Muhammad (c. 570–632 CE)

Prophet and founder of Islam

Muhammad was the founder of the religion of Islam and the most important and influential Arab who has ever lived. His achievements include the original formulation of many core Muslim doctrines, the political unification of the Arabian Peninsula, which eventually resulted in the great Muslim conquests (634–732), the linguistic establishment of the Qur'anic version of classical Arabic as the dominant language of the Arab peoples (and eventually the lingua franca of all Muslims), and the foundation of an Islamic social order that has persisted until the present day and continues to attract converts on a large scale.

Abu al-Qasim Muhammad ibn ‘Abd Allah ibn’ Abd al-Muttalib ibn Hashim belonged to the tribe of Quraysh in the small town of Mecca (located on the western side of the Arabian Peninsula). For most of his life until approximately the age of forty Muhammad [Page 1046]was virtually anonymous, having married a wealthy widow named Khadijah in his middle twenties. During the first decade of the seventh century Muhammad was in the habit of retiring to an isolated local mountain in order to perform rites of purification and asceticism. At one particular time, approximately during the year 610, he was visited by an apparition, later identified as the angel Gabriel, who instructed him to read (or recite); upon the negative response of Muhammad, the following revelation was given: “Read in the name of your Lord, Who created: He created man from a clot. Read, by your Most Generous Lord, who taught by the Pen. He taught man what he did not know” (Fakhry, Qur'an 96:1–5).

A view of the procession of the sacred camel on the annual pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina.

Stapleton Collection/Corbis; used with permission.

Muhammad's response was self-doubt and fear that the revelation might be the work of a demon. This anxiety was calmed by the support of a Christian relative of his wife Khadijah, who told him that this revelation was the work of God. Gradually over the next few years Muhammad proclaimed the message of the absolute unity of God, rejecting the dominant paganism of the Quraysh, together with additional revelations that spoke of the coming end of the world. This period of proclamation was not a successful one for the most part. A few close relatives and some slaves and other social outcasts became Muslims, but overall the tribe of Quraysh rejected Muhammad's message and eventually began to persecute his small group and to threaten his life. However, following the year 620, Muhammad made converts among the tribesmen of Yathrib (Medina) to the north of Mecca, and in 622 emigrated there together with the other Muslims.

During the Meccan period of Muhammad's ministry, the Prophet demonstrated comparatively minor leadership qualities. He managed to keep his following together, to attract converts, and to win concessions from the pagan Quraysh occasionally.

The hijra (emigration) in 622 marks the de facto foundation of the Muslim community. This was the date chosen for the beginning of the Muslim calendar (notably not the year in which the first revelations were received), and marks the beginnings of Muslim historical memory (accounts of events previous to this time are clouded). The Muslim community in Medina was initially a small minority and badly placed from a geographical point of view (in the lowest section of the oasis, with semi-hostile Jewish tribes occupying the high ground, and a pass to the north from which enemies could attack the oasis). Attempts to win the Jews of Medina (the Banu Qaynuqa, the Banu alNadir, and the Banu Qurayza tribes) were a failure, and the Muslims were divided between those who were exclusively loyal to the Prophet and those who were Muslims but refused to break their relations with the Jews (the so-called Hypocrites). However, Muhammad quickly managed to establish himself as the dominant power in Medina, and within five years most of its inhabitants were Muslim; the Jewish tribes had been converted, expelled, or massacred; and there was no further Muslim opposition to him. This community of Muslims in Medina was the seed from which Islam grew, and was characterized by a high degree of inter-Muslim loyalty, manifested primarily by Muhammad as we read in Qur'an 33:6: [Page 1047]“The Prophet is closer to the believers than their own selves and his wives are like their mothers.” This community was called an umma, a community bound together by a common faith irrespective of previous commitments.

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