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The Prophet
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Muhammad was born in Makkah on Rabi' Awwal 12, 570 CE. His father died before his birth. The infant Muhammad was handed to a Bedouin wet nurse to be brought up by her in the healthy atmosphere of the desert. At the age of five, Muhammad returned to the care of his mother, Aminah bint Wahb, but she died a year later. Muhammad then went to his paternal grandfather, 'Abdul Muttalib. He died when Muhammad was eight, and the boy was then brought up by his uncle Abu Talib.
As he grew up, he became known for his truthfulness, generosity and sincerity, so that he was sought after for his ability to arbitrate in disputes.
Muhammad was of a deeply religious nature, and had long detested the decadence of his society. It became his habit to meditate from time to time in the Cave of Hira near the summit of Jaba al-Nur, the 'Mountain of Light' near Makkah.
At the age of 40, while engaged in a meditative retreat, Muhammad received his first revelation from God through the Angel Gabriel. This revelation, which continued for twenty-three years, is known as the Qur'an. As soon as he began to recite the words he heard from Gabriel, and to preach the truth which God had revealed to him, he and his small group of followers suffered bitter persecution which grew so fierce that in the year 622 God gave them the command to emigrate.
This event, the Hijra, 'migration', in which they left Makkah for the city of Madinah some 260 miles to the north, marks the beginning of the Muslim calendar. After several years, the Prophet and his followers were able to return to Makkah, where they forgave their enemies and established Islam definitively. Before the Prophet died at the age of 63, the greater part of Arabia was Muslim, and within a century of his death Islam had spread to Spain in the West and as far East as China.
The historians describe him as calm and meditative. Michael Hart, the author of The 100, A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History says: "My choice of Muhammad to lead the list of the world's most influential persons may surprise some readers and may be questioned by others, but he was the only man in history who was supremely successful on both the secular and religious level.....It is probable that the relative influence of Muhammad on Islam has been larger than the combined influence of Jesus Christ and St. Paul on Christianity.....It is this unparalleled combination of secular and religious influence which I feel entitles Muhammad to be considered the most influential single figure in human history."
The Encyclopedia Britannica describes him as "the most successful of all religious personalities of the world." |
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