Prophet Muhammad(s.a.w.)

Muhammad(s.a.w.) was born in the year 570 in the town of Mecca, a mountain town in the high desert plateau of western Arabia. His name derives from the Arabic verb hamada, meaning “to praise, to glorify.” He was the first and only son of Abd Allah bin Al-Muttalib and Amina bint Wahb. Abd Allah died before Muhammad’s(pbuh) birth and Muhammad(s.a.w.) was raised by his mother Amina, who in keeping with Meccan tradition entrusted her son at an early age to a wet nurse named Halima from the nomadic tribe of the Sa’d ibn Bakr. He grew up in the hill country, learning their pure Arabic.

575           Muhammad(s.a.w.) Becomes an Orphan

When Muhammad(s.a.w.) was five or six his mother took him to Yathrib, an oasis town a few hundred miles north of Mecca, to stay with relatives and visit his father’s grave there. On the return journey, Amina took ill and died. She was buried in the village of Abwa on the Mecca-Medina Road. Halima, his nurse, returned to Mecca with the orphaned boy and placed him in the protection of his paternal grandfather, Abdul Al-Muttalib. In this man’s care, Muhammad(s.a.w.) learned the rudiments of statecraft. Mecca was Arabia’s most important pilgrimage center and Abdul Al-Muttalib its most respected leader. He controlled important pilgrimage concessions and frequently presided over Mecca’s Council of Elders

578         Muhammad(s.a.w.) in Mecca in Care of an Uncle

Upon his grandfather’s death in 578, Muhammad(s.a.w.), aged about eight, passed into the care of a paternal uncle, Abu Talib. Muhammad(s.a.w.) grew up in the older man’s home and remained under Abu Talib’s protection for many years. Chroniclers have underscored Muhammad’s(s.a.w.) disrupted childhood.

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594         Muhammad’s(s.a.w.) Teens

When young boy, Muhammad(s.a.w.) worked as a shepherd to help pay his keep (his uncle was of modest means). In his teens he sometimes traveled with Abu Talib, who was a merchant, accompanying caravans to trade centers. On at least one occasion, he is said to have traveled as far north as Syria. Older merchants recognized his character and nicknamed him El–Amin, the one you can trust.

594         Muhammad(s.a.w.) Acts as Caravan Agent for Wealthy Tradeswoman, Khadija

In his early twenties, Muhammad(s.a.w.) entered the service of a wealthy Meccan merchant, a widow named Khadija bint Khawalayd. The two were distant cousins. Muhammad(s.a.w.) carried her goods to the north and returned with a profit.

Impressed by Muhammad'(s.a.w.)s honesty and character, Khadija eventually proposed marriage. They were wed in about 595. He was twenty-five. She was nearly forty.

Muhammad(s.a.w.) continued to manage Khadija’s business affairs, and their next years were pleasant and prosperous. Six children were born to them, two sons who both died in infancy, and four daughters. Mecca prospered too, becoming a well–off trading center in the hands of an elite group of clan leaders who were mostly successful traders.

610             Muhammad(s.a.w.) Receives First Revelation

Mecca’s new materialism and its traditional idolatry disturbed Muhammad(s.a.w.). Muhammad (s.a.w.) never felt fully content to be part of a society whose values he considered to be devoid of true religious significance. It became his habit to retreat from time to time to the cave of Hira’, to meditate near the summit of Jabal al-Nur, the “Mountain of Light”, near Makkah.

At the age of 40, while engaged in one such meditative retreat, Muhammad (s.a.w.) received his first revelation from God through the Angel Gabriel. This revelation, which continued for twenty-three years, is known as the Qur’an, the faithful recording of the entire revelation of God. The first revelation read:

“Recite: In the name of your Lord Who created man from a clot (of blood). Recite: Your Lord is Most Noble, Who taught by the pen, taught man what he did not know.”
[Holy Quran 96:1-5]

It was this reality that he gradually and steadily came to learn and believe, until he fully realized that it is the truth.

His first convert was Khadijah, whose support and companionship provided necessary reassurance and strength. He also won the support of some of his relatives and friends. Three basic themes of the early message were the majesty of the one, unique God, the futility of idol worship, the threat of judgment, and the necessity of faith, compassion and morality in human affairs. All these themes represented an attack on the crass materialism and idolatry prevalent in Makkah at the time

613         Muhammad(s.a.w.) Takes his Message Public

After several similar experiences, Muhammad(s.a.w.) finally began to reveal the messages he was receiving to his tribe. These were gathered verse by verse and later would become the Qur’an, Islam’s sacred scripture. In the next decade, Muhammad(s.a.w.) and his followers were first belittled and ridiculed, then persecuted and physically attacked for departing from traditional Mecca’s tribal ways. Muhammad’s(s.a.w.) message was resolutely monotheistic. For several years, the the Quraysh, Mecca’s dominant tribe, levied a ban on trade with Muhammad’s(s.a.w.) people, subjecting them to near famine conditions. Toward the end of the decade, Muhammad’s(pbuh) wife and uncle both died. Finally, the leaders of Mecca attempted to assassinate Muhammad(s.a.w.).

622         Muhammad(s.a.w.) and the Muslims Emigrate to Medina

All these themes represented an attack on the crass materialism and idolatry prevalent in Makkah at the time. So when he began to proclaim the message to others the Makkans rejected him. He and his small group of followers suffered bitter persecution, which grew so fierce that in the year 622 C.E., God gave them the command to emigrate. This event, the Hijrah (migration), in which they left Makkah for the city of Madinah, some 260 miles to the north, marked the beginning of a new era and thus the beginning of the Muslim calendar. During his suffering, Muhammad (s.a.w.) drew comfort from the knowledge revealed to him about other prophets, such as Abraham, Joseph, and Moses, each of whom had also been persecuted and tested.

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628         The Military Period

The Meccans did not take Muhammad’s(s.a.w.) new success lightly. Early skirmishes led to three major battles in the next three years. Of these the Muslims won the first (the Battle of Badr, March, 624), lost the second (the Battle of Uhud, March, 625), and outlasted the third, (The Battle of the Trench and the Siege of Medina, April, 627). In March, 628, a treaty was signed between the two sides, which recognized the Muslims as a new force in Arabia and gave them freedom to move unmolested throughout Arabia. Meccan allies breached the treaty a year later.

630         The Conquest of Mecca

By now, the balance of power had shifted radically away from once-powerful Mecca, toward Muhammad(s.a.w.) and the Muslims. In January, 630, they marched on Mecca and were joined by tribe after tribe along the way. They entered Mecca without bloodshed and the Meccans, seeing the tide had turned, joined them.

Muhammad(s.a.w.) returned to live in Medina. In the next three years, he consolidated most of the Arabian Peninsula under Islam. In March, 632, he returned to Mecca one last time to perform a pilgrimage, and tens of thousands of Muslims joined him.

After the pilgrimage, he returned to Medina. Three months later on June 8, 632 he died there, after a brief illness. He is buried in the mosque in Medina. Within a hundred years Muhammad’s(s.a.w.) teaching and way of life had spread from the remote corners of Arabia as far east as Indo-China and as far west as Morocco, France and Spain.