He was born in city named Makkah, in the Arabian Peninsula, on 570 CE (Common Era) . Since his father had died a couple of weeks before his birth, his grandfather, Abd al-Muttalib, became his guardian. Abd al-Muttalib was the head of the clan of Hashim of the tribe of Quraysh. Abd al-Muttalib was highly respected in his tribe. The Quraysh were the biggest tribe in Makkah because they were in charge of the Kabbah. Abd al-Muttalib was considered the leader of all of Makkah. The kabbah was built by Prophet Abraham and his son, Ishmael. Allah subhana watallah tells us this in the quran:
And when Abraham and Ishmael were raising the foundations of the House [Abraham prayed]: “Our Lord! Accept from us; surely You are the Hearing, the Knowing (Quran, 2:127). Our Lord! Make us Muslims and raise from our offspring a nation of Muslims. Show us our ways of worship, and relent toward us. Surely, Your are the Relenting, the Merciful” (Quran, 2:128).
Kabbah was thought to be, and still is, a blessed place. Many people come here for pilgrimage. The kabbah held its importance to the arab population in the Arabian peninsula. Abd al-Muttalib was personally in charge of the Kabbah.
The prophet was only six years old when his mother passed away. Then two years later his grandfather and guardian passed away. Now one of Abd al-Muttalib’s son, Abu Talib, became the guardian of Muhammad. Abu talib was well respected in the clan of Hashim but did not have the same rank. If he was financially better he might have had the special leadership of his father.
When Muhammad was 25 years old he was hired by a women named khadija to take her merchandise to syria, Muhammad was known as ‘al-ameen’ the trustworthy. She was a widow and 15 years older than Muhammad. She later proposed to him through a relative and Muhammad accepted. They lived together all almost 25 years.
Muhammad and khadija had seven children 4 daughters and 3 sons. Sadly all his sons passed away when they were infants. His daughter names were: fatima, Zainab bint Muhammad, Umm Kulthum bint Muhammad, Ruqayyah bint Muhammad. His sons names were: al-Qasim, Abd-Allaah, Ibraaheem.
Muhammad used to frequently go to a cave named gar-e-hira, to meditate. He never believed in idol worshiping. One day when he was in the cave he saw a bright light it was the angel of revelation, the same angel that had come to Mary the mother of Jesus. Here the first revelation was brought down to and he became a prophet. His prophethood began when he was forty in 610 CE.The quran continued to be revealed in fragments over 22 years the quran was completed, shortly before the prophet passed away in 632 CE.
In the first couple of years of prophethood the prophet preached secretly to the people he trusted. When he started calling people to islam openly the new religion attracted more people, but there was also an increase in hostility from the idol worshippers of Makkah. The muslims were harassed and abused and so was the prophet, but they were protected by Abu talib and the Hashim clan. Most of the converts to Islam were slaves, they suffered much persecution and torturing by the enemies of the new religion. In 614 CE prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H) instructed a group of muslims to seek protection with the king of Abyssinia, he was a just Christian king. When the pagans of Makkah found out they sent one of their high ranking men with treasure to abyssinia to bribe the king. The king didn’t take the bribe and let the muslims stay.
One year later, 618 CE, Quraysh imposed economic and social sanctions on the prophet and his followers, as a result the muslims had to withdraw to a mountain in Makkah. The sanction ended in 619 CE without any success.
Soon after it was a tragic time, Prophet Mohammad’s wife had passed away. And it only got worse when the prophet’s uncle, Abu talib passed away. With no protection the violence and attempts to destroy the muslims increased. When it was pilgrimage season the prophet met up with the chiefs of Yathrib (Yathrib). The prophet had previously sent muslims to settle there. Since the chiefs had converted to islam they made a secret agreement with the prophet that they would protect him if the disbelievers tried to kill him.
But the disbelievers had found out about the agreement so the chief had to return quickly. The prophet realized the danger to the muslims and instructed the muslims to immigrate to Yathrib individually or in small groups. The pagans tried to stop the immigration but the muslims continued to sneak out slowly. The pagan realized the danger of the muslims uniting with their allies but it would get worse for them if the prophet got to Yathrib. So they decided to assassinate him while he’s asleep. Their plan was that a person from every enemy clan would stab him at the same time, so the lame wouldn't go on one clan and neither could the Hashim clan wage war. But the plan was sabotaged by divine revelation Allah subhana watallah told his messenger to leave Makkah and his cousin volunteered to lay in place, by the will of Allah one of the assassins realized it wasn’t the prophet and told the others to stop. The prophet had gone to Yathrib which was later known as al-Madinah-al munawarah (the illuminated city) or Madinah for short.
When the prophet migrated to Madinah it is known as hijra, this took place in 622 CE. After hijra Islam prevailed far and wide to many places in the Arabian peninsula. The prophet lived in Madinah for 10 years by the time he passed away islam was the religion of the arabian peninsula and had reached into some of the neighbouring regions. Later Islam had spread throughout the world.
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