The Life of the Prophet
The Prophet of Islam, Muhammad ibn Abdullah ibn Abdul Muttalib, who was born in Makkah in 570 A.D. and died in Madinah in 632 A.D. received the prophethood at the age of forty. We give here a brief sketch of his life.
Muhammad, may peace be upon him, was still in his mother’s womb when his father Abdullah died. A few years after his birth, his mother too passed away. In accordance with the ancient Arab custom, he was looked after by a Bedouin woman, Haleema Sadia. Being an orphan, he was taken charge of by his grandfather, Abdul Muttalib. After the latter’s death, Muhammad’s uncle, Abu Talib, who was a merchant, became his guardian. The Prophet accompanied him on certain trading journeys. At the age of twenty-five he married a Makkan widow, Khadijah bint Khowailid, who was forty years old at the time.
When the Prophet was forty years old, he received his first revelation from God, in the cave of Hira near Makkah, where he often used to go in search of solitude. It was here that the Angel Jibril (Gabrial) came to him for the first time and gave him the good tidings that God had chosen him as His Prophet. The first few verses revealed to him on this occasion form part of chapter 96, titled ‘The Clot’ in the Quran.
The Quran was not revealed in the form of a book, all at once, but in parts, very gradually over a period of 23 years. Extraordinary arrangements were made for the preservation of the Quran from the very first day of its revelation. Whenever any part of the Quran was to be revealed, Jibril (Gabrial) would visit the Prophet and recite the relevant verses to him. He would first of all commit them to memory, then dictate them to his scribes, so that they could be preserved for posterity. The Prophet possessed an excellent memory, but being unable to read and write, he appointed a number of his companions as “transcribers of revelation.” One or the other transcriber always remained in his company so that he could immediately write down the passages of the Quran as soon as they were revealed. The Prophet took such great care in this matter that even during such a critical and precarious journey as that of emigration, he was accompanied by a scribe, Abu Bakr. Along with other necessary items he always kept pen and paper with him in order that the revealed passages could immediately be recorded.
Another special arrangement made along with their preservation in writing was the memorizing of the verses by most of the companions. These memorized verses were then recited daily in their prayers. In this way the preservation of the Quran was simultaneously being done in two fool-proof ways.
When the entire Quran had been revealed, Jibril (Gabrial) came to the Prophet and recited the entire scriptures from the opening chapter to the last, (titled ‘Men’), in exactly the same order in which they exist today. The Prophet then recited the entire Quran in this revised order to his companions. A large number of them, who had already memorized the entire Quran in its initial order, now adhered to the new arrangement. They used to recite the Quranic verses again and again in their daily prayers and at the same time read out passages to others.
In this way the Quran was compiled during the life of the Prophet, and to this day it has remained in the same form. Subsequently the first Caliph, Abu Bakr, had this compilation prepared in the form of a bound volume. Gradually, copies of it were circulated to all the provincial centers.
After Muhammad received the prophethood, his lifestyle changed completely. He stopped going to the cave of Hira and engaged himself fully in the communication of the message he had received from God. At that time, idolatry being prevalent in Makkah, the Prophet began to tell people that idolatry was the practice of empty rituals. The true religion was the worship of one God, obedience to His commands alone, and a life lived in accordance with His will. He stressed that the idolatrous religions would not be acceptable in the Hereafter; only to monotheism would any value be attached. The true monotheists would be rewarded by God with heaven in the Hereafter.
His method of propagating the true faith (dawah) consisted mostly of reciting a passage from a part of the Quran to the people (madu). Sometimes he would go to a place where people had gathered and would say: “O people, say there is no Being worthy of worship save God and you will be successful.” In this way the Prophet continued to communicate the message of monotheism to the idolaters around him.
In the beginning the Prophet adopted the method of conveying the message privately to people at an individual level. About three years later he began publicly to invite people to accept monotheism. It was then that he met with opposition. At that time the Makkans as well as other tribes of Arabia had adopted idolatry as a religious practice. They apprehended that the Prophet wanted them to abandon the religion of their ancestors and follow a new religion. But this was something they could never tolerate. In that case it was but natural for them to oppose the message of monotheism.
Furthermore, there was another dimension to idolatry for the Makkans. No economic resources or agriculture existed in Makkah. The only thing of value that it possessed was the sacred house built by Abraham and Ismail. The Makkan leaders had placed therein all the idols, numbering 360, which were worshipped by different Arab tribes. The Arabs would visit the Kabah all the year round to make offerings to these deities. Over and above this, the large gathering of pilgrims was also responsible for the flourishing of trade in Makkah. These were the two main reasons for the majority of Makkans becoming staunch opponents of the Prophet of Islam.
However, the serious-minded people of Makkah did not fail to realize the truth of his message, and gradually began to accept Islam. About 200 people from Makkah as well as the surrounding areas entered the fold of Islam after a 13-year period of dawah activity.
The Makkan leadership was in the hands of the Quraysh tribe. Such leaders as Abu Jahal, Abu Lahab, etc., turned hostile to the Prophet. First, they wanted to stop the spread of the religion by opposing it. But very soon they realized that their opposition was ineffective. In the meantime, the Prophet’s uncle, Abu Talib, died. He had been a leader of the Quraysh, and the Prophet’s guardian and supporter.
After the death of Abu Talib, the Makkan leaders intensified their opposition. They began openly indulging in hostile activities. At that time the Prophet, feeling that the situation in Makkah was not favourable for spreading his message, allowed his companions to temporarily leave Makkah and migrate to Abyssinia, a neighbouring country. As for himself he decided to go in search of supporters in an Arabian town, called Taif. He was accompanied only by his servant Zayd.
This journey did not yield any positive result. The leaders of Taif, turning against him like the Makkan leaders, treated him very badly. Therefore, the Prophet returned to Makkah. However, the support of a Makkan leader was necessary if he was to stay in the city. So when he was still on the outskirts of his hometown, he sent his servant to the Makkan leader Mutim ibn Adi, still an idolater, with the request that he extend his patronage so that he might stay in Makkah. This protection was necessary according to the ancient Arab system. Only when Mutim ibn Adi agreed to do so was the Prophet able to enter the city. But now the opposition of the Makkan leaders had so greatly intensified that it had become impossible for him to stay there. Therefore, after thirteen years of Prophethood, he quietly left Makkah for Madinah.
After reaching Madinah the first sermon he gave at the Friday prayer has been recorded in full by his biographer, Ibn Hisham: After praising God, the Prophet said:
O people, prepare yourself for the Hereafter. You must know that the hour of death is sure to come to everyone. Then you will leave your herds without a herdsman. Then surely the Lord will speak to you. And then there will be no mediator, no veil to come between him and his Lord. The Lord will ask: Did My messenger not come to you? Did he not convey My message to you? I gave you wealth, and blessed you. Then why did you not prepare yourself for this day? Then that person will look towards his left, and towards his right, but he will not see anything. Then he will look in front of him, but he will see nothing but hell. Therefore, if anyone of you is eager to save his face from the fire of hell he ought to do so, even if it is by giving a piece of a date (by spending in charity for those who are really in need). One who does not possess even that should try to save himself by speaking a good word. For each good action will be rewarded from tenfold to 700 fold. May God bless you. May God’s mercy be upon you. (Seerah ibn Hisham, Vol. 1, pp. 500-501)
During the thirteen years that the Prophet lived in Makkah after he received prophethood, prayer in congregation had not been made obligatory. It was in Madinah, after his emigration, that congregational prayer was made a religious duty. Therefore, on reaching Madinah, the first of the most important tasks in which the Prophet engaged himself was to find a piece of land on which to build a mosque. The mosque he built has seen several extensions since then and is now known as Masjid-e-Nabawi.
On the subject of mosques, the Prophet observed: “The mosques are the home of the God-fearing.” That is, the mosques are the training centers for a God-fearing life for the believers.
After the construction of the mosque, the Prophet stayed in a room adjacent to it. Here he organized congregational prayers to be said five times in the day: Fajr (dawn prayer), Zuhr (midday prayer), Asr (afternoon prayer) Maghrib, (after sunset prayer) and Isha (evening prayer). In addition to this, the Prophet established weekly prayer on Fridays. This prayer was congregational and wider in scope, for it included a sermon, a weekly discourse for the spiritual development of the believers.
In Madinah, the Prophet undertook many tasks for the organization and consolidation of the Muslim Ummah. For instance, after the emigration the small town of Madinah saw, all of a sudden, the addition of several hundred people. This was a major social problem. For its solution the Prophet adopted a strategy known in Islamic history as ‘fraternizing.’ The form it took was a bond of brotherhood established between one Ansar (a Madinan Muslim) and a Muhajir (emigrant from Makkah). Each one of the emigrants was connected with a member of the Ansari Muslims in a bond of mutual assistance. The Ansaris shared their wealth and property with the Muhajirs as if they were the members of their own families. The Ansar and Muhajirs thus fraternized, living together like real brothers, without ever quarrelling over anything.
After some time, there was no further need for this fraternity. Since the Muhajirs did not feel comfortable in becoming a burden on others, they engaged themselves in different activities. Some took to farming, others to trade and yet others chose to labour in the fields owned by the Ansar. In this way after a very short period of time, everyone was able to stand on his own feet.
Madinah was also inhabited by some idolaters and Jews, who were in a minority. The Prophet decided that some form of law should be established so that there would be no misunderstanding or hostility of any sort, in the future between them and the Muslims. To solve this problem the Prophet of Islam issued a charter commonly known as the covenant of Madinah. Since the Muslims were in the majority, the Prophet’s position became that of a leader, or a head of state. In this capacity he declared in this charter that all the inhabitants of Madinah would enjoy equal rights. Everyone would be free to follow the religion and culture of his or her choice: the affairs of the Muslims would be decided according to the Shariah, while the affairs of the Jews and idolaters would be decided according to their traditions, laws and customs.
Unlike Makkah, Madinah proved to be very favourable to the Prophet’s propagation of monotheism. Even prior to his coming to the town, Islam had already entered Madinah. After his arrival, the dawah process was intensified and the majority of the Madinan people accepted Islam, becoming his supporters.
This situation was not to the liking of the Makkans. They found it intolerable that someone they had expelled from Makkah should have found a stronghold in Madinah, for now the Prophet posed a far greater threat to their idolatrous religion. On the basis of this thinking, they decided to take military action against him. The religion they had failed to extirpate by simple opposition, they now resolved to wipe from the face of the earth by the sword.
After the emigration, therefore, the Makkan leaders opened hostilities. One of the skirmishes came to be known as “Badr the first.” However, the first big-armed confrontation, initiated by the Makkan leaders, took place, eighty-five miles south-west of Madinah in 624 A.D. (2 A.H.), and is known as the Battle of Badr. With special divine succour the battle resulted in complete victory for the Prophet and his Companions. Seventy Makkans, most of them leaders, were killed and the same number were taken prisoner.
The defeat at Badr provoked the Makkan leaders more than ever. They incited the Makkans to do battle by saying that they had to avenge the killing of their people at Badr. (In ancient Arabia the avenging of killings was considered a sacred duty devolving upon the survivors). Consequently, several skirmishes took place between the two parties. In the following year the Makkans under Abu Sufyan collected a large army and reached the borders of Madinah. The two armies engaged in a fierce battle near the Uhud mountain. The believers had actually won the battle but then, taking advantage of a mistake inadvertently committed by the Companions, the Makkans managed to charge again. The Muslims, confounded by this sudden attack, suffered great loss in terms of lives. The Prophet himself was wounded. The Makkans could avenge at Uhud their defeat at Badr.
The Prophet of Islam felt that war was not the solution; therefore, he adopted another strategy. Guided by a dream, he announced in 6 A.H. that he intended to leave for Makkah in order to perform Umrah, (circumambulation of the Kabah) and other rites. Accordingly, about 1400 of his Companions accompanied him. It was a peaceful march, with no military overtones.
Arrivals of such peaceful delegations were nothing new for Makkah. Various tribes of Arabia regularly used to come to visit the Kabah. But the Makkans could not tolerate this influx of Muslims, whom they considered their bitterest enemies. When the Prophet reached a place called Hudaybiya, while still on the march, the Makkan leaders objected to his advancing any further. They felt it was damaging to their prestige that the very people who had been expelled by them from Makkah should come to the city again and perform the rights of Umrah openly and in such large numbers.
Now the Prophet halted at Hudaybiya and began negotiating for peace with the Makkan leaders. Finally, after lengthy parleys an agreement was reached which came to be known as the Treaty of Hudaybiya. In this, the Prophet of Islam unilaterally accepted all the conditions of the Makkan leaders. However, at the Prophet’s suggestion a clause was included in it, specifying that for the next ten years no war would take place between Muslims and the Makkans, directly or indirectly. After the finalization of this document the Prophet left Hudaybiya for Madinah.
The danger of war taking place at any time was thus precluded, and now that peace prevailed, the Prophet set about the strengthening of dawah work. One task in this connection entailed the sending of dawah letters to the rulers and kings whose kingdoms lay around the borders of Arabia, for instance, to the rulers respectively of Syria and Egypt.
The Prophet’s companions were sent to deliver a dawah letter to each of these rulers, only one of whom showed any adverse reaction to its receipt, namely, the King of Persia. He considered it beneath his dignity to accept such a letter, so he tore it apart. When the Prophet received this news, he said: “The Emperor of Persia has himself torn his kingdom in pieces.”
With this one exception all the kings and rulers showed due respect to the letters sent by the Prophet. Many rulers sent the messengers back with gifts for the Prophet and some of them even accepted Islam, like for instance, Negus the king of Abyssinia.
The Hudaybiya treaty, although apparently in favour of the Makkans, proved of tremendous benefit to Islam. This was so, because when people came to know that a no-war pact had been arrived at between the Quraysh and the Prophet of Islam, an atmosphere of peace prevailed between the two parties. As a result, people began moving from place to place without any obstacle in their way. The Makkan and other Arabian tribes began visiting Madinah, while the Madinans began visiting other non-Muslim tribes.
During this free interaction Islam inevitably became a subject of general discussion. Consequently, the call of Islam spread rapidly everywhere. The Arabs, becoming acquainted with the virtues of Islam, began to enter its fold in large numbers. Eventually within a mere two years, the number of Muslims increased enormously.
Now, two years after the signing of this treaty, the Quraysh of Makkah committed an act of aggression against an ally of the Prophet, and in so doing violated the Hudaybiya treaty. After this incident the Prophet announced that the peace agreement had been repealed. Later, along with ten thousand of his companions, he left for Makkah. It is worth noting that there were only fourteen hundred Muslims to accompany the Prophet on his earlier journey to Hudaybiya, whereas on the present journey his companions numbered ten thousand.
Faced with this strength in numbers, the Makkans found themselves helpless. Therefore, they conceded their defeat without any resistance. Makkah was thus conquered in 8 A.H. without any armed encounter.
The Makkan idolaters had formerly put up severe resistance to the Prophet of Islam. They had even planned to kill him. They had contrived to involve him in many battles and had many heinous crimes to their credit. They were the worst types of criminals. Therefore, even if all these people had been put to death, this punishment would have been fully justified. But the Prophet of Islam, thanks to his sublime character, did not take any action against them. He did not even reproach them. He unilaterally declared a general amnesty, saying: “Go, you are all free.”
Given those circumstances, this was an extraordinary treatment. The Makkan idolaters were sure that, after the victory of Makkah, they would all be slaughtered on account of their unpardonable crimes. But the Prophet of Islam forgave all of them unconditionally. This exceptional latitude deeply convulsed their consciences. Suddenly brought to their senses, they felt within their heart of hearts that their stance of opposition was in no way justified. After such a display of human greatness, they felt that they ought to enter the religious fold of the Prophet of Islam. And this is exactly what happened. All the insolent Makkans surrendered and joined him in his mission as his companions.
After the victory, the Prophet appointed a governor to represent him in Makkah and then left for Taif, accompanied by ten thousand people. During the journey he reached a place, which in those days was called Hunayn. Here the path lay between two hills. The tribe of Hawazin of Taif lived on the upper slopes. They had not yet accepted Islam. The Prophet was quietly going along this path and the Muslims were still between the two hills, when 20,000 archers of the Hawazin, who had concealed themselves in a ravine, all of a sudden started raining their arrows down on them.
The Prophet and his companions were in no way prepared for this sudden attack. In the initial stage, the Muslims were confounded and began to flee. But the Prophet remained steadfast. He called out: “O servants of God, come to me.” When the Muslims saw that their leader was standing firm in the face of the enemy, they returned with new determination and bravely fought their foes. Suddenly, the course of the battle changed. Now it was the enemy’s turn to take flight. The Prophet and his companions emerged victorious. This incident is known in Islamic history as the battle of Hunayan.
After this victory, six thousand members of the Hawazin tribe were taken prisoner along with booty amounting to 24,000 camels, 40,000 goats and 40,000 ounces of silver. These six thousand prisoners were proven war criminals. According to the prevailing custom, they should all have been put to death. But the Prophet of Islam pardoned them all and set them free without imposing any conditions. This extraordinary treatment gave a severe jolt to their consciences. They had the most profound sense of how wrong their aggressiveness was; having been shown such unusual clemency by Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam, they were honour-bound to enter the fold of the religion brought by him to mankind. And that is precisely what they did. All the people of the Hawazin tribe-both men and women-accepted Islam.
Now the Prophet reached Taif, which was the only fortified town in the Arabian Peninsula. At his approach, the townspeople barricaded themselves inside the city. The Prophet and his companions stayed there for three weeks. When there was no sign of their surrendering, the Prophet retreated and left for Madinah.
Makkah enjoyed the central position in ancient Arabia, playing the role of the leader. Now when Makkah was brought into the fold of Islam under the leadership of the Prophet, the entire situation changed. Now the other tribes of Arabia felt that they too should adopt the same religion, i.e. Islam, as had been adopted by the Makkans.
Subsequently, Arabia witnessed the widespread and novel development of far-flung tribes sending their representatives in the form of delegations to Makkah in order that they might enter the fold of Islam, and thus, by entering into a new covenant with the Prophet of Islam, regularize their relations with the Islamic state. That year, delegations of this nature came in such large numbers that it became known as the year of delegations. In this way, one after another, all the tribes of Arabia, including the Taif, entered the fold of Islam.
After having consolidated the power of Islam in Arabia, the Prophet decided to perform the Hajj pilgrimage. This is known in the history of Islam as Hajj at al-Wida, the final pilgrimage. In the last year of his life the Prophet left Madinah for Makkah, accompanied by the Madinan Muslims. When the news spread that the Prophet was going to perform the pilgrimage, various tribes living in Arabia also began thronging Makkah.
Therefore, when the Prophet of Islam performed his first as well as his last pilgrimage, he was joined in this historic act of worship by 125,000 Muslims. The teachings he imparted to the people present on the occasion are preserved in the form of his sermon known as the sermon of Hajjatul-Wida—an eternal manifesto of Islam. It is as follows:
Truly, your lives, your properties and your honour are sacred to you like the sacredness of this day of yours in this month of yours and in this city of yours. Behold! Everything of the Days of Ignorance has been destroyed under my feet and the blood claims of the Days of Ignorance (the pre-Islamic period) have been remitted. The first shedding of blood for which I forbid vengeance to be taken is the murder of Ibn-Rabiyah, son of Haris, and, indeed, all usury of the Days of Ignorance is forbidden, and the first of our usuries that was forbidden was that of Abbas, son of Abdul Muttalib, and that is entirely forbidden. Fear God concerning women, because you have taken them with the trust of God and made their private parts lawful with the word of God. They have got a right over you and you shall clothe them and feed them in a just manner. And I have left among you a thing, which, if you adhere to it, you will never be misguided after me, that is, the Book of God. O people, listen to my words and understand them. Nothing of his brother is lawful for a Muslim except what he himself allows.
Listen, do not be disbelievers after I have left you, and start killing one another. Listen, Satan has now little hope of misleading his followers to worship something other than. God. But he may still achieve his goal by stirring you up against one another. Fear God as regards women, for they depend upon you. They have a right over you, and you have a right over them. If anyone has anything placed in trust with him, he should return it to its owner.” Saying this, the Prophet stretched out both his hands and asked his companions. “Have I conveyed the message?” And again he asked, “Have I conveyed the message?” Then he said, “Those who are present should convey my message to those who are absent, for many of them might be better recipients. (Seerah ibn Kathir, Vol. 4, pp. 387-388)
The Prophet of Islam died on 12 Rabiul Awwal 10 A.H, after an illness lasting about two weeks. Before his death he said the last prayer in the Masjid-e-Nabawi and made Abu Bakr the Imam of this prayer.
The importance attached to the Imam in the congregational prayer was a clear indication that Abu Bakr was going to succeed as the Caliph or the leader of the believers after the Prophet.
The Prophet died in the room attached to the Masjid-e-Nabawi. He was buried in the same place and his grave exists there to this day. Later when Abu Bakr and Umar died, they were also buried to the right and left side of the Prophet.
