Muhammad

Prophet and founder of the Islamic faith

Early years

Muhammad, prophet and founder of the Islam faith, was born in 570 in Mecca, near the coast of the Red Sea in what is now Saudi Arabia. He was raised by his paternal uncle, Abu Talib, who was a member of the tribe of Quraysh since his father died before he was born, and his mother died when he was just six years old. He was brought up poor and illiterate, unable to read or write and remained so until his death. But under Abu Talib's guardianship, Muhammad began to earn a living as a businessman and a trader. Although he never learned to read, he came to be known as a man who was extremely religious, truthful, honest, trustworthy, generous, and sincere.

Muhammad meets Khadijah

When Khadijah, a rich merchant widow, heard of Muhammad's fine qualities, she asked him to go to Syria to trade some merchandise of hers. When he returned with a profit, Khadijah proposed marriage to Muhammad through a relative and he agreed. Khadijah was twice divorced and nearly 40 years old, and Muhammad was 25, but together they produced six children, four daughters and two sons, who both died at a very young age.

Muhammad's outlook on religion and his first visions

Muhammad was not pleased with all the decadence and idolatry that permeated his society. He came from a poor clan, the Hashim, which was the very clan heading up the opposition to the wealthy merchants of the time.

Muhammad's religious calling came at the age of 40, in 610 AD, when he received his first revelation from God through the Angel Gabriel. The revelations continued for twenty-three years, and have come to be known as the Qur'an, or "Recitation." But this was not an easy path for the man who was to become the Prophet.

Muhammad was nervous about the revelations from Gabriel, and he fled the caves where he was receiving them. When he reached his home, tired and frightened, he asked his wife to cover him in a blanket. After he had calmed down, Khadijah asked him why he was so afraid. She tried to reassure him, telling him that Allah would not let him down because he was kind to relatives, spoke only the truth, helped the poor, the orphaned and the needy, and he was an honest man.

Khadijah then talked with her cousin Waraqa, an old, saintly man possessing knowledge of previous revelations and scriptures and he confirmed to her that Muhammad's visitor was none other than the Angel Gabriel, the same one who had come to Moses. He said that Muhammad was the expected Prophet. Khadijah believed in her heart that his predictions were true and she became the first person to accept Islam. She supported her husband in every hardship that would follow and died at the age of sixty-five in the month of Ramadan.

The bloody early years of Islam

During the first three years of Muhammad's mission, forty people accepted Islam as their faith. This small group consisted of young as well as older people from a wide range of economic and social backgrounds. Muhammad received a revelation to begin preaching to everyone, so he then began to recite revelations to people in public places, inviting them to join Islam.

But the leaders in Mecca, rather than embracing Muhammad, were hostile. The most angry and yet the closest to the prophet was his uncle Abu Lahab and his wife. Initially, they and other leaders of the Quraysh clan tried to bribe him with money and power including an offer to make him king if he would stop preaching his message. When he refused, they tried to get his uncle Abu Talib to recruit the city's best young man and put him into Muhammad's place, then they would kill the Prophet.

Soon after this, Mohammad received a message from Gabriel advising that he and his few hundred followers leave Mecca. So, in the year 622 they traveled to what was then called Yathrib, about 260 miles north. This date now marks the start of the Muslim calendar. The town of Yathrib came to be called Medina. The leaders of the town were experiencing a civil war and they invited Mohammad who was well known for his knowledge, to be their mediator. Muhammad stayed there for six years, building a Muslim community, and slowly gathering more and more people to his way of thinking.

The foundation of Islam

The Meccans were not happy about Muhammad's success in Medina. And then in March of 628, Muhammad's tribe signed a treaty with the people of Medina, recognizing Muslims as a new force in Arabia and allowing them the freedom to move throughout it. The once-powerful Mecca saw that it was losing its strength. And in January of 630, Muhammad's throngs marched on Mecca, and on the way were joined by tribe after tribe. They walked into Mecca without any blood shed. In his last year of his life, Muhammad led a great pilgrimage or Hajj to the Ka'aba in Mecca. This was as if he was giving a final gesture to Islam, his love.

When Muhammad returned to Medina, he established the religious practices known as "the five pillars of Islam." These include declaring the oneness of Allah and his messenger Muhammad; praying five times a day; fasting during the month of Ramadan; giving to charity; and making the pilgrimage to Mecca. Some Muslims also recognize a sixth pillar in the Islamic jihad that can be an armed conflict in defense of Islam which is known as the lesser jihad; and improving one's spiritual being, which is called the greater jihad.

Three months after his return to Medina, on June 8, 632 Muhammad unexpectedly became sick and, at the age of 62, he died. At the time of his death, Muhammad was survived by 10 wives and several children. But only one of the girls, Fatima, he had had with his first wife Khadijah, would have children of her own. He is buried in the mosque in Medina. Within a hundred years Muhammad's teaching and way of life would spread from the remote corners of Arabia as far east as Indo-China and as far west as Morocco, France, Spain and the United States.