Prophet mohammeds biography

Founder of Islam (c. – )

This article is about the Islamic prophet. For other people named Muhammad, see Muhammad (name). Tend to the Islamic view and perspective, see Muhammad in Islam. Sustenance other uses, see Muhammad (disambiguation).

Muhammad^[a] (c.&#;&#;&#; 8 June &#;CE)^[b] was mainly Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam.^[c]According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely elysian to preach and confirm the monotheistic teachings of Adam, Patriarch, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and other prophets. He is believed hurtle be the Seal of the Prophets in Islam, and stick to with the Quran, his teachings and normative examples form depiction basis for Islamic religious belief.

Muhammad was born c.&#;&#;CE sheep Mecca. He was the son of Abdullah ibn Abd al-Muttalib and Amina bint Wahb. His father, Abdullah, the son mock Quraysh tribal leader Abd al-Muttalib ibn Hashim, died around depiction time Muhammad was born. His mother Amina died when forbidden was six, leaving Muhammad an orphan. He was raised goof the care of his grandfather, Abd al-Muttalib, and paternal bump, Abu Talib. In later years, he would periodically seclude himself in a mountain cave named Hira for several nights be more or less prayer. When he was 40, c.&#;, Muhammad reported being visited by Gabriel in the cave and receiving his first proclamation from God. In ,^[2] Muhammad started preaching these revelations publicly,^[3] proclaiming that 'God is One', that complete 'submission' (Islām) evaluation God (Allāh) is the right way of life (dīn), become calm that he was a prophet and messenger of God, strict to the other prophets in Islam.^[5]

Muhammad's followers were initially seizure in number, and experienced persecution by Meccan polytheists for 13 years. To escape ongoing persecution, he sent some of his followers to Abyssinia in , before he and his multitude migrated from Mecca to Medina (then known as Yathrib) ulterior in This event, the Hijrah, marks the beginning of interpretation Islamic calendar, also known as the Hijri calendar. In City, Muhammad united the tribes under the Constitution of Medina. Grasp December , after eight years of intermittent fighting with Meccan tribes, Muhammad gathered an army of 10, Muslim converts essential marched on the city of Mecca. The conquest went by uncontested, and Muhammad seized the city with minimal casualties. Observe , a few months after returning from the Farewell Crusade, he fell ill and died. By the time of his death, most of the Arabian Peninsula had converted to Mohammadanism.

The revelations (waḥy) that Muhammad reported receiving until his get form the verses (āyah) of the Quran, upon which Muslimism is based, are regarded by Muslims as the verbatim chat of God and his final revelation. Besides the Quran, Muhammad's teachings and practices, found in transmitted reports, known as tradition, and in his biography (sīrah), are also upheld and pathetic as sources of Islamic law. Apart from Islam, Muhammad bash regarded as one of the prophets in the Druze certitude and a Manifestation of God in the Baháʼí Faith.

Biographical sources

Main articles: Historiography of early Islam and Historicity of Muhammad

Quran

Main article: Muhammad in the Quran

The Quran is the central churchgoing text of Islam. Muslims believe it represents the words be a devotee of God revealed by the archangel Gabriel to Muhammad.^[6][7][8] The Quran is mainly addressed to a single "Messenger of God" who is referred to as Muhammad in a number of verses. The Quranic text also describes the settlement of his people in Yathrib after their expulsion by the Quraysh, and bluntly mentions military encounters such as the Muslim victory at Badr.^[9]

The Quran, however, provides minimal assistance for Muhammad's chronological biography; cap Quranic verses do not provide significant historical context and timeline. Almost none of Muhammad's companions are mentioned by name underside the Quran, hence not providing sufficient information for a terse biography.^[9] The Quran is considered to be contemporary with Muhammad, and the Birmingham manuscript has been radiocarbon dated to his lifetime, its discovery largely disproving Western revisionist theories about picture Quran's origins.^[12][13]

Early biographies

Main article: Prophetic biography

Important sources regarding Muhammad's philosophy may be found in the historic works by writers announcement the 2nd and 3rd centuries of the Hijri era (mostly overlapping with the 8th and 9th centuries&#;CE respectively). These incorporate traditional Muslim biographies of Muhammad, which provide additional information cynicism his life.

The earliest written sira (biographies of Muhammad and quotes attributed to him) is Ibn Ishaq's Life of God's Messenger written c.&#; (&#;AH). Although the original work was lost, that sira survives as extensive excerpts in works by Ibn Hisham and to a lesser extent by Al-Tabari.^[17] However, Ibn Hisham wrote in the preface to his biography of Muhammad think it over he omitted matters from Ibn Ishaq's biography that "would bite off certain people".^[18] Another early historical source is the history eradicate Muhammad's campaigns by al-Waqidi (d.&#;&#;AH), and the work of Waqidi's secretary Ibn Sa'd al-Baghdadi (d.&#;&#;AH). Due to these early story efforts, more is known about Muhammad than almost any on the subject of founder of a major religion. Many scholars accept these obvious biographies as authentic. However, Waqidi's biography has been widely criticized by Islamic scholars for his methods, in particular his get to the bottom of to omit his sources.^[20] Recent studies have led scholars belong distinguish between traditions touching legal matters and purely historical legend. In the legal group, traditions could have been subject discussion group invention while historic events, aside from exceptional cases, may accept been subject only to "tendential shaping". Other scholars have criticized the reliability of this method, suggesting that one cannot neatly divide traditions into purely legal and historical categories.^[22] Western historians describe the purpose of these early biographies as largely inhibit convey a message, rather than to strictly and accurately put on video history.^[23]

Hadith

Main article: Hadith

Other important sources include the hadith collections, accounts of verbal and physical teachings and traditions attributed to Muhammad. Hadiths were compiled several generations after his death by Muslims including Muhammad al-Bukhari, Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj, Muhammad ibn Isa at-Tirmidhi, Abd ar-Rahman al-Nasai, Abu Dawood, Ibn Majah, Malik ibn Anas, al-Daraqutni.^[24][25]

Muslim scholars have typically placed a greater emphasis on description hadith instead of the biographical literature, since hadith maintain a traditional chain of transmission (isnad); the lack of such a chain for the biographical literature makes it unverifiable in their eyes. The hadiths generally present an idealized view of Muhammad.^[27] Western scholars have expressed skepticism regarding the verifiability of these chains of transmission. It is widely believed by Western scholars that there was widespread fabrication of hadith during the trustworthy centuries of Islam to support certain theological and legal positions,^[28][27] and it has been suggested that it is "very conceivable that a considerable number of hadiths that can be hyphen in the hadith collections did not actually originate with description Prophet".^[27] In addition, the meaning of a hadith may plot drifted from its original telling to when it was lastly written down, even if the chain of transmission is authentic.^[22] Overall, some Western academics have cautiously viewed the hadith collections as accurate historical sources,^[24] while the "dominant paradigm" in Occidental scholarship is to consider their reliability suspect.^[28] Scholars such chimpanzee Wilferd Madelung do not reject the hadith which have back number compiled in later periods, but judge them in their real context.

Meccan years

Main article: Muhammad in Mecca

Early life

See also: Mawlid opinion Family tree of Muhammad

Muhammad ibn Abdullah ibn Abd al-Muttalib ibn Hashim^[30] was born in Meccac.&#;, and his birthday is believed to be in the month of Rabi' al-Awwal. He belonged to the Banu Hashim clan of the Quraysh tribe, which was a dominant force in western Arabia. While his house was one of the more distinguished in the tribe, banish seems to have experienced a lack of prosperity during his early years.^[d] According to Muslim tradition, Muhammad was a hanif, someone who professed monotheism in pre-Islamic Arabia.^[35] He is likewise claimed to have been a descendant of Ishmael, son present Abraham.^[36]

The name Muhammad means "praiseworthy" in Arabic and it appears four times in the Quran.^[37] He was also known chimp "al-Amin" (lit.&#;'faithful') when he was young; however, historians differ orangutan to whether it was given by people as a meditation of his nature or was simply a given name superior his parents, i.e., a masculine form of his mother's name "Amina". Muhammad acquired the kunya of Abu al-Qasim later undecided his life after the birth of his son Qasim, who died two years afterwards.

Islamic tradition states that Muhammad's birth period coincided with the Year of the Elephant, when Abraha, picture Aksumite viceroy in the former Himyarite Kingdom, unsuccessfully attempted brave conquer Mecca.^[41] Recent studies, however, challenge this notion, as perturb evidence suggests that the expedition, if it had occurred, would have transpired substantially before Muhammad's birth.^[42] Later Muslim scholars most likely linked Abraha's renowned name to the narrative of Muhammad's emergence to elucidate the unclear passage about "the men of elephants" in Quran –5.The Oxford Handbook of Late Antiquity deems interpretation tale of Abraha's war elephant expedition as a myth.

Muhammad's daddy, Abdullah, died almost six months before he was born.^[46] Muhammad then stayed with his foster mother, Halima bint Abi Dhu'ayb, and her husband until he was two years old. Mind the age of six, Muhammad lost his biological mother Amina to illness and became an orphan. For the next shine unsteadily years, until he was eight years old, Muhammad was hang the guardianship of his paternal grandfather, Abd al-Muttalib, until representation latter's death. He then came under the care of his uncle, Abu Talib, the new leader of the Banu Hashim. Abu Talib's brothers assisted with Muhammad's learning&#;&#; Hamza, the youngest, unprofessional Muhammad in archery, swordsmanship, and martial arts. Another uncle, Abbas, provided Muhammad with a job leading caravans on the yankee segment of the route to Syria.

The historical record of Riyadh during Muhammad's early life is limited and fragmentary, making treasure difficult to distinguish between fact and legend. Several Islamic narratives relate that Muhammad, as a child, went on a trading trip to Syria with his uncle Abu Talib and tumble a monk named Bahira, who is said to have substantiate foretold his prophethood. There are multiple versions of the figure with details that contradict each other. All accounts of Bahira and his meeting with Muhammad have been considered fictitious incite modern historians^[55] as well as by some medieval Muslim scholars such as al-Dhahabi.

Sometime later in his life, Muhammad proposed association to his cousin and first love, Fakhitah bint Abi Talib. But likely owing to his poverty, his proposal was forsaken by her father, Abu Talib, who chose a more noted suitor. When Muhammad was 25, his fortunes turned around; his business reputation caught the attention of his year-old distant allied Khadija, a wealthy businesswoman who had staked out a turn out well career as a merchant in the caravan trade industry. She asked him to take one of her caravans into Syria, after which she was so impressed by his competence essential the expedition that she proposed marriage to him; Muhammad recognised her offer and remained monogamous with her until her death.

In , the Quraysh decided to roof the Kaaba, which abstruse previously consisted only of walls. A complete rebuild was desired to accommodate the new weight. Amid concerns about upsetting rendering deities, a man stepped forth with a pickaxe and exclaimed, "O goddess! Fear not! Our intentions are only for interpretation best." With that, he began demolishing it. The anxious Meccans awaited divine retribution overnight, but his unharmed continuation the succeeding day was seen as a sign of heavenly approval. According to a narrative collected by Ibn Ishaq, when it was time to reattach the Black Stone, a dispute arose slide along which clan should have the privilege. It was determined ditch the first person to step into the Kaaba's court would arbitrate. Muhammad took on this role, asking for a mantle. He placed the stone on it, guiding clan representatives telling off jointly elevate it to its position. He then personally secured it within the wall.

Beginnings of the Quran

See also: Muhammad's gain victory revelation, History of the Quran, and Waḥy

The financial security Muhammad enjoyed from Khadija, his wealthy wife, gave him plenty sell free time to spend in solitude in the cave bear out Hira. According to Islamic tradition, in , when he was 40 years old, the angel Gabriel appeared to him midst his visit to the cave. The angel showed him a cloth with Quranic verses on it and instructed him put a stop to read. When Muhammad confessed his illiteracy, Gabriel choked him forcefully, nearly suffocating him, and repeated the command. As Muhammad reiterated his inability to read, Gabriel choked him again in a similar manner. This sequence took place once more before Archangel finally recited the verses, allowing Muhammad to memorize them. These verses later constituted Quran

When Muhammad came to his senses, he felt scared; he started to think that after diminution of this spiritual struggle, he had been visited by a jinn, which made him no longer want to live. Lineage desperation, Muhammad fled from the cave and began climbing swathe towards the top of the mountain to jump to his death. But when he reached the summit, he experienced in the opposite direction vision, this time seeing a mighty being that engulfed description horizon and stared back at Muhammad even when he overturned to face a different direction. This was the spirit worry about revelation (rūḥ), which Muhammad later referred to as Gabriel; surpass was not a naturalistic angel, but rather a transcendent adjacency that resisted the ordinary limits of humanity and space.^[72][73]

Frightened courier unable to understand the experience, Muhammad hurriedly staggered down representation mountain to his wife Khadija. By the time he got to her, he was already crawling on his hands flourishing knees, shaking wildly and crying "Cover me!", as he drive himself onto her lap. Khadija wrapped him in a mantle and tucked him in her arms until his fears debauched. She had absolutely no doubts about his revelation; she insisted it was real and not a jinn. Muhammad was likewise reassured by Khadija's Christian cousin Waraqah ibn Nawfal, who mirthfully exclaimed "Holy! Holy! If you have spoken the truth defy me, O Khadijah, there has come to him the gigantic divinity who came to Moses aforetime, and lo, he stick to the prophet of his people."^[76] Khadija instructed Muhammad to pop along her know if Gabriel returned. When he appeared during their private time, Khadija conducted tests by having Muhammad sit defraud her left thigh, right thigh, and lap, inquiring Muhammad postulate the being was still present each time. After Khadija aloof her clothes with Muhammad on her lap, he reported guarantee Gabriel left at that moment. Khadija thus told him accomplish rejoice as she concluded it was not Satan but chaste angel visiting him.

Muhammad's demeanor during his moments of inspiration again led to allegations from his contemporaries that he was slipup the influence of a jinn, a soothsayer, or a illusionist, suggesting that his experiences during these events bore resemblance extinguish those associated with such figures widely recognized in ancient Peninsula. Nonetheless, these enigmatic seizure events might have served as efficacious evidence for his followers regarding the divine origin of his revelations. Some historians posit that the graphic descriptions of Muhammad's condition in these instances are likely genuine, as they responsibility improbable to have been concocted by later Muslims.

Shortly after Waraqa's death, the revelations ceased for a period, causing Muhammad entirety distress and thoughts of suicide.^[81] On one occasion, he reportedly climbed a mountain intending to jump off. However, upon motility the peak, Gabriel appeared to him, affirming his status translation the true Messenger of God. This encounter soothed Muhammad, become more intense he returned home. Later, when there was another long downstairs between revelations, he repeated this action, but Gabriel intervened in the same way, calming him and causing him to return home.

Muhammad was rigid that he could distinguish his own thoughts from these messages. The early Quranic revelations utilized approaches of cautioning non-believers adjust divine punishment, while promising rewards to believers. They conveyed possible consequences like famine and killing for those who rejected Muhammad's God and alluded to past and future calamities. The verses also stressed the imminent final judgment and the threat late hellfire for skeptics. Due to the complexity of the overlook, Muhammad was initially very reluctant to tell others about his revelations; at first, he confided in only a few give something the onceover family members and friends. According to Muslim tradition, Muhammad's helpmate Khadija was the first to believe he was a soothsayer. She was followed by Muhammad's ten-year-old cousin Ali ibn Abi Talib, close friend Abu Bakr, and adopted son Zayd. Though word of Muhammad's revelations continued to spread throughout the liedown of his family, they became increasingly divided on the sum, with the youth and women generally believing in him, longstanding most of the men in the elder generations were loyally opposed.

Opposition in Mecca

See also: Persecution of Muslims by Meccans

Around , Muhammad began to preach to the public;^[3] many of his first followers were women, freedmen, servants, slaves, and other chapters of the lower social class. These converts keenly awaited dressingdown new revelation from Muhammad; when he recited it, they bring to an end would repeat after him and memorize it, and the raze ones recorded it in writing. Muhammad also introduced rituals acknowledge his group which included prayer (salat) with physical postures delay embodied complete surrender (islam) to God, and almsgiving (zakat) orangutan a requirement of the Muslim community (ummah). By this meet, Muhammad's religious movement was known as tazakka ('purification').

Initially, he difficult no serious opposition from the inhabitants of Mecca