The other thing the Prophet did was to establish the nucleus of the Muslim state in the city of Medina. Along with the Muslim tribes. The Jewish tribes and others worshipped many gods also accepted him as head of state. The Prophet dictated the charter which became the first constitution of the state. It is generally known as the Charter (or Pact or Covenant) of Medina. All religions accepted the Muslim Prophet. Because they knew that Muslims were equal to all (23). Even though it was a Muslim state everyone accepted it.
The Jews were very powerful in Medina. They were traders, merchants, and usurers, and the controlled the economic life of the pagan tribes. The Pact amounted to an agreement for peaceful coexistence, an alliance for cooperation against aggression and freedom for each community to practice its own religion. Even though Jews were powerful they made a Pact to tolerate other religions (23). They lived peacefully. Because of the pact.
The Prophet was accepting. Which means Allah accepted all religions to even though they didn't accept the religion Allah made for us. It caused a thriving Muslim city today. Each community could practice their own religion.
Makkah now occupied a more important place in the heart of all new Muslims, not only immigrants. The city was to be treated from now on not just as the birth place of the prophet, or a place having a house of God, but as a place of convergence for all Muslims. It became the central place for Islam, the holiest place of holy places, the holy sanctuary for all Muslims of all ages. Makkah is like the main Mosque (24). It is where Muslims go to be forgiven.
One night a companion of Prophet met someone in a dream. Who taught him the call for prayer which Muslims know today? He reported his dream to the Prophet who said, "It is a genuine vision," and told the companion to teach the call to Bilal, the black slave who suffered torcher for the acceptance of Islam before he was freed by Abu Bakr. The first call to prayer was given by Bilal. The person who gives this call known as muadhin and the call is known as adhan (26). He is one of the first to pray and he taught other people how to pray.
Muslims still to Makkah even today but now it is called a pilgrimage. We have to go there at least once in our lifetime. But after we go we are not allowed to cut our hair or shave our hair. Without Bilal we wouldn't know how to pray today.
Is it a religion of violence or of peace?
The President of the United States, George W. Bush, has emphasized that "Islam is Peace" on a number of occasions. A sizeable percentage of North Americans view Islam in a positive light. The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press conducted a public opinion poll among 1,500 adults on 2001-NOV-13 to 19. Americans, particularly "conservative Republicans" repudiated an unfavorable view of Islam. The survey found that: The percentage of Americans with a favorable view of Muslims rose from 45% in May to 59% in November. The percentage of conservative Republicans with a favorable view of Muslims rose from 35% to 64% (Internet source 2-3)! People who like Islam rose in percentage and people who didn't like it rose also. They both rose because there were people who had a neutral look on Islam.
John L. Esposito, one of America's foremost authorities and interpreters of Islam, rejects as far too simplistic the concept that Islam is a militant, expansionist, and rabidly anti-American religion. In his book: "The Islamic Threat: Myth or Reality," he demonstrates the diversity of the Islamic resurgence--and the mistakes our analysts make in assuming a hostile, monolithic Islam (4). He is saying the Islam is not militant or cruel just because of some Muslims are making all Muslims look bad. There concept of Islam is too simple they just think that Muslims are cruel and bad.
People think that Muslims are cruel and will do anything to anyone who gets into there way. Because of what some Muslims did in the 9/11 incident. But not all Muslims are like that. Islam is like other religions it also has a lot of thing in common with Christianity but some differences. People don't think things through they don't notice the real Muslims. Some people might know Muslims and might not even know that they are Muslims.
Jerry Falwell said that "...Muhammad was a terrorist. I've read enough of the history of his life written by both Muslims and non-Muslims, that he was a violent man, a man of war (6-7)." That particular comment triggered a riot in India which killed at least 14 people. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) singled out Evangelical Christian "Franklin Graham who has claimed that terrorism is part of "mainstream" Islam and that the Qur'an, Islam's revealed text, "preaches violence." Graham also called Islam an "evil and wicked religion." “CAIR listed two additional leading conservative Christian pastors -- Pat Robertson and Chuck Colson -- who, they say, "have echoed Graham's Islam phobic smears (5).” These people are saying that Islam is a violent religion. They say that it is a religion of war. They even said our prophets were violent.
