13.       MUHAMMED.     (part 1.)

Preparation.  Display table;  picture books, maps and costume dolls of Arabia.  Pictures of mosques etc.   Creative work;  crayons and a paper for each child as in Diagram 12.  This includes the verse for this week.

Prayers.

Song.  "From the three wives of Abraham".

News Time and Birthdays.

Revision of the previous week, linking with today's lesson.

Introduction.  Use the display table to give the children an idea of life in Arabia at the time of Muhammad.  God always sends a Messenger to people when they need One.  The people in Arabia, once upon a time, had forgotten about God.  They made idols, which are bits of wood, to worship.   The men were very cruel, for many months they would join together into armies to fight each other.   They were very cruel to ladies and girls as well.   So God sent them His Messenger called Muhammad.

Story.   Muhammad was known as the 'Faithful' because He did not steal, tell lies or cheat like the others did.  When He was young He looked after the camels of a lady called Khadijah, in the town of Mecca.  She was a kind and gentle person too and after a while Muhammad and Khadijah were married.

Muhammad always wondered how He could help the people of Arabia.   They did not seem very happy.  He used to go into a cave, on a mountain-side, to pray to God.  One day, whilst He was praying He heard a voice saying, "Recite in the Name of Thy Lord."   He was worried and rushed home to tell His wife. She told Him that He should not be concerned because He was a good man and that it must be God who was speaking to Him.   But Muhammad was not sure because He could not even read or write so He did not think that He could be useful.  Khadijah told Him to go back and this time to do whatever God told Him.  So Muhammad did go back and God told Him He was the Messenger Who was going to change the Arabian people.  Khadijah was His first follower, but most of the people in Mecca did not want to listen.  They would throw stones at Muhammad when He went into the street to tell them God's message.

After many years the people in a town called Medina asked Muhammad to go and live with them.  He and His followers had to escape to Medina because some wicked people wanted to kill them.  His enemies chased Him across the desert and God used a tiny spider to save Muhammad's life.   Muhammad hid in a cave and a spider wove a web right across the entrance.   When the wicked men rode up to the cave they decided that Muhammad could not be inside because He would have had to break the web to get in.   So they stopped searching and went home.  Muhammad reached Medina safely and began telling people God's message.

The people in Mecca were angry to hear that Muhammad had escaped and decided to send an army to Medina.  The people in Medina were happy and did not like to go to war, but they had to protect the women and children. Although they did not have as many men as the Meccans God helped them to win the battle.  The followers had to fight many battles against the wicked people  and they always won because they were doing it to help God's Messenger.  Muhammad decided that they must go back to Mecca to teach those people a lesson.  When the Muslims arrived the people were so afraid that they let them enter without fighting.

In the middle of Mecca stood a building called the Kaaba where the Meccans kept their idols.  Muhammad went into the Kaaba and destroyed all the idols to show the Meccans that bits of wood cannot do anything to help them.

Then all the Meccan people started to listen to Him just like the people of Medina had.

Reading:           "Thou needest not raise thy voice for He knoweth the secret whisper and the yet more hidden. "

This verse is included in the creative work so need not be typed out again.  Explain the meaning.  Ask the children to whisper as softly as they can, so that no-one else can hear properly what they have said.  It does not matter how softly we whisper or even if we only think something, God knows what we are thinking.

Creative work: Diagram 12 shows the verse from the Koran illustrated (very simply) in the style of the Arabian artists.  This is for the children to colour in.

 Last modified: May 22, 2001

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