[1]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\nNevertheless, Muhammad\u2019s transformation from prophet to prophet-statesman had profound consequences for the nature of the religion that was developing\u2014Islam. This is because the nature of his example to the Muslims changed along with his change of role. Chris\u00adtians who want an ideal model to follow naturally look to Jesus of Nazareth as the person who most perfectly embodies their faith. But Jesus never held any political office or exercised any state power, and this fact allows Christians to concentrate on personal salvation and holiness without fearing that a failure to be politically involved jeop\u00adardizes their salvation. Muhammad, on the other hand, presided for the last ten years of his life over a community and attempted to enact Islam into law and political practice. A Muslim who seeks the ideal model for his faith naturally turns to Muhammad as the man who best understood and embodied it\u2014and Muhammad was a statesman. Therefore, a pious Muslim cannot be indifferent to politics.<\/span><\/p>\nThis is one of the reasons for the political tinge to\u00a0Islam that so infuriates or frightens or, at least, puzzles Westerners. We should not, however, be so puzzled. During the seventh century, nobody anywhere, in Mecca or in Constantinople or in Rome, had a very firm notion of or commitment to the separation of church and state. We should not be surprised, then, that Islam does not. And, in a religion whose source of authority is firmly in the past, it is exceedingly difficult to\u00a0evolve beyond seventh-century positions on the subject.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd what of Yathrib? Why do we not hear of that important town today? In fact, we do. After the arrival of the Prophet, the old name of the town gradually fell into disuse. Instead, it began to be known as Madinat al-Nabi<\/em>, \u201cthe city of the Prophet,\u201d or, simply, as al-Madina<\/em>, \u201cthe City\u201d And today Medina (as it is generally spelled in English) has come to be regarded as, after Mecca itself, the most holy city of Islam. (Jerusalem, most frequently known in Arabic as al-Quds<\/em>, \u201cthe holy,\u201d or as Bayt al-Maqdis, \u201cthe Holy House\u201d\u2013probably referring to the temple\u2013is the third.)<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
[1]<\/a> 24:35; Arberry.<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 Continuing with one of the manuscripts: \u00a0 It would be wrong, however, to suggest that the old power and beauty had gone out of the Qur\u2019an by the Medinan period. Passages like the so-called \u201cLight Verse,\u201d which some modern commentators believe refers to the lighted altar of a seventh-century Christian church, conclusively demonstrate […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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![\"Muhammad's](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2016\/07\/Madina_%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%B3%D8%AC%D8%AF_%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%86%D8%A8%D9%88%D9%8A_By_Akram_Abahre_-_panoramio.jpg\")
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