The Life of the Prophet

The Prophet ﷺ was born in Makkah in the Year of the Elephant (c. 571 CE), the year Abraha's army was destroyed. He was orphaned early: his father Abdullah died before his birth and his mother Aminah when he was six.

At twenty-five, the Prophet ﷺ married Khadijah bint Khuwaylid after trading on her behalf to Syria. She was the first to believe in him and his steadfast support for twenty-five years.

At forty, during his retreats in the cave of Hira, Jibril came to the Prophet ﷺ with the first verses of Surah al-Alaq: "Recite in the name of your Lord who created." Khadijah and Waraqah ibn Nawfal reassured him of the truth of what he received.

After an interval in which revelation paused, Surah al-Muddaththir was revealed commanding the Prophet ﷺ to arise and warn. Revelation then continued without a comparable break.

After about three years of private invitation, the Prophet ﷺ was commanded to warn his nearest kin and proclaim the message openly, standing on al-Safa to address Quraysh.

Quraysh met the message with escalating persecution: Bilal was tortured in the sun, the family of Yasir suffered and Sumayyah became the first martyr of Islam. The weak bore the worst of it while the Prophet ﷺ himself endured mockery and assault.

The Prophet ﷺ permitted vulnerable believers to seek refuge with the just Christian king of Abyssinia. Ja'far ibn Abi Talib's address to the Negus, and the king's refusal to surrender the Muslims, preserved the first Muslim community in exile.

The conversions of Hamza ibn Abd al-Muttalib and then Umar ibn al-Khattab strengthened the Muslims openly; the believers prayed publicly at the Ka'bah for the first time after Umar's Islam.

Quraysh imposed a total social and economic boycott on Banu Hashim and Banu al-Muttalib, confining them to the valley of Abu Talib for about three years of severe hardship until the pact was annulled.

In one year the Prophet ﷺ lost both Khadijah, his wife and support, and Abu Talib, the uncle whose protection had restrained Quraysh. Persecution intensified sharply thereafter.

Seeking support from Thaqif, the Prophet ﷺ was rejected and stoned by the people of Ta'if. He responded with the famous supplication of the oppressed and declined the angel's offer to destroy the town, hoping for believers among their descendants.

The Prophet ﷺ was taken by night from al-Masjid al-Haram to al-Masjid al-Aqsa, then ascended through the heavens, where the five daily prayers were ordained. The event tested and distinguished the believers.

Delegations from Yathrib accepted Islam and pledged allegiance to the Prophet ﷺ at al-Aqabah in two successive seasons, the second pledge including the commitment to protect him — opening the way for the hijrah.

Commanded to emigrate, the Prophet ﷺ left Makkah with Abu Bakr, hiding three nights in the cave of Thawr while Quraysh hunted them. Their safe arrival at Quba and then Madinah established the first Muslim polity and begins the Islamic calendar.

The Prophet ﷺ built his mosque, paired each emigrant with an Ansari brother, and concluded a written pact ordering relations among the Muslims, and with the Jewish tribes of Madinah.

Sixteen or seventeen months after the hijrah, the qiblah was turned from Jerusalem to the Ka'bah in Makkah while the Prophet ﷺ longed for it, a test that distinguished those who followed the Messenger.

In Ramadan 2 AH, just over three hundred Muslims met a Quraysh army near the wells of Badr. Allah aided them with angels and gave a decisive victory in which the leaders of persecution fell — the day the Qur'an calls al-Furqan, the Criterion.

At Uhud the Muslims prevailed early, then suffered reversal when the archers left their post. Hamza was martyred and the Prophet ﷺ was wounded. The Qur'an drew out the lessons of obedience, steadfastness and reliance on Allah.

A confederacy of Quraysh, Ghatafan and their allies besieged Madinah. On Salman al-Farisi's counsel the Muslims dug a trench; after weeks of siege, wind and unseen forces scattered the confederates without a pitched battle.

Hypocrites slandered Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) after the campaign of Banu al-Mustaliq. After a month of anguish, revelation declared her innocence and legislated the punishment for unproven accusations.

Blocked from umrah, the Prophet ﷺ concluded a ten-year truce with Quraysh at al-Hudaybiyyah on terms that outwardly favoured them. The Qur'an named it a clear victory, and Islam spread more in the two years that followed than in all the years before.

After Quraysh violated the treaty, the Prophet ﷺ entered Makkah with ten thousand, head lowered in humility, granting general amnesty. The idols around the Ka'bah were destroyed and Bilal called the adhan from its roof.

The Prophet ﷺ performed his only hajj with over a hundred thousand companions, delivering the Farewell Sermon on the sanctity of life, property and honour. At Arafah the verse of the perfection of the religion was revealed.

In Rabi' al-Awwal 11 AH the Prophet ﷺ passed away in Aisha's chamber. Abu Bakr steadied the community: "Whoever worshipped Muhammad — Muhammad has died; and whoever worships Allah — Allah is Ever-Living and does not die."