no rights.  The birth of a daughter would turn the face of a father pale with grief and displeasure.  Sometimes the father buried her alive to get rid of the shame.  Polygamy and polyandry both were prevalent among the pagan arabs.  It was a permissive society with unrestricted polygamy and free and undisguised concubinage.  Sometimes even married women were granted permission by their husbands to have sexual relations with other men for the sake of offspring.  Step-mothers married to their sons who inherited them along with other estates after the death of their father.  Slavery was a most common practice and deeply rooted institution.  The slaves werer treated in a very savage and inhumane manner, and their lot was even more miserable than that of their fellow bondsmen in other parts of the contemporary world... The pagan arabs were so superstitious that they would undertake any work without consulting the oracles.  Social inequality, exploitation, injustice, persecution, drinking, gambling, looting and plundering were rampant."

Talking about arrogance, look at qadhafi, and saddam hussein!  They got bombed, citizens of saddam were starving to death, babies and others couldn't get any medicine, sanctions on common things like sugar and a cup of orange juice, which can cost up to $83.25 in iraq the last time i checked, and these leaders wouldn't yield!  Injustice.  Look at the millions of people who were murdered based on heresy or dislike by people like ayatollah khomeini, the dynasties, khalifahs, etc.  Since islam has spreaded its religion with the sword!  Women in the islamic world still don't have any rights, and they are worse off than women in the so-called period of ignorance!  Khadiyjah, muhammad's first wife was living during the jaahiliyah period and owned businesses!  Look at hind bint utbah, she was a warrior in battle!  Even mr. faqih admitted that both polygamy and polyandry was popular!  That means women and men both had several husbands and wives, not just polygymy which hugely benefits men today as in the islamic world!  Muslim women will get burned, beaten and hurt if they refuse to be none other than a house wife!  So let's set the record straight things were way better during the jaahiliyah period than now in the islamic and arab world!  As for killing the girl infants, that was just a small fraction of arabs who hade done that!  It wasn't prevalent as the qur'aan 81:8-9 and muhammadans try to imply!  Even today there are huge on-going celebrations for boys compared to the downgrading attitude shown towards the girls when they are born.  As for slavery, it is still widely practied in the islamic world and most of  the slaves are still treated in a sub-human manner!  So nothing has changed for the better it just got worse!

He concludes by saying this about islam and the pagan arabs on page 10, and i quote:

"It was a society of people given to such strange ideas and practices and in a country so markedly different in its physical aspect that of islam (peace and blessings of allah be upon him) was born.  To conclude in the words of francesco gabrieli: "such a romantic consideration cannot however ignore the fundamental fact that islam, drawing its energies from the soil of pagan arabism but enriching it with decisive elements foreign to it, put an end to a period which was called with reason 'barbarism' (this is better than the age of ignorance which is the translation usually given to the term jahiliya), and put the arabs on the road to civilization with a new and lofty concept of the divine, a society and a state shaped by it."

So mr irfan faqih as a muslim admits, islam its base and foundation and energies are paganistic and to make up and enrich it, the formulators of this new religion borrowed so much stuff from others to make a jump into civilization!