D.G. Martin

CHAPEL HILL — “A lot of people are having a ‘Muhammad problem’ these days.”

These opening words from a new book by a UNC Chapel Hill professor are about the least controversial words about Muhammad or Islam that have been written recently.

Although we might agree that many people have a Muhammad problem, it will not be as easy to find consensus about what that problem is.

The new book is “Memories of Muhammad: Why the Prophet Matters” by Omid Safi.

One of the problems, according to Professor Safi, is “nothing new. People have been attacking Muhammad for 1,300 years, some because of their religious beliefs and others because of their political convictions.”

From Martin Luther to Pat Robertson and Franklin Graham, Christian ministers have demonized Muhammad.

A more serious Muhammad problem for some Muslims and for many non-Muslims, according to Safi, may be a lack of appreciation of the Prophet as a peaceful and wise hero full of mercy and compassion, rather than as a martial warrior who seems to inspire some Muslims to violence and causes fear and loathing among those who are the targets of violence.

More serious than all these problems is the association between the religion of Muhammad and many enemies of America and its culture.

Safi responds to all these Muhammad problems by giving us a highly readable and interesting retelling of the story of this man. Some information about Muhammad can be found in the Muslim Holy Book, the Qu’ran (or Koran). Unlike the Christian gospels with their multiple stories about Jesus, Muslims believe that the Qu’ran was dictated to Muhammad by God through the angel Gabriel. Muhammad is the “messenger,” but he is not the subject of the book.

Safi turns to other contemporary or early sources of information about the life of Muhammad for stories of the young orphan from a minor Arab tribe living in Mecca, a commercial and religious hub. The young Muhammad becomes a successful tradesman, marries an older wealthy woman, who is his patron and partner, and develops a reputation as a trustworthy and respected citizen.

But after Muhammad received his revelations from God and began to challenge the idols and polytheism of his neighbors in Mecca, “Muhammad was often mocked, ostracized, exiled, and subject to assassination attempts. The enemies of Muhammad bribed children to cast stones at him, and one particularly obnoxious neighbor dumped rubbish on his head every morning when he passed by her house.”

In an early example of Muhammad’s compassion and forgiving spirit, Safi writes that, “One morning when Muhammad was walking by her house, no trash was dumped on him. Muhammad went inside the house and mercifully asked if all was well. The woman was sick in bed. Upon seeing his compassion and care for her when she had treated him so poorly, she wept and became one of his followers.”

Safi’s collection of stories about Muhammad provides important background for anyone who wants to understand our friends and enemies among the more than one billion people who embrace Islam.

There is one more Muhammad problem. It is usually an unspoken one among Christians and goes something like this: “What is the great power of Islam? How does it inspire such devotion among its believers? Why are they so devout? What is the attraction that draws so many new converts?”

Safi told me recently that he gets these questions sometimes from Christians who want to know if there are secret techniques that they could use in Christian evangelism.

The secret, he says, if there is one, is that Islam demands total submission to the one God. It is an uncompromising demand, perhaps impossible to follow perfectly, one that Muslims, perhaps, take more seriously than today’s Christians.
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D.G. Martin is the host of UNC-TV’s North Carolina Bookwatch, which airs Sundays at 5 p.m. Check his blog and view prior programs at www.unctv.org/ncbookwatch/