The Life Of The Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him)

... Before you came to this world,
you were excellent in the shadows and in the repository (i.e. loins)
in the time when they (Adam and Eve) covered themselves with leaves.
Then you descended through the ages...
When you were born, the earth shone
and the horizon was illuminated by your light.
We travel in that illumination
and in the light and in the paths of right guidance." –Ibn Abbas

His Noble Birth Ibn Ishaq narrates that Lady Amina d. Wahb, peace and blessing be upon her, the noble mother of God's Apostle, used to say when she was pregnant with God's Apostle that a voice said to her, "You are pregnant with the lord of this people and when he is born say, 'I put him in the care of the One from the evil of every envier; then call him Muhammad.'" As she was pregnant with him she saw a light come forth from her by which she could see the castles of Busra in Syria.

Lady Halima, the Apostle's foster mother used to say that she went forth from her country with her husband and little son whom she was nursing, among the women of her tribe, in search of other babies to nurse. This was a year of famine when they were destitute. One night, she could not sleep the whole night because of the weeping of her hungry child. She had no milk to give him, not could their she-camel provide a morning draught, but we were hoping for rain and relief. 'I rode upon my donkey which had kept back the other riders through its weakness and emaciation so that it was a nuisance to them. When we reached Mecca, we looked out for foster children, and the Apostle of God was offered to everyone of us, and each woman refused him when she was told he was an orphan, because we hoped to get payment from the child's father. We said, "An orphan! and what will his mother and grandfather do?" and so we spurned him because of that. Every woman who came with me got a suckling except me, and when we decided to depart I said to my husband: "By God, I do not like the idea of returning with my friends without a suckling; I will go and take that orphan." He replied, "Do as you please; perhaps God will bless us on his account." So I went and took him for the sole reason that I could not find anyone else. I took him back to my baggage, and as soon as I put him in my bosom, my breasts overflowed with milk which he drank until he was satisfied, as also did his foster-brother…

When we used to have him with us, my flock used to yield milk in abundance. We milked them and drank while other people had not a drop, nor could they find anything in their animals' udders....

[A learned man] told me that some of the Apostle's companions asked him to tell them about himself. He said: "I am what Abraham my father prayed for and the good news of [my brother] Jesus. When my mother was carrying me she saw a light proceeding from her which showed her the castles of Syria. I was suckled among the B. Sa'd b. Bakr, and while I was with a brother of mine behind our tents shepherding the lambs, two men in white raiment came to me with a gold basin full of snow. Then they seized me and opened up my belly, extracted my heart and split it; then they extracted a black drop from it and threw it away; then they washed my heart and my belly with that snow until they had thoroughly cleansed them. Then one said to the other, weigh him against ten of his people; they did so and I outweighed them. Then they weighed me against a hundred and then a thousand, and I outweighed them. He said, 'Leave him alone, for by God, if you weighed him against all his people he would outweigh them.'"

Noble Life
  Early Years Revelation The Early Converts Emigration to Medina The Battle of Badr The Battle of Uhud Letters to the Leaders of the World Re-entry into Mecca Last days of the Prophet

Early YearsThe Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.) was born in Mecca, in the Hijaz province of Arabia, on 29th August 570 of the Christian Era. He belonged to the clan of Hashem, of the tribe of Quraish who claim direct descent from Ishmael.

An orphan at birth, he was cared for first by his grandfather AbdulMuttalib and later by his uncle Abu-Talib. He started life as a shepherd, then became a trader and finally a prosperous merchant. At the age of 25, he married Khadija, a widow much his elder in years, and their union was blessed with complete happiness. For his honesty and integrity of character, he was called "Al-Amin" by his fellow citizens, meaning "the trustworthy".

The Arabs in those days were uncouth pagans, and such redeeming features as their love of freedom, poetry and hospitality were marred by their addiction to vice, drunkenness, infanticide, gambling and violence. In Mecca was the famous Temple of the Kaaba, built by Abraham nearly 3,000 years before in honour of the One True God, but then the seat of idol worship, as witnessed by the 360 statues of pagan deities placed in the precinct. Arabia itself was in a state of political anarchy and almost entirely cu t-off from intercourse with the outside world, except for rare caravans.

Revelation Towards the age of forty, Muhammad (s.a.w.) became inclined to solitary meditation, and one night in December 610 C.E.ãthe famous night of Al-Qadr in the Arab month of Ramadhan ãhe had his first revelation. While he was in a cave of Mt. Hira near Mecca, th e Angel Gabriel appeared to him in vision and recited the first five verses of Chapter 96 of the Quran. A six months' interval followed during which the Prophet was sorely tried and distressed, but then the Angel appeared to him a second time an d, as he sat covering his face in awe with his cloak, recited the beginning of Chapter 74 of the Quran)

"In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful! O thou who wrappest thyself up! Arise and warn And glorify thy Lord . . ."

Divine revelation continued almost uninterrupted for twenty-one years.

The Early Converts The first to believe in his mission were Khadija, his wife, Zeid, his freed slave, Ali, his young cousin, and Abu-Bakr, his best friend. At first, he preached to his family and intimates, exhorting them to forego polytheism and evil, to worship God alone and hav e faith in the life to come. His words were received with scorn and skepticism and people advised him to give up this folly and attend to his business.

Little by little, however, laughter and pity gave way to opposition and anger, and following a public address delivered by him in 614 C.E. persecution began in earnest. Early converts, who were drawn mostly from the poor and the slaves, were threatened, b eaten and in several cases put to death. Bilal, the first African to accept Islam, was subjected to the most cruel tortures in a vain effort to make him renounce God and His Apostle. The Prophet was insulted and ridiculed, the jeers of the crowd used to drown his voice when he preached, and in the streets the populace threw dirt at him and his enemies spat in his face. Yet, though his cause seemed forlorn, he trusted in God and remained undaunted.

In 615 C.E. a party of about one hundred Muslims were compelled by persecution to leave their home town of Mecca and seek sanctuary in Abyssinia, where they were well received by the King. In 616, a leading Quraish named Omar, hitherto a violent opponent of the Prophet, was converted to Islam to the great fury of the Meccan chiefs. The latter instituted a ban against any social or commercial relations with the Muslims, who were even forbidden to buy food or drink. For three long years, the Prophet and his followers lived in destitution, hunger and misery, and their steadfastness when any hope of success appeared out of the question finds few parallels in human history. The boycott at last collapsed, but Khadija died soon after of the hardships s uffered. Though Muhammad (s.a.w.) remarried many times, he cherished her loving memory to the end of his days.

In 620 C.E., the Prophet journeyed to the town of Taif, but here again he was rejected and narrowly missed being stoned to death by the inhabitants. Around the same period, he had the most famous of his visions when he was carried in spirit to Jerusalem (the "Isra") and conversed with Abraham, Moses, David, Solomon, John the Baptist and Jesus. At another time (the "Mir'aj"), he had been shown the Throne of God, paradise and hell, and the entire sidereal universe which appeared to him the size of a gr ain of mustard.

Decisive events were now in the offing. In Yathribãlater called Medina ãa city some 22S miles North of Mecca, a number of people had embraced Islam and twelve delegates of theirs met the Prophet in 621 C.E. by Mount Aqaba and were instructed in the faith. Early the following year, seventy-two delegates returned to the same place and swore their allegiance; this is known as the Great Pledge of Aqaba. Soon after, the Prophet advised his followers to emigrate secretly to Medina.

Emigration to Medina The Quraish were much upset by the departure of Muslim families and, at the instigation of Abu Jahl, the heads of the various clans decided to assassinate the Prophet. By the design of Providence, the date fixed for the murderãthe night of 15th to 16th July 622 was that chosen by Muhammad (s.a.w.) for his escape. Warned of his danger, he slipped out of the house undetected. Almost at once, the plotters, realizing that their quarry had gone, sent a tracking party in pursuit; at one stage, they reached the very mouth of the cave where the Holy Prophet was hiding with his companion Abu Bakr, but the fugitives were miraculously overlooked and made good their escape. This momentous emigration, the Hijra, marks the beginning of the history of Islam and is taken as the starting point of the Muslim Era.

On arrival in Medina after a perilous journey across the desert, the Prophet set about organizing the new Community (composed of "Muhajirin", refugees from Mecca, "Ansar", local helpers, as well as Jews and Pagans) on a basis of social and economic equity. The rule of peace, law, justice, goodwill and brotherhood soon knitted together all Believers into a zealous and pious body ready for any sacrifice in the task of sowing the seeds of the Kingdom of Heaven.

The Battle of Badr The Meccan chiefs, however, were resolved on crushing this threat to the old order and openly prepared for war. Early in 624 C.E., under the pretext of protecting a caravan from Syria, they launched into the field a well trained and equipped army of I ,00 0 men, including 200 cavalry, with the intention of capturing Medina. The Muslims, who for the first time had been given permission to take up arms in defence of their religion, could only raise a party of 313 ill-armed infantry. The opposing forces met at Badr on 16th Ramadhan 2 A.H. In particular, the  Prophet’s cousin Ali demonstrated great courage and valour in this battle.  A violent sandstorm arose against the Unbelievers and created confusion in their ranks. They were routed and put to headlong flight, leaving behind many dead including their chief Abu Jahl. The power of Pagan Arabia was shattered and Badr must be considered one of history's decisive battles.

The Battle of Uhud Twice more did the Quraish attempt to seize Medina. In 625, they inflicted the defeat of Uhad on the Muslims, who due to confusion, disobeyed the orders of the Prophet. In 627, a big coalition of over 20,000 Quraish, Jews and Beduins besieged the city, but though they used treachery their assaults were beaten off and dissensions and bad weather precipitated their retreat. This is known as the Battle of the Ditch or the Confererates. The same year, the Muslims concluded the Truce of Hodaibiya with the Meccans, and the Prophet was able to perform a peaceful pilgrimage to the Kaaba, the House of his grandfather Abraham.

Letters to the Leaders of the World Soon after his return to Medina, the Messenger of God sent letters to the rulers of the civilized world, inviting them to embrace Islam (628 C.E.). Some, like the Roman Emperor Heraclius, the viceroy of Egypt and the King of Abyssinia received the apostle s with respect, but the Emperor of Persia, Khosroe, tore up the letter in rage and ordered the governor of Yemen to send an expedition to the Hijaz and arrest Muhammad (s.a.w.). Before his order could be carried out, however, Khosroes was murdered and his country remained a prey to civil war until the Arab conquest.

Tribe after tribe now started joining the fold of Islam. In 628, the Muslims occupied the fortified town of Khaibar whence Jews and Pagans had been intriguing against the Prophet and inciting Romans and Persians to invade Arabia. At the close of the following year; the Quraish violated the truce terms and Muhammad (s.a.w.), seizing the opportunity of final victory, marched on Mecca. meeting with but scanty resistance.

Re-entry into Mecca It was on the 20th Ramadhan 8 A.H. (630 C.E.) that the Apostle of God, in pilgrim dress, entered the City with ten thousand followers. On his arrival at the Kaaba, he repeated the words of the Quran "Truth has come and falsehood has vanished!" a nd, rod in hand, proceeded to smash the 360 idols that polluted the precinct. The inhabitants swore fealty to him and embraced Islam in mass. He took no reprisals for the many atrocities of which the Quraish had been guilty and forgave even his most bitter foes.

Last days of the Prophet Although all hostilities were not at an end, the Prophet had completed his mission and God's last dispensation to mankind was firmly rooted on earth. He was worn out by his labours and the strain of Divine revelation, and soon after his health began to decline. In the 9th year after the Hijrah, in March 631 C.E., he journeyed from Medina to Mecca to perform the farewell pilgrimage. On Mount Arafat, he addressed a crowd of 100,000 pilgrims in a famous sermon each word of which has been kept. Hardly had he finished speaking that God sent him the last verse of the Quran ever to be revealed: “This day, I have perfected your religion and completed My bounty towards you; and I have chosen Islam to be your faith." (5: 4).

The Prophet passed peacefully away in Medina, in his room adjacent to the mosque, on 13th Rabi 1, 10 A.H. (8th June 632) in the 63rd year of his life.



Last days of the Prophet Although all hostilities were not at an end, the Prophet had completed his mission and God's last dispensation to mankind was firmly rooted on earth. He was worn out by his labours and the strain of Divine revelation, and soon after his health began to decline. In the 9th year after the Hijrah, in March 631 C.E., he journeyed from Medina to Mecca to perform the farewell pilgrimage. On Mount Arafat, he addressed a crowd of 100,000 pilgrims in a famous sermon each word of which has been kept. Hardly had he finished speaking that God sent him the last verse of the Quran ever to be revealed: “This day, I have perfected your religion and completed My bounty towards you; and I have chosen Islam to be your faith." (5: 4).

The Prophet passed peacefully away in Medina, in his room adjacent to the mosque, on 13th Rabi 1, 10 A.H. (8th June 632) in the 63rd year of his life.