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Muhammad ibn 'Abdullāh (; ; also spelled Mohammed or Muhammed) (ca. 570 Mecca – June 8, 632 Medina), is the central human figure of the religion of Islam and is regarded by Muslims as the messenger and prophet of , the last and the greatest law-bearer in a series of prophets of Islam. Muslims consider him the restorer of the uncorrupted original monotheistic faith (islām) of Adam, Abraham, Moses, Noah, Jesus (Isa) and other prophets of Islam. He was also active as a diplomat, merchant, philosopher, orator, legislator, reformer, military general, and, for Muslims and followers of several other religions, an agent of divine action.
Born in 570 CE in the Arabian city of Mecca, he was orphaned at a young age and was brought up under the care of his uncle. He later worked mostly as a merchant, and was first married by age 25. Discontented with life in Mecca, he retreated to a cave in the surrounding mountains for meditation and reflection. According to Islamic beliefs it was here, at age 40, in the month of Ramadan, where he received his first revelation from God. Three years after this event Muhammad started preaching these revelations publicly, proclaiming that "God is One", that complete "surrender" to Him (lit. islām) is the only way (dīn) acceptable to God, and that he himself was a prophet and messenger of God, in the same vein as Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Jesus and other prophets in Islam.
Muhammad gained few followers early on, and was met with hostility from some tribes of Mecca; he was treated harshly and so were his followers. To escape persecution Muhammad and his followers migrated to Medina (then known as Yathrib) in the year 622. This event, the Hijra, marks the beginning of the Islamic calendar. In Medina Muhammad managed to unite the conflicting tribes, and after eight years of fighting with the Meccan tribes, his followers, who by then had grown to ten thousand, conquered Mecca. In 632 a few months after returning to Medina from his Farewell pilgrimage, Muhammad fell ill and died. By the time of his death most of the Arabian Peninsula had converted to Islam and he united the tribes of Arabia into a singular Muslim religious polity.
The revelations (or Ayats, lit. "Signs of God"), which Muhammad reported receiving until his death, form the verses of the Qur'an, regarded by Muslims as the "word of God", around which his religion is based. Besides the Qur'an, Muhammad's life (sira) and traditions (sunnah) are also upheld by Muslims. They discuss Muhammad and other prophets of Islam with reverence, adding the phrase peace be upon him whenever their names are mentioned. While conceptions of Muhammad in medieval Christendom and premodern times were largely negative, appraisals in modern times have been far less so. Besides this, his life and deeds have been debated by followers and opponents over the centuries.
Muhammad's life is in the full light of history and about whom there are numerous records in historical texts, although like other premodern historical figures not every detail of his life is known. Because Muhammad is one of the most influential figures in history, his life, deeds, and thoughts have been debated by followers and opponents over the centuries, which makes a biography of him difficult to write.
The "most trustworthy source" for reconstruction of the life of the historical Muhammad is the Qur'an. The Qur'an has some, though very few, casual allusions to Muhammad's life, however it reveals the most essential aspects associated with Muhammad. The Qur'an however responds "constantly and often candidly to Muhammad's changing historical circumstances and contains a wealth of hidden data." The Qur'an in its actual form is generally considered by academic scholars to record the words spoken by Muhammad because the search for variants in Western academia has not yielded any differences of great significance.
Next in importance are the historical works by writers of the third and fourth century of the Muslim era. These include the traditional Muslim biographies of Muhammad and quotes attributed to him (the sira and hadith literature), which provide further information on Muhammad's life. The earliest surviving written sira (biographies of Muhammad and quotes attributed to him) is Ibn Ishaq's Life of God's Messenger written some 120 to 130 years after Muhammad's death. Although the original work is lost, portions of it survive in the recensions of Ibn Hisham and Al-Tabari. Another early source is the history of Muhammad's campaigns by al-Waqidi (death 207 of Muslim era), and the work of his secretary Ibn Sa'd al-Baghdadi (death 230 of Muslim era). Many, but not all, scholars accept the accuracy of the earliest biographies, though their accuracy is unascertainable. Recent studies have led scholars to distinguish between the traditions touching legal matters and the purely historical ones. In the former sphere, traditions could have been subject to sheer invention while in the latter sphere, aside from exceptional cases, the material may have been only subject to "tendential shaping".
In addition, the hadith collections are accounts of the verbal and physical traditions of Muhammad that date from several generations after the death of Muhammad. Hadith compilations are records of the traditions or sayings of the Muhammad. They might be defined as the biography of Muhammad perpetuated by the long memory of his community for their exemplification and obedience. Western academics view the hadith collections with caution as accurate historical sources. Some scholars such as Madelung do not reject the narrations which have been complied in later periods, but try to judge them in the context of history and on the basis of their compatibility with the events and figures. Finally, there are oral traditions. Although usually discounted by positivist historians, oral tradition plays a major role in the Islamic understanding of Muhammad.
There are also a few non-Muslim sources that, according to S. A. Nigosian, confirm the existence of Muhammad and are valuable for corroboration of the Muslim traditional statements.
The Arabian Peninsula was largely arid and volcanic, making agriculture difficult except near oases or springs. Thus the Arabian landscape was dotted with towns and cities, two prominent of which were Mecca and Medina. Communal life was essential for survival in the desert conditions, as people needed support against the harsh environment and lifestyle. The tribal grouping was thus encouraged by the need to act as a unit. This unity was based on the bond of kinship by blood. People of Arabia were either nomadic or sedentary, the former constantly traveling from one place to another seeking water and pasture for their flocks, while the latter settled and focused on trade and agriculture. The survival of nomads (or bedouins) was also partially dependent on raiding caravans or oases; thus they saw this as no crime. Medina was a large flourishing agricultural settlement, while Mecca was an important financial center for many of the surrounding tribes.
In pre-Islamic Arabia gods or goddesses were viewed as protectors of individual tribes and their spirits were associated with sacred trees, stones, springs and wells. There was an important shrine in Mecca (now called the Kaaba) that housed statues of 360 idols of tribal patron deities and was the site of an annual pilgrimage. Aside from these tribal gods, Arabs shared a common belief in a supreme deity Allah (literally "the god") who was however remote from their everyday concerns and thus not the object of cult or ritual. Three goddesses were associated with Allah as his daughters: al-Lat, Manat and al-Uzza. Some monotheistic communities did also exist in Arabia, including Christians and Jews.Hanifs – native pre-Islamic Arab monotheists – are also sometimes listed alongside Jews and Christians in pre-Islamic Arabia, although their historicity is disputed amongst scholars. According to the Muslim tradition, Muhammad himself was a Hanif and one of descendant of Ishmael, son of Abraham.
Muhammad was born in the month of Rabi' al-awwal in 570. He belonged to the Banu Hashim, one of the prominent families of Mecca, although it seems not to have been prosperous during Muhammad's early lifetime. Tradition places the year of Muhammad's birth as corresponding with the Year of the Elephant, which is named after the failed destruction of Mecca that year by the Aksumite king Abraha who had in his army a number of elephants. Recent scholarship has suggested alternative dates for this event, such as 568 or 569.
Muhammad's father, Abdullah, died almost six months before he was born. According to the tradition, soon after Muhammad's birth he was sent to live with a Bedouin family in the desert, as the desert-life was considered healthier for infants. Muhammad stayed with his foster-mother, Halimah bint Abi Dhuayb, and her husband until he was two years old. Some western scholars of Islam have rejected the historicity of this tradition. At the age of six Muhammad lost his mother Amina to illness and he became fully orphaned. He was subsequently brought up for two years under the guardianship of his paternal grandfather Abd al-Muttalib, of the Banu Hashim clan of the Quraysh tribe. When he was eight years of age his grandfather also died. Muhammad now came under the care of his uncle Abu Talib, the new leader of Banu Hashim. According to Watt, because of the general disregard of the guardians in taking care of the weak members of the tribes in Mecca in sixth century, "Muhammad's guardians saw that he did not starve to death, but it was hard for them to do more for him, especially as the fortunes of the clan of Hashim seem to have been declining at that time."
While still in his teens, Muhammad began accompanying his uncle on trading journeys to Syria gaining some experience in commercial career; the only career open to Muhammad as an orphan. According to the tradition, when Muhammad was either nine or twelve while accompanying the Meccans' caravan to Syria, he met a Christian Monk or hermit named Bahira who is said to have foreseen the career of Muhammed as a prophet of God.
Little is known of Muhammad during his later youth, and from the fragmentary information that is available, it is hard to separate history from legend. It is known that he became a merchant and "was involved in trade between the Indian ocean and the Mediterranean Sea." Due to his upright character he acquired the nickname "Al-Amin" (Arabic: الامين), meaning "faithful, trustworthy" and was sought out as an impartial arbitrator. His reputation attracted a proposal from Khadijah, a forty-year-old widow in 595. Muhammad consented to the marriage, which by all accounts was a happy one.
At some point Muhammad adopted the practice of meditating alone for several weeks every year in a cave on Mount Hira near Mecca. Islamic tradition holds that in one of his visits to the Mount Hira, the angel Gabriel began communicating with him here in the year 610 and commanded Muhammad to recite the following verses:
Proclaim! (or read!) in the name of thy Lord and Cherisher, Who created- Created man, out of a (mere) clot of congealed blood: Proclaim! And thy Lord is Most Bountiful,- He Who taught (the use of) the pen,- Taught man that which he knew not.(Qur'an)
According to some traditions, upon receiving his first revelations Muhammad was deeply distressed and contemplated throwing himself off the top of a mountain but the spirit moved closer and told him that he has been chosen as a messenger of God. Muhammad returned home and was consoled and reassured by his wife, Khadijah and her Christian cousin, Waraqah ibn Nawfal. Shia tradition maintains that Muhammad was neither surprised nor frightened at the appearance of Gabriel but rather welcomed him as if he had been expecting him. The initial revelation was followed by a pause of three years during which Muhammad gave himself up further to prayers and spiritual practices. When the revelations resumed he was reassured and commanded to begin preaching: Your lord has not forsaken you nor does he hate [you] (Qur'an).
According to Welch these revelations were accompanied by mysterious seizures, and the reports are unlikely to have been forged by later Muslims. Muhammad was confident that he could distinguish his own thoughts from these messages. According to the Qur'an, one of the main roles of Muhammad is to warn the unbelievers of their eschatological punishment (Qur'an, Qur'an ). Sometimes the Qur'an does not explicitly refer to the Judgment day but provides examples from the history of some extinct communities and warns Muhammad's contemporaries of similar calamities (Qur'an ). Muhammad is not only a warner to those who reject God's revelation, but also a bearer of good news for those who abandon evil, listen to the divine word and serve God. Muhammad's mission also involves preaching monotheism: The Qur'an demands Muhammad to proclaim and praise the name of his Lord and instructs him not to worship idols apart from God or associate other deities with God.
The key themes of the early Qur'anic verses included the responsibility of man towards his creator; the resurrection of dead, God's final judgment followed by vivid descriptions of the tortures in hell and pleasures in Paradise; and the signs of God in all aspects of life. Religious duties required of the believers at this time were few: belief in God, asking for forgiveness of sins, offering frequent prayers, assisting others particularly those in need, rejecting cheating and the love of wealth (considered to be significant in the commercial life of Mecca), being chaste and not to kill new-born girls.
According to Ibn Sad, the opposition in Mecca started when Muhammad delivered verses that condemned idol worship and the Meccan forefathers who engaged in polytheism. The Qur'anic exegesis however maintains that it began as soon as Muhammad began preaching in public. As the number of Muhammad's followers swelled, he became a threat to the local tribes and the rulers of the city, whose wealth rested upon the Kaaba, the focal point of Meccan religious life, which Muhammad threatened to overthrow. Muhammad's denunciation of the Meccan traditional religion was especially offensive to his own tribe, the Quraysh, as they were the guardians of the Ka'aba. The powerful merchants tried to convince Muhammad to abandon his preaching by offering him admission into the inner circle of merchants, and establishing his position therein by an advantageous marriage. However, he refused.
Tradition records at great length the persecution and ill-treatment of Muhammad and his followers. Sumayyah bint Khabbab, a slave of Abu Jahl and a prominent Meccan leader, is famous as the first martyr of Islam, having been killed with a spear by her master when she refused to give up her faith. Bilal, another Muslim slave, was tortured by Umayya ibn khalaf who placed a heavy rock on his chest to force his conversion. Apart from insults, Muhammad was protected from physical harm due to belonging to the clan of Banu Hashim.
In 615, some of Muhammad's followers emigrated to the Ethiopian Aksumite Empire and founded a small colony there under the protection of the Christian Ethiopian emperor Aṣḥama ibn Abjar. Some early traditions describe Muhammad's involvement at this time in an episode that has come to be known as the "Story of the Cranes" -- dubbed by some scholars as the "Satanic Verses." The account holds that Muhammad pronounced a verse acknowledging the existence of three Meccan goddesses considered to be the daughters of Allah, praising them, and appealing for their intercession. According to these accounts, Muhammad later retracted the verses at the behest of Gabriel. Islamic scholars vigorously objected to the historicity of the incident as early as the tenth century CE. In any event, the relations between the Muslims and their pagan fellow-tribesmen rapidly deteriorated.
In 617 the leaders of Makhzum and Banu Abd-Shams, two important clans of Quraysh, declared a public boycott against Banu Hashim, their commercial rival, to pressurize it into withdrawing its protection of Muhammad. The boycott lasted for three years but eventually collapsed as it failed to achieve its objective.
In 619, both Muhammad's wife Khadijah and his uncle Abu Talib died, and was thus known as the "year of sorrows." With the death of Abu Talib, the leadership of the clan of Banu Hashim was passed to Abu Lahab who was an inveterate enemy of Muhammad. Soon afterwards Abu Lahab withdrew the clan's protection from Muhammad. This placed Muhammad in danger of death since the withdrawal of clan protection implied that the blood revenge for his killing would not be exacted. Muhammad then visited to Ta'if, another important city in Arabia, and tried to find a protector for himself there, but his effort failed and further brought him into physical danger. Muhammad was forced to return to Mecca. A Meccan man named Mut'im b. Adi (and the protection of the tribe of Banu Nawfal) made it possible for him safely to re-enter his native city.
Many people were visiting Mecca on business or as pilgrims to the Kaaba. Muhammad took this opportunity to look for a new home for himself and his followers. After several unsuccessful negotiations, he found hope with some men from Yathrib (later called Medina). The Arab population of Yathrib were somewhat familiar with monotheism because a Jewish community existed in that city. Converts to Islam came from nearly all Arab tribes present in Medina, such that by June of the subsequent year there were seventy-five Muslims coming to Mecca for pilgrimage and to meet Muhammad. Meeting him secretly by night, the group made what was known as the "Second Pledge of al-`Aqaba", or the "Pledge of War Following the pledges at Aqabah, Muhammad encouraged his followers to emigrate to Yathrib. As before, with the migration to Abyssinia, the Quraysh attempted to stop the emigration. However, almost all Muslims managed to leave.
Islamic tradition relates that some time in 620, Muhammad experienced the Isra and Mi'raj, a miraculous journey said to have been accomplished in one night along with the angel Gabriel. In the first part of the journey, the Isra, he is said to have travelled from Mecca to "the farthest mosque" (in Arabic: masjid al-aqsa), which Muslims usually identify with the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. In the second part, the Miraj, Muhammad is said to have toured heaven and hell, and spoken with earlier prophets, such as Abraham, Moses, and Jesus.Ibn Ishaq, author of first biography of Muhammad, presents this event as a spiritual experience while later historians like Al-Tabari and Ibn Kathir present it as a physical journey. Some western scholars of Islam hold that the oldest Muslim tradition identified the journey as one traveled through the heavens from the sacred enclosure at Mecca to the celestial Kaʿba (heavenly prototype of the Kaʿba); but later tradition identified Muhammad's journey from Mecca to the abode of sanctuary (bayt al-maqdis) in Jerusalem.
A delegation from Medina, consisting of the representatives of the twelve important clans of Medina, invited Muhammad as a neutral outsider to Medina to serve as the chief arbitrator for the entire community. There was fighting in Yathrib mainly involving its Arab and Jewish inhabitants for around a hundred years before 620. The recurring slaughters and disagreements over the resulting claims, especially after the battle of Bu'ath in which all the clans were involved, made it obvious to them that the tribal conceptions of blood-feud and an eye for an eye were no longer workable unless there was one man with authority to adjudicate in disputed cases. The delegation from Medina pledged themselves and their fellow-citizens to accept Muhammad into their community and physically protect him as one of themselves.
Muhammad instructed his followers to emigrate to Medina until virtually all of his followers had left Mecca. Being alarmed at the departure of Muslims, according to the tradition, the Meccans plotted to assassinate Muhammad. With the help of Ali, however, Muhammad fooled the Meccans who were watching him, and secretly slipped away from the town with Abu Bakr. By 622, Muhammad had emigrated to Medina, then known as Yathrib, a large agricultural oasis. Those who had migrated from Mecca along with Muhammad became known as muhajirun (emigrants).
The first group of pagan converts to Islam in Medina were the clans who had not produced great leaders for themselves but had suffered from warlike leaders from other clans. This was followed by the general acceptance of Islam by the pagan population of Medina, apart from some exception. This was according to Ibn Ishaq influenced by the conversion of Sa'd ibn Mu'adh, one of the prominent leaders in Medina to Islam. Those Medinans who converted to Islam and helped the Muslim emigrants find shelter became known as the ansar (helpers). Then Muhammad instituted brotherhood between the emigrants and the helpers and he chose Ali as his own brother.
With the early general conversion of Medinian pagans to Islam, the pagan opposition in Medina was never of prime importance in the affairs of Medina. Those remaining pagans in Medina were very bitter about the advance of Islam. In particular Asma bint Marwan and Abu 'Afak had composed verses taunting and insulting some of the Muslims. These two were assassinated and Muhammad did not disapprove of it. No one dared to take vengeance on them, and some of the members of the clan of Asma bint Marwan who had previously converted to Islam in secret, now professed Islam openly. This marked an end to the overt opposition to Muhammad among the pagans in Medina.
Following the emigration, the Meccans seized the properties of the Muslim emigrants in Mecca. Economically uprooted and with no available profession, the Muslim migrants turned to raiding Meccan caravans for their livelihood, thus initiating armed conflict between the Muslims and Mecca. Muhammad delivered Qur'anic verses permitting the Muslims to fight the Meccans (see Qur'an 22:39–40). These attacks pressured Mecca by interfering with trade, and allowed the Muslims to acquire wealth, power and prestige while working toward their ultimate goal of inducing Mecca's submission to the new faith. In March of 624, Muhammad led some three hundred warriors in a raid on a Meccan merchant caravan. The Muslims set an ambush for the Meccans at Badr. Aware of the plan, the Meccan caravan eluded Muslims. Meanwhile, a force from Mecca was sent to protect the caravan, continuing forward to confront the Muslims upon hearing that the caravan was safe. The battle of Badr began in March of 624. Though outnumbered more than three to one, the Muslims won the battle, killing at least forty-five Meccans with only fourteen Muslims dead. They had also succeeded in killing many of the Meccan leaders, including Abu Jahl. Seventy prisoners had been acquired, many of whom were soon ransomed in return for wealth or freed. Muhammad and his followers saw in the victory a confirmation of their faith. The Qur'anic verses of this period, unlike the Meccan ones, dealt with practical problems of government and issues like the distribution of spoils.
Muhammad expelled from Medina the Banu Qaynuqa, one of the three main Jewish tribes. Following the battle of Badr, Muhammad also made mutual-aid alliances with a number of Bedouin tribes to protect his community from attacks from the northern part of Hijaz.
The attack at Badr committed Muhammad to total war with Meccans, who were now anxious to avenge their defeat. To maintain their economic prosperity, the Meccans needed to restore their prestige, which had been lost at Badr. In the ensuing months, Muhammad led expeditions on tribes allied with Mecca and sent out a raid on a Meccan caravan. Abu Sufyan subsequently gathered an army of three thousand men and set out for an attack on Medina.
A scout alerted Muhammad of the Meccan army's presence and numbers a day later. The next morning, at the Muslim conference of war, there was dispute over how best to repel the Meccans. Muhammad and many of the senior figures suggested that it would be safer to fight within Medina and take advantage of its heavily fortified strongholds. Younger Muslims argued that the Meccans were destroying their crops, and that huddling in the strongholds would destroy Muslim prestige. Muhammad eventually conceded to the wishes of the latter, and readied the Muslim force for battle. Thus, Muhammad led his force outside to the mountain of Uhud (where the Meccans had camped) and fought the Battle of Uhud on March 23. Although the Muslim army had the best of the early encounters, indiscipline on the part of strategically placed archers led to a Muslim defeat, with 75 Muslims killed including Hamza, Muhammad's uncle and one of the best known martyrs in the Muslim tradition. The Meccans did not pursue the Muslims further, but marched back to Mecca declaring victory. They were not entirely successful, however, as they had failed to achieve their aim of destroying the Muslims completely. The Muslims buried the dead, and returned to Medina that evening. Questions accumulated as to the reasons for the loss, and Muhammad subsequently delivered Qur'anic verses which indicated that their defeat was partly a punishment for disobedience and partly a test for steadfastness.
Abu Sufyan now directed his efforts towards another attack on Medina. He attracted the support of nomadic tribes to the north and east of Medina, using propaganda about Muhammad's weakness, promises of booty, memories of the prestige of Quraysh and use of bribes. Muhammad's policy was now to prevent alliances against him as much as he could. Whenever alliances of tribesmen against Medina were formed, he sent out an expedition to break them up. When Muhammad heard of men massing with hostile intentions against Medina, he reacted with severity. One example is the assassination of Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf, a member of the Jewish tribe of Banu Nadir who had gone to Mecca and written poems that had helped rouse the Meccans' grief, anger and desire for revenge after the battle of Badr. Around a year later, Muhammad expelled the Jewish Banu Nadir from Medina. Muhammad's attempts to prevent formation of a confederation against him were unsuccessful, though he was able to increase his own forces and stop many potential tribes from joining his enemies.
Abu Sufyan, the military leader of Quraysh, with the help of Banu Nadir, the exiled Jewish tribe from Medina, had mustered a force of size 10,000 men. Muhammad was able to prepare a force of about 3000 men. He had however adopted a new form of defense, unknown in Arabia at that time: Muslims had dug a trench wherever Medina lay open to cavalry attack. The idea is credited to a Persian convert to Islam, Salman the Persian. The siege of Medina began on March 31 627 and lasted for two weeks. Abu Sufyan's troops were unprepared for the fortifications they were confronted with, and after an ineffectual siege lasting several weeks, the coalition decided to go home. The Qur'an discusses this battle in verses Qur'an 33:9-33:27
During the battle, the Jewish tribe of Banu Qurayza, located at the south of Medina, had entered into negotiations with Meccan forces to revolt against Muhammad. Although they were swayed by suggestions that Muhammad was sure to be overwhelmed, they desired reassurance in case the confederacy was unable to destroy him. No agreement was reached after the prolonged negotiations, in part due to sabotage attempts by Muhammad's scouts. After the retreat of the coalition, the Muslims accused the Banu Qurayza of treachery and besieged them in their forts for 25 days. The Banu Qurayza eventually surrendered and all the men, apart from a few who converted to Islam, were beheaded, while the women and children were enslaved. In the siege of Medina, the Meccans had exerted their utmost strength towards the destruction of the Muslim community. Their failure resulted in a significant loss of prestige; their trade with Syria was gone. Following the battle of the trench, Muhammad made two expeditions to the north which ended without any fighting. While returning from one of these two expeditions (or some years earlier according to other early accounts), an accusation of adultery was made against Aisha, Muhammad's wife. Aisha was exonerated from the accusations when Muhammad announced that he had received a revelation confirming Aisha's innocence and directing that charges of adultery be supported by four eyewitnesses.
Negotiations commenced with emissaries going to and from Mecca. While these continued, rumors spread that one of the Muslim negotiators, Uthman bin al-Affan, had been killed by the Quraysh. Muhammad responded by calling upon the pilgrims to make a pledge not to flee (or to stick with Muhammad, whatever decision he made) if the situation descended into war with Mecca. This pledge became known as the "Pledge of Acceptance" (Arabic: بيعة الرضوان , bay'at al-ridhwān) or the "Pledge under the Tree." News of Uthman's safety, however, allowed for negotiations to continue, and a treaty scheduled to last ten years was eventually signed between the Muslims and Quraysh. The main points of treaty included the cessation of hostilities; the deferral of Muhammad's pilgrimage to the following year; and an agreement to send back any Meccan who had gone to Medina without the permission of his or her protector.
Many Muslims were not satisfied with the terms of the treaty. However, the Qur'anic sura "Al-Fath" (The Victory) (Qur'an) assured the Muslims that the expedition from which they were now returning must be considered a victorious one. It was only later that Muhammad's followers would realise the benefit behind this treaty. These benefits, according to Welch, included the inducing of the Meccans to recognise Muhammad as an equal; a cessation of military activity posing well for the future; and gaining the admiration of Meccans who were impressed by the incorporation of the pilgrimage rituals.
After signing the truce, Muhammad made an expedition against the Jewish oasis of Khaybar, known as the Battle of Khaybar. This was possibly due to it housing the Banu Nadir, who were inciting hostilities against Muhammad, or to regain some prestige to deflect from what appeared to some Muslims as the inconclusive result of the truce of Hudaybiyya. According to Muslim tradition, Muhammad also sent letters to many rulers of the world, asking them to convert to Islam (the exact date are given variously in the sources). Hence he sent messengers (with letters) to Heraclius of the Byzantine Empire (the eastern Roman Empire), Khosrau of Persia, the chief of Yemen and to some others. In the years following the truce of Hudaybiyya, Muhammad sent his forces against the Arabs on Transjordanian Byzantine soil in the Battle of Mu'tah, in which the Muslims were defeated.
The truce of Hudaybiyya had been enforced for two years. The tribe of Khuz'aah had a friendly relationship with Muhammad, while on the other hand their enemies, the Banu Bakr, had an alliance with the Meccans. A clan of the Bakr made a night raid against the Khuz'aah, killing a few of them. The Meccans helped their allies (i.e., the Banu Bakr) with weapons and, according to some sources, a few Meccans also took part in the fighting. After this event, Muhammad sent a message to Mecca with three conditions, asking them to accept one of them. These were that either the Meccans paid blood money for those slain among the Khuza'ah tribe; or, that they should disavow themselves of the Banu Bakr; or, that they should declare the truce of Hudaybiyya null.
The Meccans replied that they would accept only the last condition. However, soon they realized their mistake and sent Abu Safyan to renew the Hudaybiyya treaty, but now his request was declined by Muhammad. Muhammad began to prepare for a campaign. In 630, Muhammad marched on Mecca with an enormous force, said to number more than ten thousand men. With minimal casualties, Muhammad took control of Mecca. He declared an amnesty for past offences, except for ten men and women who had mocked and made fun of him in songs and verses. Some of these were later pardoned. Most Meccans converted to Islam, and Muhammad subsequently destroyed all of the statues of Arabian gods in and around the Kaaba, without any exception. The Qur'an discusses the conquest of Mecca in verses Qur'an 110:1-110:3
In the same year, Muhammad made the expedition of Tabuk against northern Arabia because of their previous defeat at the Battle of Mu'tah as well as the reports of the hostile attitude adopted against Muslims. Although Muhammad did not make contact with hostile forces at Tabuk, but he received the submission of some of the local chiefs of the region. A year after the battle of Tabuk, the tribe of Thaqif inhabiting in the city of Ta'if sent emissaries to Medina to surrender to Muhammad and adopt Islam. Many bedouins submitted to Muhammad in order to be safe against his attacks and to benefit from the booties of the wars. The bedouins however were alien to the system of Islam and wanted to maintain their independence, their established code of virtue and their ancestral traditions. Muhammad, thus required of them a military and political agreement according to which they "acknowledge the suzerainty of Medina, to refrain from attack on the Muslims and their allies, and to pay the Zakat, the Muslim religious levy.
At the end of the tenth year after the migration to Medina, Muhammad carried through his first truly Islamic pilgrimage thereby teaching his followers the regulations of the various ceremonies of the annual Great Pilgrimage (hajj).
After completing the pilgrimage rituals, Muhammad delivered a famous speech known as the Farewell Speech (Arabic: Khutbat al-Wadaa'). In this sermon, Muhammad advised his followers not to follow certain pre-Islamic customs such as adding intercalary months to align the lunar calendar with the solar calendar. Muhammad abolished all old blood feuds and disputes based on the former tribal system and asked for all old pledges to be returned as implications of the creation of the new Islamic community. Commenting on the vulnerability of women in his society, Muhammed asked his male followers to "Be good to women; for they are powerless captives (awan) in your households. You took them in God's trust, and legitimated your sexual relations with the Word of God, so come to your senses people, and hear my words ...". He also told them that they were entitled to discipline their wives but should do so with kindness. Muhammad also addressed the issue of inheritance by forbidding false claims of paternity or of a client relationship to the deceased and also forbidding his followers to leave their wealth to a testamentary heir. He also upheld the sacredness of four lunar months in each year. According to Sunni Tafsir the following Qur'anic verse was delivered in this incident: "Today I have perfected your religion, and completed my favours for you and chosen Islam as a religion for you."(Qur'an 5:3) while according to Shia ones it refers to appointment of Ali ibn Abi Talib as the successor of Muhammad in pond of Khumm which happened while Muslims returned from Mecca to Medina, few days later.
A few months after the farewell pilgrimage, Muhammad fell ill and suffered for several days with head pain and weakness. He succumbed on Monday, June 8, 632, in the city of Medina. He is buried in his tomb (which previously was in his wife Aisha's house) which is now housed within Mosque of the Prophet in Medina. Next to Muhammad's tomb, there is another empty tomb that Muslims believe awaits Jesus.
Muhammad united the tribes of Arabia into a singular Arab Muslim religious polity in the last years of his life. With Muhammad's death, disagreement broke out over who would succeed him as leader of the Muslim community. Umar ibn al-Khattab, a prominent companion of Muhammad, nominated Abu Bakr, who was Muhammad's friend and collaborator. Others added their support and Abu Bakr was made the first caliph. This choice was disputed by some of Muhammad's companions, who held that Ali ibn Abi Talib, his cousin and son-in-law, had been designated the successor by Muhammad at Ghadir Khumm. Abu Bakr's immediate task was to make an expedition against the Byzantine (or Eastern Roman Empire) forces because of the previous defeat, although he first had to put down a rebellion by Arab tribes in an episode called by later Muslim historians as the Ridda wars, or "Wars of Apostasy".
The pre-Islamic Middle East was dominated by the Byzantine and Sassanian empires. The Roman-Persian Wars between the two had devastated the inhabitants, making the empires unpopular amongst the local tribes. Furthermore, most of the Christian Churches in the lands to be conquered by Muslims such as Nestorians, Monophysites, Jacobites and Copts were under pressure from the Christian Orthodoxy who deemed them as heretics. Within only a decade, Muslims conquered Mesopotamia and Persia, Roman Syria and Roman Egypt. and established Rashidun empire.
After migration to Medina, Muhammad who was more fifty years at this time, married with several women. These marriage were contracted mostly for political or humanitarian reasons. These later wives were either widows of Muslims who had been killed in the battles and had been left without a protector or belonged to important families or clans whom it was necessary to honor and strengthen alliances.
Muhammad did his own household chores, helped out with the housework, such preparing food, sewing clothes, and repairing shoes. Muhammad is also said to had accustomed his wives to dialogue; he listened to their advice, and the wives debated and even argued with him.
Khadijah is said to have borne Muhammad four daughters (Ruqayyah bint Muhammad, Umm Kulthum bint Muhammad, Zainab bint Muhammad, Fatimah Zahra) and two sons (Abd-Allah ibn Muhammad and Qasim ibn Muhammad), though all except two of his daughters, Fatimah and Zainab, died before him. Some Shi'a scholars however hold that Fatimah was Muhammad's only daughter. Maria al-Qibtiyya bore him a son named Ibrahim ibn Muhammad, but the child died when he was two years old.
Muhammad's descendants through Fatimah are known as sharifs, syeds or sayyids. These are honorific titles in Arabic, sharif meaning 'noble' and sayed or sayyid meaning 'lord' or 'sir'. As Muhammad's only descendants, they are respected by both Sunni and Shi'a, though the Shi'as place much more emphasis and value on their distinction.
According to William Montgomery Watt, for Muhammad, religion was not a private and individual matter but rather "the total response of his personality to the total situation in which he found himself. He was responding [not only]… to the religious and intellectual aspects of the situation but also to the economic, social, and political pressures to which contemporary Mecca was subject. Bernard Lewis says that there are two important political traditions in Islam – one that views Muhammad as a statesman in Medina, and another that views him as a rebel in Mecca. He sees Islam itself as a type of revolution that greatly changed the societies into which the new religion was brought.
Historians generally agree that Islamic social reforms in areas such as social security, family structure, slavery and the rights of women and children improved on what was present in existing Arab society. For example, according to Lewis, Islam "from the first denounced aristocratic privilege, rejected hierarchy, and adopted a formula of the career open to the talents" Muhammad's message transformed the society and moral order of life in the Arabian Peninsula through reorientation of society as regards to identity, world view, and the hierarchy of values. Economic reforms addressed the plight of the poor, which was becoming an issue in pre-Islamic Mecca. The Qur'an requires payment of an alms tax (zakat) for the benefit of the poor, and as Muhammad's position grew in power he demanded that those tribes who wanted to ally with him implement the zakat in particular.
The Sunnah also played a major role in the development of the Islamic sciences. It contributed much to the development of the Islamic law particularly from the end of the first Islamic century onwards. Muslim mystics, known as sufis, who were seeking for the inner meaning of the Qur'an and the inner nature of Muhammad, viewed the prophet of Islam not only as a prophet but also as a perfect saint. Sufi orders trace their chain of spiritual descent back to Muhammad.
Following the attestation to the oneness of God, the belief in Muhammad's prophethood is the main part of Islamic faith. Every Muslim proclaims in Shahadah that "I testify that Muhammad is a messenger of Allah". The Shahadah is the basic creed or tenet of Islam. Ideally, it is the first words a newborn will hear, and children are taught as soon as they are able to understand it and it will be recited when they die. Muslims must repeat the shahadah in Adan and prayer, and non-Muslims wishing to convert to Islam are required to recite the creed.
Muslims have traditionally expressed love and veneration for Muhammad. Stories of Muhammad's life, his intercession and of his miracles (particularly "Splitting of the moon") have permeated popular Muslim thought and poetry. The Qur'an refers to Muhammad as "a mercy (rahmat) to the worlds" (Qur'an). The association of rain with mercy in Oriental countries has led to imagining Muhammad as a rain cloud dispensing blessing and stretching over lands, reviving the dead hearts, just as rain revives the seemingly dead earth (see for example the Sindhi poem of Shah ʿAbd al-Latif). Muhammad's birthday is celebrated as a major feast throughout the Islamic world, excluding the Wahhabi-dominated Saudi Arabia where these public celebrations are discouraged. Muslims experience Muhammad as a living reality, believing in his ongoing significance to human beings as well as animals and plants.
According to historian Denis Gril, the Qur'an does not overtly describe Muhammad performing miracles, and the supreme miracle of Muhammad is finally identified with the Qur'an itself. However, Muslim tradition credits Muhammad with several supernatural events. For example, many Muslim commentators and some Western scholars have interpreted the Surah as referring to Muhammad splitting the Moon in view of the Quraysh when they had begun to persecute his followers.
When Muslims say or write the name of Muhammad or any other prophet in Islam, they usually follow it with Peace be upon him (Arabic: sallAllahu `alayhi wa sallam).
The biographical knowledge about Muhammad in the learned, Latin circles of the Middle Ages in Europe, was remarkably precise to some extent and a good amount of concrete data about his life was known. Learned European circles of the time interpreted the data in such a way that Muhammad was viewed as a charlatan who, being driven by ambition and eagerness for power, seduced the Saracens into his submission under a religious guise. This knowledge about Muhammad's life in the Latin theological texts was not reflected in the popular literature of the Middle Ages where Muhammad was viewed as an idol or one of the heathen gods. Some medieval Christians said he had died in 666, alluding to the number of the beast, instead of 632; others changed his name from Muhammad to Mahound, the "devil incarnate". Bernard Lewis writes "The development of the concept of Mahound started with considering Muhammad as a kind of demon or false god worshipped with Apollyon and Termagant in an unholy trinity." A later medieval works, Livre dou Tresor represents Muhammad as a former monk and cardinal. Dante's Divine Comedy (Canto XXVIII), puts Muhammad, together with Ali, in Hell "among the sowers of discord and the schismatics, being lacerated by devils again and again."
After the reformation, Muhammad was no longer viewed as a god or idol, but as a cunning, ambitious, and self-seeking impostor. Guillaume Postel was among the first to present a more positive view of Muhammad. Boulainvilliers described Muhammad as a gifted political leader and a just lawmaker. Gottfried Leibniz praised Muhammad because "he did not deviate from the natural religion". Friedrich Bodenstedt (1851) described Muhammad as "an ominous destroyer and a prophet of murder." Later Western works, many of which, from the 18th century onward, distanced themselves from the polemical histories of earlier Christian authors. These more historically oriented treatments, which generally reject the prophethood of Muhammad, are coloured by the Western philosophical and theological framework of their authors. Many of these studies reflect much historical research, and most pay more attention to human, social, economic, and political factors than to religious, theological, and spiritual matters.
It was not until the latter part of the 20th century that Western authors combined rigorous scholarship as understood in the modern West with empathy toward the subject at hand and, especially, awareness of the religious and spiritual realities involved in the study of the life of the founder of a major world religion. According to Watt and Richard Bell, recent writers have generally dismissed the idea that Muhammad deliberately deceived his followers, arguing that Muhammad "was absolutely sincere and acted in complete good faith". Watt says that sincerity does not directly imply correctness: In contemporary terms, Muhammad might have mistaken for divine revelation his own unconscious. Although Muhammad's image in the west is much less unfavorable than in the past, prejudicial folk beliefs remain.
Watt and Lewis argue that viewing Muhammad as a self-seeking imposter makes it impossible to understand the development of Islam. Welch holds that Muhammad was able to be so influential and successful because of his firm belief in his vocation. Muhammad's readiness to endure hardship for his cause when there seemed to be no rational basis for hope shows his sincerity.
Whiles some of the Muslims poets of India, such as Khan-e-Khanan, Raskhan and Iqbal have composed glorification to Rama and Krishna believing that they must have been God's prophets, a prominent Vaishnava proponent of Gaudiya Hindu tradition in the West, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada maintained that Mohammad and Jesus, were empowered representatives of God, under the Sanskrit term saktiavesa avataras. Gandi as well was welcomed Mohammad's views as compatible with his Swaraj movement, considering religions of India to be Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam, and being in direct opposition to missionary Christianity. Swami Vivekananda, on the other hand, would often question validity of the revelation without renunciation and would portray Mohammed's life and teachings in a non-exclusive manner. In a contrast to him some Hindus would illustrate that Manu and Noah were actually one and the same person and "people of Noah" could have been Indians, and would even translate the phrase "the last prophet", suggesting that Vedic deity Agni is none other but Muhammad.


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Driven by Science
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Choosing the right material is crucial to balancing the need to design low-emission, fuel-efficient vehicles without compromising performance, comfort or cost. With more than 100 high-performance product families and technologies and a global network of development experts, DuPont helps the automotive industry deliver efficient vehicles and elevate the driving experience.
We are focused on developing innovative solutions for the automotive industry across eight automotive themes: Sustainability; Alternative Drive; Lightweighting; Improved Performance; Powertrain Efficiency; Total System Cost; Safety; and Comfort and Design. Together we can find the right solutions and build cleaner, energy-efficient cars that people love to drive.
DuPont scientists are developing sustainable technologies that help improve safety, boost performance, lower costs, and enable new auto design freedom.
We're working with our auto industry collaborators to smooth the transitions to alternative power sources and new regulations with innovative sustainable mobility solutions.Go to Sustainable Mobility
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DuPont issued the following comments after President Obama announced the Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation (IACMI), led by The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, was selected by the US Department of Energy to become a national institute aimed at creating better composite materials and technologies for rapid deployment within the automotive, wind turbine and compressed gas storage industries.
DuPont Global Automotive Technology Director Jeff Sternberg plans to challenge the nearly 200 attendees at a Plastics News event next week to think differently about what plastics can do and when to engage materials suppliers to make the best use of inherently lightweight plastics.
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HYDERABAD, India, Aug. 21, 2013 --DuPont Knowledge Center in Hyderabad, India, DuPont today opened an Application Development Center focused on integrating advanced material science with other scientific disciplines for the automotive industry, enabling solutions for light-weighting, engine performance, comfort and safety.
DuPont Automotive has the broadest range of high-performance materials for hybrid and electric vehicles, which play an ever more important role in helping to reduce carbon emissions and dependence on petroleum. With its deep application expertise, DuPont helps automakers quickly develop more efficient, safer, lighter vehicles.
Technology that boosts efficiency, while reducing the size of gas and diesel engines, is the main route to lower emissions and improved fuel economy.
DuPont offers a range of materials designed to resist high temperatures and aggressive fuels in automotive fuel hoses.

subset: commoncrawl


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If you're in the market for a decently priced, or dirt-cheap Chevy for a project, it can quickly get frustrating searching through everything on the market to find what you're looking for. Between the televised auto auctions making people think any rusted out six-cylinder first-gen Camaro is worth $30K, to the barn find shows inspiring everyone to go out and dig up any buried automotive treasure left out there, you'd think there are no deals left anywhere.
Never ones to pass up a challenge, we decided to go out hunting, both in the flesh and on the web, to see what's still out there that's desirable, buildable, and most of all, affordable. If you are persistent, do your research, or have a good network of car-guy buddies, you can still find good deals out there on '55-'72 Chevys, which for the most part are the most desirable among our readership. The market says you'll invariably pay less for '73-newer vehicles, but only you can decide if you really want one. Same for esoteric finds like Corvairs, Vegas, wagons, or four-doors. They're out there.
On the flip side, it's important to recognize the fact that recession or not, the SS396 '69 Camaro you paid $1,500 for in 1978 has gone up in value significantly. In any shape today, someone is going to want a king's ransom for it. Also gone are the $50 Tri-Five Chevys you used to hear about. This is simple supply and demand. Camaros, Chevelles, Novas, etc., are among the most popular collector cars on the market today. No one is giving them away and you wouldn't either. Be realistic about how much you can afford to spend. This will determine what you can purchase.
Don't immediately dismiss a vehicle because it's not exactly the color you want or doesn't have the right wheels, etc. This is where your negotiating skills will come in handy. Again, you alone have to decide how much you can afford to spend, and how much skill you have to build your purchase into the car you want.
Hitting the Swap Meet
While the Internet lets you look at, well, almost everything, buying a used car on the web where you can't see more than what few-posted pictures show you can be a crapshoot. We've written about more than one feature car over the last few years that started out as a great deal on the web, but turned out to be a nightmare. When you're checking out a car in person, you can look for any of the tell-tale signs that scream "stay away" from a deceivingly good deal.
To make things easy, Super Chevy Technical Editor Calin Head and I headed out to the famous Pomona Swap Meet, to walk through the car corral and see what kinds of deals there were. Being an east coast guy from Florida, my idea of a deal can be different at times from my California native co-worker. We came up with a basic formula to evaluate what we saw. We looked at the price, if there was any room for negotiation, what kind of shape the car was in, what the parts supply was like for said vehicle, and its potential cool factor.
Hill: If you're in the market for an already finished project, this '57 150 two-door handyman wagon could be what you're looking for. With a fresh 350/350 drivetrain combo, Vintage Air A/C, disc brake conversion, and a clean interior, for $20K you could drive it home and start enjoying it right away. When you figure in the cost of having to do body work on one of these rare birds, the $20,000 asking price seems a pretty good deal.
Head: I think Patrick is right on this one. The amount of money it would take to restore one of these to this level would cost you more than $20K, but only if you like what is here. If you are not a fan of yellow paint or those wheels, then you may want to look for a different option.
Hill: Another hauler that was ready to drive away at the swap meet was this '65 Malibu. Asking price was $17,700. It was straight, clean, had disc brakes, the interior was fine, and it has plenty of space for a long road cruise, or for taking a family to a cruise night. For a turn-key, no real work necessary car, this seemed to be a good deal.
Head: I kind of disagree with Hill here: $17.7K for a four-door wagon that still needs paint work (primer on the roof) is a bit much. Albeit a nice car, I think a lot of haggling of the price would be in order for me to pull the trigger on this one. Hill is right, this would be a great long haul family cruiser.
Hill: This '70 Monte was as clean and straight as they come. Still wearing original paint and interior in excellent shape with working A/C, the current owner had upgraded to tune port EFI system, 200-4R trans, new wheels and tires, and full Flowmaster exhaust. The price was $12.5K or best offer, which means with some cash and haggling you could've probably driven away in this Monte for $10,000-$11,000.
Head: I think if I had $10K I may have put in an offer on this one. While I'm not a fan of the white vinyl top, the rest of the car is well worth it. Luckily the tops are readily available from companies like Original Parts Group. Which brings me to a point. When you are thinking of buying one of these non-Chevelle, Tri-Five, or Camaros, make sure to research what restoration parts are available. While Chevelles and Camaros are more expensive on the initial purchase, they might ultimately be less to build because of the replacement parts available.
Hill: This generation of Chevy trucks always had a problem with the cab corners and fender lips rusting out, and in the south it's tough to find ones as clean and mint as this '75. Asking price was $8,500 or best offer, probably meaning some slick negotiating could knock at least $1,000 off that price and net you a super clean truck.
Head: Trucks are always a great option if you just can't afford muscle car prices, but just know that if its got a long bed the resale value won't be nearly as high as the more sought after short beds. Plus, if you live in a non-smog regulated state, it's a good idea to look for mid- to late-'70s trucks in California. They don't typically see the abuse, and rust will be limited to the rockers and cab corners.
Hill: When looking at any used El Camino, you always have to be wary of rust lurking around the rear window area, and rust damage in the bed where replacement sheetmetal is unavailable. This '64 Elky looked to be really clean, and the $7,700 or best offer asking price was good, too. But looking around the rear window area, there were signs of corrosion underneath the rear window trim. This was something that made us stop and think.
Head: For me this was one of the better deals at the swap meet. Even though there was rust under the rear window, as Hill stated, the rest of the car was in great shape. The sheetmetal in the rear window area could be repaired in a weekend, and since the paint in that area is surrounded by chrome trim it could be spotted in without blending it into the roof or quarters.
Hill: Another good Monte buy, this factory A/C '71 was solid and the interior worn but intact, its vinyl top having been peeled off and the underlying sheetmetal cleaned up and primered to stop any rust. The sign said $4,900 or make offer, and claimed it had a new motor. A good deal for a first-gen Monte, though we would've asked to see some paperwork on the engine to verify its "new" status before handing any money over. Since first-gen Montes take any of the aftermarket suspension goodies their Chevelle cousins do, it wouldn't be hard to turn this into a corner carving fun ride.
Head: Even though this one has a more attractive price tag than the gold one from earlier, I think it would take more than five or six grand to get it as nice, so to me its not as good of a deal. With that said, this is still a very solid starting point if you just don't have $10-grand in your purchase budget. You could do a quick scuff and primer to get the body all one color, then cruise the wheels off while you save up for future mods.
Hill: The supply of '78-'81 Z28s has been dwindling and prices going up the last few years as people on budgets move on from the early F-bodies to stuff they can afford. This '79 had an asking price of $10K or best offer, the interior looked almost new, the body was straight, and everything was there. For a little haggling, the price would probably drop some and make this a decent deal, leaving money left over to put some modern wheels and tires on the car and start cruising.
Head: Much like the point I made on the truck earlier, if you are looking for a car that is in the '76-and-up range, California (and the southwest in general) is a good place to hunt, because most of the time getting cars like this back to smog legal by California standards could be pretty expensive.
Hill: For the enthusiast really on a budget, this clean and amazingly rust-free '75 Vega would've been just the ticket at $1,400 or best offer. Some suspension upgrades, a budget LS swap (or salvage blown/turbo Ecotec swap) and other tweaks, for well under $10K you could have a serious sleeper that would catch everyone by surprise. This one would also be great as a first car/project for a son or daughter interested in getting into cars.
Head: This is the one I would have brought home if my shop wasn't already full. Not a perfect car by any means, but it was all there and the price was low enough to justify tossing a lot of the parts in the trash.
Hill: Available for only two years, this Corvair Lakewood wagon was clean, neat, and ready for a good home. Asking price was $4,500, and all the unique and nearly impossible to find trim pieces and other stuff were there and in good shape. Definitely a two-thumbs-up deal for something different that would be fun to cruise around in.
Head: I personally don't like Corvairs, so it's hard for me to judge this one, but I will agree with Hill that having all the trim and glass on this car is a must.
Hill: For the guy with a really good budget, this 390-horse, 427-equipped '66 Caprice would've been perfect. Asking price was $30K, and for that you got one of the most heavily optioned '66 Caprices you'll ever see. All the car's original documentation was there, including the window sticker. Again, while not in the budget of an average guy, for those with more bank this would've been a good deal.
Head: I don't care how many options are on this car, $30K was just ridiculous in my mind for a Caprice. It is a nice stock, well-optioned car, but I don't think it should be in the price range of a comparable Chevelle or Camaro. Plus, for someone like me who's gonna lower it, change the rims and tires, and put on some loud exhaust, it's just too expensive.
Hill: A great budget beater is a third-gen Camaro like this '92 RS. Asking price was $2,500 or best offer. For guys who aren't restricted by emissions laws to doing engine swaps, swapping out the 3.1 V-6 or 305 V-8 for something with more punch would be easy, and give you a great all around fun machine that could do autocross or dragstrip duty easily. Slap on a fresh, el cheapo paint job, you'd still be under $5,000 and have a great deal.
Head: One thing you need to really look at with these cars is the interior, most notably the headliner, trim and seats. The seats in these cars have a high bolster design, so just getting in and out tends to wear a big hole in the seats. The plastic trim can be drying out and starting to flake, and not all of it is available in the aftermarket just yet, and the headliner, if still stock, will be drooping down. While it won't be super expensive to redo the interior at this price level, you will almost certainly need to do some sort of trim work.
Hill: Another rare one, this '64 two-door wagon was loaded with a Muncie four-speed, power steering, power disc brakes, 350 small-block, and all of the hard to find wagon glass was mint with no cracks or other damage. Asking price was $7,400 or best offer, and considering the rareness of these combined with their popularity in the Chevelle world, seemed like a good deal.
Head: All the right mechanical things are already done on this one, leaving the body, paint, and interior to you. I also think this was a good deal since it had all the rear glass and wasn't rusted out.
Hill: This '72 Nova had some dents and dings, but nothing that a competent body man or simple door and front fender swap couldn't fix. The rest of the car was solid, and it was a factory 350 car, meaning it was pretty much a blank canvas waiting to become a masterpiece. Asking price was $3,800, and since so many of the '68-'72 Novas have either been run into the ground, turned into racecars, or bought up by other guys, this was a pretty good deal in the eyes of an east coast guy.
Head: Same here for the west coast guy. This was a pretty good deal. For me, it is a pre-smog V-8 car that could be made to be a driver pretty quickly, and since it's a '72 aftermarket parts are readily available.
Hill: For the guy really looking to stand out, this '63 Corvair side ramp would be perfect. Everything was there that you'd never be able to find for one of these, the body was in great shape, and the asking price was a meager $2,800 or best offer. Lots of potential for this one!
Head: Um, no thanks … Can't give you an opinion on it as these things just make me go bleh.
Hill: We spotted this '67 wagon over in the swap meet area. Asking price was $4K or best offer. All the glass was there, along with the hard-to-find wagon trim (in good shape, too), the tailgate was solid and rust free, and it had a factory tach-equipped dash. With the popularity of wagons growing, with some savvy negotiating this '67 could've probably been had for less than $3,500.
Head: I will say for a four door, this wagon is pretty sexy. The rear quarter lines are great. If you could get it for the $3,500 price I'd say go for it, even though it's gonna need a disc brake swap and new weather strips for sure. The weather strip is available, which is not always the case with some of the more oddball vehicles like that Corvair ramp truck.


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Want a nursery that all the celebrities have, featured in home living magazines or plastered all over Pinterest? Then, keep reading for some tips and tricks to get that "Shabby Chic" or "Vintage & Timeless". You don't have to break your budget to get an aged and distressed look, and here's how:
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News and Announcements
|31 March
|How to report new variable star discoveries
What do I do when I discover a new variable star?
|30 March
|Alert Notice 434: Outburst of NSV 1436
March 30, 2011: The cataclysmic variable NSV 1436 has been discovered in outburst. This is the first bright outburst of this star observed since 1948, and followup observations are strongly encouraged. Little is known about the nature of NSV 1436, and observations may help shed light on whether the star is an infrequently outbursting normal dwarf nova, a WZ Sge star, or recurrent nova.
|28 March
|AAVSO Special Notice #237
NOVA SAGITTARII 2011 No. 2 = PNV J18102135-2305306
|21 March
|Edward A. Halbach, 1909-2011
|21 March
|Last Chance! Help us plan for the 100th Annual Meeting of the AAVSO
Hello AAVSOers!
If you have not already completed the survey, please help us to plan for the Centennial Annual Meeting by answering these 10 questions.
|20 March
|Alert Notice 433: Request for observations of GW Lib in support of HST observations
March 20, 2011: Dr. Paula Szkody, University of Washington, has requested our help in monitoring the cataclysmic variable GW Lib for upcoming Hubble Space Telescope observations, scheduled to be made during the week of 2011 April 7-11 UT. Dr. Szkody also observed this object with HST in March 2010 (see AAVSO Alert Notice 417).
|16 March
|Centennial Celebration Update March 2011
We are nearing the end of the first quarter of our centennial year. This is a good time to take a look at what has transpired thus far and what is yet to come.
Observer Challenges
The Twenty Million and Counting! Contest is over now that the database has passed this milestone. The winner, with the prediction closest to the actual day of the milestone was Christopher Watson of San Diego, California.
|16 March
|New ejaavso preprint: "Orbital Period of Three Cataclysmic Variables" by P. Wils
ej 140: "The Orbital Period of Three Cataclysmic Variables From WASP Data" (P. Wils)
|14 March
|Alert Notice 432: Supernova 2011at = PSN J09285756-1448206 in MCG -02-24-27
March 14, 2011
|14 March
|2nd DSLR Online Chat: March 19 at 11:00 AM ET
Members from the Citizen Sky DSLR Documentation and Reduction team will be hosting a second chat on Saturday, March 19 at 11:00 AM Eastern. If you have questions about using your DSLR camera for photometry, or any portion of their tutorials please plan to attend. Science questions are also welcome. More details on how to join the chat will follow this week. Click here for info on how to join the chat.
|09 March
|Abstract Deadline TODAY 3/9!
This is a friendly abstract deadline reminder for the joint AAVSO/AAS meeting being held in Boston this May:
|05 March
|DSLR Chat Transcript From Last Saturday at 11am ET (-5UT)
Note: This chat is over. A transcript can be found here.
|05 March
|Charts and Sequences update March 2011
The following stars have new or revised sequences since Feb. 02, 2011.
If you observe any of these stars, please update your charts as soon as possible.
This batch of updates includes many stars visible from the southern heisphere only.
AAVSO 49 Bay State Rd. Cambridge, MA 02138 email@example.com 617-354-0484


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Posts tagged Kindle Direct Publishing holiday bonus
Kindle Direct Publishing Adds $1.5M Holiday Bonus for KDP Select Authors
December 1, 2012 | 11:58 am
With millions of Kindles bought (and many gifted) this holiday season, authors can earn a share of both the regular monthly fund and the bonus every time their book is borrowed from the Kindle Owners' Lending Library on Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.de and Amazon.fr. In the first full year of KDP Select, Amazon will pay authors more than $7 million from the KDP Select fund; over 500 KDP Select books have reached the top 100 Kindle best seller lists around the world. [PRESS RELEASE] SEATTLE—November 29, 2012—(NASDAQ:AMZN)—Amazon.com, Inc. today announced that a bonus of $1.5 million has been added to the KDP Select global...


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Savoury Feta Cheesecake
The savoury cheesecake is a real winner. Feta cheese lightened with fromage frais makes a lovely cool summer cheesecake, just right for a light lunch served with a salad or Spiced Pickled Pears.
Serves 6-8
This recipe is taken from Delia's Summer Collection and Delia's Vegetarian Collection
Begin by putting the breadcrumbs in a bowl and adding the cheese, the melted butter and a seasoning of pepper (no salt because the cheese is quite salty). Now press the crumb mixture into the base of the prepared tin, pressing it firmly flat with the back of a spatula. Then pop it into the oven on a high shelf and bake for 15 minutes or until it is crisp and toasted golden brown. Then remove from the oven.
Now make the filling by first breaking up the feta cheese with a fork and then adding this to a food processor, along with the curd cheese and fromage frais, and blend until completely smooth. Then transfer to a bowl and stir in the chives, spring onions and some freshly milled pepper.
Next, measure the lemon juice and 2 fl oz (55 ml) water into a small saucepan, sprinkle in the gelatine, stir to dissolve the granules and then leave to one side. Then in a separate clean bowl, whisk the egg whites to the soft-peak stage.Now heat the gelatine mixture to boiling point and add it to the cheese; use an electric hand whisk or stir quickly with a wooden spoon to combine it thoroughly. Then follow this with the whisked egg whites, first folding 1 tablespoon of the whites into the cheese mixture to loosen it, then stirring in the remaining whites.
Note: This recipe contains raw eggs.
|Print Page
Copyright © 2009 Delia Smith/NC Internet Ltd, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.


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"The Minnesota Response" documents the fiscal pressures which Extension has seen over the past several decades (pages 4 to 6 and more on pages 280 to 290).
A recent report by the Center on Budget and Policies Priorities suggests that 2010 and 2011 will also be rough years for many state governments. While this article did not address Extension funding, state's are the largest source of funding for most states.
The article is entitled:
"Recession Continues to Batter State Budgets; State Responses Could Slow Recovery" by Elizabeth McNichol and Nicholas Johnson, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, updated December 18, 2009. (www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=711).
The article reports that 48 states have shortfalls for 2010 of about 28 percent of their state budgets - "the largest gaps on record." The budget gaps for 2011 could be another 16 percent of their budgets.
State by state shortfalls are reported for both 2010 and 2011.
At least over the next several years the pressure on Extension is not going to diminish.
Chapter 13 in "The Minnesota Response" tells how regionalization and specialization has influenced public support at the county and state levels after they lost 18 percent of their budgets in FY2002 through FY2004. It also discusses the ways that regionalization and specialization enhances the ability to generate alternative revenues.


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All the Pretty Little Districts
Of all the good-government obsessions that keep people focused on process instead of substance, one of the very worst—and I know that lots of you reading this share it—is over the "unfairness" of how congressional district lines are drawn. Within that overrated problem, there's nothing worse than the obsession with pretty and ugly districts. Really: let it go. If you care about politics and public policy, find something else to worry about.
This paragraph of polite rage is brought to you by a current feature over at Slate ridiculing funny shaped House districts—such as one in Maryland which, as Chris Kirk tells us, has been called "'a crazy quilt,' 'a blood spatter from a crime scene,' and a 'broken-winged pterodactyl, lying prostrate across the center of the state.'"
Kirk brings us through the most successful partisan gerrymanders of the last cycle—Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, and a few more. And it's true: In a handful of states, partisan gerrymanders really did cost Democrats (or, in a few others, Republicans) a few seats in the House.
Overall, however, political scientists like John Sides and Eric McGhee have found that gerrymandering is not a big deal, at least as far as partisan effect is concerned. It is true that current districts help Republicans, but that appears to be primarily because of where Democrats and Republicans live, not because of cleverly drawn lines. That is, because Democrats tend to clump together more closely, it's extremely hard in many states to draw any lines (and particularly lines for compact districts) which do not give Republicans a little edge.
Why don't Republicans take those biases and make them much worse? In part it's because, even in this very partisan era, many states feature divided government and therefore must have both parties sign off on any legislative plan.
In large part, however, small partisan effects happen because the incentives of individual legislators conflict with the interest of their party. The party doesn't always win out. The key to this is the basic math and logic of any partisan gerrymander. In order for a party to win the maximum number of seats in a state, it's necessary to stick as many of the other party's voters into a small number of very lopsided seats. As a result, the victim party "wastes" votes in those seats, since in first-past-the-post elections there's no bonus for winning by a large margin. Meanwhile, in the rest of a state, the party tries to be "efficient" by winning with relatively small margins.
The problem? No incumbent wants to win by a relatively narrow margin, even if it's good for the party. After all, a district that gives Republicans a 5 percent head start can easily produce a Democratic win if it's a good Democratic year overall. Or a district with a 5 percent edge in 2012 can drift to even or worse by 2020. Or—well, no incumbent wants to win by five percentage points, anyway; they want to have districts with 30 or 40 point margins so that they don't have to worry at all about re-election.
In other words, because incumbents often think mainly about their own careers, many states produce bipartisan gerrymanders—maps with only lopsided districts that give incumbents from both parties easy re-elections. That was the outcome, for example, in California's post-2000 redistricting, which meant that seriously contested House races in that state were rare for a decade.
In short, partisan gerrymandering is less of a problem than most people seem to think.
But yes, we concede, it matters sometimes. There's also a legitimate argument that district lines that help one party are unfair, and are bad for democracy. Those who accept those arguments, however, should be the last ones to care about funny district shapes—what those who do and study redistricting call "ugly" districts, such as the "flexing bodybuilder" in Pennsylvania's 16th district.
Here's the thing: There are a whole lot of potential criteria for carving districts out of a state. There are also, however, reasons to keep together "communities of interest"—put rural voters with other rural voters, or people in one cultural part of the state in with others who share some cultural background, or perhaps to keep economic regions together so that mining folks are in one district and farming in another. One might also want to keep together various ethnic or other demographic groups or, perhaps, to create districts which give some of those groups a good chance of being elected. Then there are other political boundaries, such as city and county lines; those in county government, for example, might prefer not to have their jurisdiction unnecessarily split between multiple congressional districts, so that they won't have any specific advocate within the federal government. And it might even make sense to follow geographic natural divisions such as rivers or mountain ranges. What's more, some continuity might seem appropriate; district lines must change over time as the population changes, but starting from scratch every ten years means that fewer voters will get to know their member of Congress over the long haul.
All of those seem like reasonable criteria to me; the trick is balancing them when they conflict, as they almost always do. But where, I would ask, do pretty, compact, boxy, districts fit in? I don't see it. It doesn't guarantee that communities of interest stay together. It doesn't actually, serve any purpose at all. It just seems "right" to lots of people. Even though very few of us believe that there's something better about Colorado and Wyoming than there is about, say, Massachusetts and West Virginia, to pick a couple of the less boxier states.
For that matter, thinking about the states can remind us that very compact, rational-looking shapes—such as North and South Dakota—can be used for perfectly partisan gerrymandering, as Republicans successfully got away with when they created those two states in order to get themselves two extra Senators. Who could have guessed that a straight line could be so nefarious?
So have fun with Slate's little game, but remember: there's nothing wrong with funny district shapes. They tell us exactly zilch about whether it's a good or bad districting job. District shapes are the absolute last thing anyone should be worrying about.
Fri, 2013-08-23 23:24
The question is not the shape of a district itself, but the REASON why a given shape was chosen and the question of how the POWER to set up districts is DIVIDED. If the power is UNDIVIDED, that is, a badly gerrymandered legislature is the FINAL authority, it can perpetuate its power virtually unopposed by perpetuating the gerrymandering, especially with today's computerized demographic tools.
The previous poster was correct in stating that there are sometimes conflicting goals to be achieved by redistricting. An example is what just happened in Georgia. Fulton County is the home of Atlanta, a liberal-voting city with a near-majority of minority voters, but also a large business center whose "daytime resident" corporations do not like the liberals having the power to tax them.
So, once the Republicans obtained a majority in the State House and Senate, they changed the districts in the suburban Atlanta area so that several safe GOP districts picked up slivers of Fulton county. Since a county's legislative delegation consists of all the seats that include any part of the county, and is able to legislate for that county practically unopposed, they have managed to control a majority-Democratic county against the will of its residents, and there is no way those residents can vote those GOP legislators out of office.
However, they may have overreached. Local Democrats have found a possibility of taking a seat next year, since the added territory in one of those districts includes more moderate Republican voters who may be persuaded to change their votes if a radical Republican candidate is nominated, which is likely this year.
Mon, 2013-08-26 20:17
Exactly what Texas Republicans did to Austin. The city is divided like spokes from a wagon wheel, with arms that extend outwards to very right wing consistences. Consequently, the most liberal part of Texas is always out voted and have Republican representatives. I do not understand how this author can discount such maneuvering and then claim that gerrymandering doesn't make much of a difference.
Mon, 2013-08-26 11:18
As one of those who studies congressional districts and partisan gerrymandering my concern is less in how districts are drawn in funny ways but in what it means for voters and competition for the U.S. House. I live in a non-competitive, red district at present. My representative is virtually guaranteed re-election for life, barring some kind of scandal. Democrats don't even bother to challenge him since waging a campaign fight will be fruitless. In my mind, that leads to a less well-informed public on issues of policy and a tendency for the representative to just say whatever is popular, rather than offer straight talk about issues. I think we the people and the nation we live in are weaker for that. More competitive districts should theoretically lead to a greater focus on policy issues and less focus on rhetoric. Sounds like an empirical research paper waiting to be written.
Tue, 2013-08-27 10:24
Bernstein is right to ridicule the obsession with funny-looking districts, but he's wrong not to see how grotesque the first-past-the-post system is. There are many problems with FPTP in other countries, but the main problem in the US, is that it basically disenfranchises people who support third parties. Time and again people see a candidate they like, but force themselves to vote for someone they hate, just to prevent someone they hate even more from being elected. Once both main parties have become captured by financial interests, most voters are left without a party. Right now, both US political parties are to the right of 2/3 of Americans when it comes to economic issues, and so people right now are either voting for candidates they hate, or are giving up on voting. Those in the latter category make up almost half the US population. Once they've voted for a party they hate, they are forced to suffer through congress after congress that continues to pass laws they do not support. How else do we have a country that elects a congress that only 9% of its citizens approve of? Create an electoral system where every vote counts equally, and who knows, maybe being able to vote for candidates who actually represent their interests will make for a congress that Americans can actually get behind.
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Therapist wrote:Top-notch comix wrote:He would post a ton of negative comments about customs (awesome customs too) and would hate people for making deadpool. Funny thing is, is after he was banned, he submitted a custom of who? Deadpool
then you guess would ban the crucify me cause theres a lot of customs on here that are just horrid to me thats why I stay away from the comment section nothing nice to say and all that rot. Some of your most beloved customizers I think are terribad.
Just comment on the customs you like. Crittisism is fine but just be nice about it instead of being a jerk like Vash was.


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ACerS Awards
The majority of the 2015 Society Award Winners have been announced and you can view the list here. Three additional awards are yet to be decided and will be announced at a later date. All winners will receive their awards at the ACerS Honors and Awards Banquet on October 5, 2015 in Columbus, Ohio. Congratulations to the outstanding group of winners!
Most award nomination deadlines for the 2015 awards were January 15, 2015, however the Du-Co Scholarship Award and the Du-Co Young Professional Award deadlines are April 15, 2015. Note that the deadline for the 2016 Class of Fellows is Sept. 1, 2015.
Division, Section, and Class members should check below or with their respective groups to determine award nomination deadlines since some of them are still open.
Ceramic Education Council: Outstanding Educator Award
The purpose of the award is to recognize truly outstanding work and creativity in teaching, in directing student research, or in the general educational process (lectures, publications, etc.) of ceramic educators.Read More
Ceramic Education Council: Outstanding Educator Award Winners 2015
Renew your ACerS membership and try a multi-year renewal!
The majority of ACerS memberships expire at the end of December. If you're in this group, or any other group for that matter, please take a minute to renew by going to ceramics.org, clicking on the Renew button on the top of the home page, and following the prompts. You'll need a credit card or …Read More
Renew your ACerS membership and try a multi-year renewal! Winners 2015