Seerah - Life of the Prophet

The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ descends from a noble line that traces back through the Prophet Ismail (as), son of Ibrahim (as). His full lineage is Muhammad ibn Abdallah ibn Abd al-Muttalib ibn Hashim ibn Abd Manaf ibn Qusayy, of the clan of Banu Hashim and the wider tribe of Quraysh. Above Adnan, the genealogies are not preserved with certainty, but all narrators agree the line descends from Ismail (as).

He was born on a Monday in the month of Rabi al-Awwal in the Year of the Elephant (570 CE), so named because Abrahah, the Abyssinian governor of Yemen, marched on Makkah with an army that included an elephant intending to destroy the Ka'bah. The army was destroyed by flocks of birds carrying stones of baked clay, as recorded in Surah al-Fil. His father Abdallah died on a trading journey before his birth; his mother Aminah bint Wahb cared for him as an infant. Following the custom of noble Quraysh families, he was placed with the wet nurse Halimah al-Sa'diyyah of the Banu Sa'd tribe in the desert, where the air was clean and the Arabic pure.

His mother Aminah died at al-Abwa when he was about six years old. His grandfather Abd al-Muttalib, the venerable chief of Banu Hashim, then took him into his care and showed him exceptional love. When the boy was eight, Abd al-Muttalib also passed away, and guardianship transferred to his paternal uncle Abu Talib, who would protect and love him for forty years until the Year of Sorrow. Even as an orphan, the future Prophet was carried by Allah's providence: every guardian who took him saw blessings increase in their household.

As a boy in the care of Abu Talib, Muhammad ﷺ tended sheep on the outskirts of Makkah, later remarking that every Prophet had been a shepherd, for the work cultivates patience, watchfulness and compassion. At about twelve years of age, he accompanied his uncle on a trading journey to Sham (greater Syria). At the town of Busra they met the Christian monk Bahira, who recognised the signs of prophethood foretold in earlier scripture, including a particular mark between the boy's shoulders. Bahira urged Abu Talib to return him to Makkah for his own safety, lest the People of the Book recognise him and seek to harm him.

Even before prophethood, Muhammad ﷺ was known across Makkah as al-Amin (the trustworthy) and al-Sadiq (the truthful). Merchants entrusted him with their goods; neighbours left valuables in his keeping. When he was about thirty-five, the Quraysh rebuilt the Ka'bah after a flood, and a serious dispute broke out over which clan would have the honour of placing the Black Stone back in its corner. They agreed to abide by the judgement of the next man to enter through the gate of the sanctuary - and it was Muhammad ﷺ. He laid the stone upon a cloak, asked the chiefs of each clan to lift a corner, and then placed the stone himself. A near-civil war was averted by his wisdom.

Khadijah bint Khuwaylid was a distinguished noblewoman of Quraysh, twice widowed, intelligent, dignified and known by the title al-Tahirah (the Pure). She had built a successful trading enterprise sending caravans to Sham. Hearing of the young Muhammad's honesty, she hired him to take her goods north, sending her servant Maysarah with him. Maysarah returned with reports of extraordinary blessings on the journey, unusual profits, and a wisdom and gentleness unlike any man he had served. Khadijah, then about forty, sent her trusted friend Nafisah to propose marriage. Muhammad ﷺ, then twenty-five, consulted his uncles, who agreed. The marriage took place with Abu Talib delivering the khutbah of nikah.

Their marriage was a sanctuary of love, partnership and mutual respect that lasted twenty-five years. Khadijah bore him six children: al-Qasim (who died in infancy and gave him the kunyah Abu al-Qasim), Zaynab, Ruqayyah, Umm Kulthum, Fatimah and Abdallah (also called al-Tahir or al-Tayyib, who died in infancy). All four daughters embraced Islam; Fatimah (ra) would be the only one to outlive him, by six months. The Prophet ﷺ never married another woman during Khadijah's lifetime, and after her passing he often remembered her with deep tenderness, saying: "Indeed I have been given her love." Aisha (ra) reported that no one's memory ever stirred his heart as hers did.

As he approached the age of forty, the Prophet ﷺ would withdraw for long periods to the Cave of Hira, on the rocky mountain of Jabal al-Nur about three miles from Makkah. There he would worship, reflect on the corruption of his people, and spend nights at a time in solitude. On the night of Monday, the seventeenth (by some reports the twenty-fourth) of Ramadan in the fortieth year of his life, the angel Jibril (as) appeared to him in the cave and commanded: "Iqra - Read!" He replied, "I cannot read." The angel embraced him with overwhelming pressure, released him, and repeated the command three times, until at last the words came: "Read in the name of your Lord who created, created man from a clinging clot. Read, and your Lord is the Most Generous, who taught by the pen, taught man what he did not know" (96:1-5).

Trembling and overwhelmed, the Prophet ﷺ hurried home, asking his wife to wrap him in a cloak. "Cover me! Cover me!" He told Khadijah (ra) what had happened and feared for his life. She comforted him with words that have become immortal in the history of faith: "By Allah, Allah will never disgrace you. You keep good ties with your relatives, you bear the burden of the weak, you help the poor, you honour the guest, and you stand for what is right against calamity." She then took him to her cousin Waraqah ibn Nawfal, an aged Christian who had studied the Hebrew scriptures. Waraqah declared: "This is the Namus (the angel of revelation) that came to Musa. I wish I were young so that I could be alive when your people drive you out." Surprised, the Prophet ﷺ asked, "Will they drive me out?" Waraqah replied, "Yes - no man has come with what you have come with without being treated as an enemy." After this, revelation paused for a time (the fatra), then resumed with Surah al-Muddaththir, and continued steadily until the end of his life.

For the first three years after revelation began, the Prophet ﷺ called people to Islam quietly, mostly within trusted circles of family and close friends. The first to accept Islam was his beloved wife Khadijah bint Khuwaylid (ra). Among adults the first was Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (ra), whose deep instinct for truth made him accept immediately without hesitation; among the young, his cousin Ali ibn Abi Talib (ra), who was about ten years old and living in his household; and among freed slaves, Zayd ibn Harithah (ra), whom the Prophet ﷺ had raised as his own. These four are remembered as al-sabiqun al-awwalun - the first forerunners of the faith.

Abu Bakr (ra) in turn brought to Islam many of the men who would become the closest companions: Uthman ibn Affan, al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam, Abd al-Rahman ibn Awf, Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas and Talhah ibn Ubaydallah (ra). Among the early Muslims were also the weak and enslaved, who would suffer the worst of persecution: Bilal ibn Rabah the Abyssinian (ra), Sumayyah bint Khabbat (ra) - the first martyr of Islam - and her husband Yasir, their son Ammar (ra), Khabbab ibn al-Aratt (ra) and many others. The Prophet ﷺ established the house of al-Arqam ibn Abi al-Arqam at the foot of al-Safa as a secret meeting place where the early believers gathered to learn the Quran and pray together.

In the fourth year of his mission, when Allah commanded "So proclaim what you have been commanded and turn away from the polytheists" (15:94), the Prophet ﷺ climbed Mount Safa near the Ka'bah and called the clans of Quraysh by name. When they had gathered, he asked, "If I told you that a cavalry was about to attack you from behind this hill, would you believe me?" They said, "Yes, we have only ever known you to be truthful." He then warned them of a severe punishment if they did not turn to the one true God. His uncle Abu Lahab cursed him and turned away - and Surah al-Masad was revealed in response. From that day onward, Makkah was at war with him in spirit, if not yet in arms.

Persecution fell hardest on the weakest. Bilal ibn Rabah (ra) was dragged onto the burning sands of Makkah by his master Umayyah ibn Khalaf and pressed under a great rock at noon, ordered to renounce Islam; he answered only "Ahad, Ahad" (One, One) until Abu Bakr (ra) bought his freedom. The Yasir family - Yasir, Sumayyah and their son Ammar - were tortured by Abu Jahl. Sumayyah (ra) was killed by a spear thrust, becoming the first martyr in Islam, and Yasir died under torture. Khabbab ibn al-Aratt (ra) was made to lie on burning coals until the fat of his back put them out. Companions came to the Prophet ﷺ asking when relief would come; he replied that previous believers were sawn in two and combed with iron combs from the bone down, yet did not abandon their religion - and that Allah would surely complete this affair until a traveller could ride from Sana'a to Hadramaut fearing nothing but Allah.

When the situation in Makkah grew unbearable, the Prophet ﷺ instructed a group of Muslims to seek refuge in Christian Abyssinia (modern Ethiopia) under the just king al-Najashi (Negus). About eighty-three men and eighteen women migrated in two waves (615 and 616 CE), led by Ja'far ibn Abi Talib (ra). The Quraysh sent Amr ibn al-As and Abdallah ibn Abi Rabi'ah with gifts to demand the Muslims' return; the Negus first summoned the Muslims and asked about their religion. Ja'far (ra) replied with a famous speech describing the state of ignorance from which they had been delivered, then recited the opening of Surah Maryam. The king and his bishops wept until their beards were soaked, and the Negus drew a line in the sand, declaring that the difference between Jesus the son of Mary and what these Muslims describe was no more than the thickness of that line - and he refused to surrender them. Meanwhile in Makkah, the Quraysh declared a total social and economic boycott of the Banu Hashim, posting it on the wall of the Ka'bah; the clan, including the Prophet ﷺ, withdrew to Shi'b Abi Talib (the valley of Abu Talib) for three terrible years (around 616-619 CE) of hunger and isolation, until the boycott document was found eaten by worms - leaving only the name of Allah - and the boycott was lifted.

Shortly after the boycott ended, in the tenth year of prophethood (around 619 CE), the Prophet ﷺ lost his two greatest earthly supporters within a few weeks of each other. His uncle and lifelong protector Abu Talib died first; the Prophet ﷺ pleaded with him on his deathbed to declare the shahadah, but Abu Talib died on the religion of his fathers, saying he feared the reproach of Quraysh. Then his beloved wife Khadijah bint Khuwaylid (ra) also passed away, after twenty-five years of unwavering support. This year became known as 'Am al-Huzn - the Year of Sorrow. With Abu Talib gone, Quraysh's hostility intensified, with even passers-by throwing dust at the Prophet ﷺ in the street.

Seeking a new base of support, the Prophet ﷺ travelled with Zayd ibn Harithah (ra) to the city of Ta'if, about sixty miles from Makkah, hoping its leaders of the Thaqif tribe would shelter the new faith. The three chiefs not only refused but mocked him cruelly, then set the town's street children to drive him out with stones until his sandals filled with blood. He fled to a vineyard and prayed his most poignant supplication: "O Allah, to You I complain of the weakness of my strength, the paucity of my resources and my humiliation before people. O Most Merciful of the merciful, You are the Lord of the weak, and You are my Lord. To whom do You entrust me? If You are not angry with me, I do not care - but Your wellbeing is more vast for me." The angel of the mountains then came and offered to crush Ta'if between its two ranges; the Prophet ﷺ refused, saying: "Rather, I hope that Allah will bring forth from their loins those who will worship Allah alone." Decades later, Ta'if would indeed become a stronghold of Islam.

As if in divine consolation after the Year of Sorrow, the Prophet ﷺ was taken on a single miraculous night (around 621 CE) on the journey known as al-Isra and al-Mi'raj. The angel Jibril (as) brought him the mount al-Buraq, and he travelled from al-Masjid al-Haram in Makkah to al-Masjid al-Aqsa in Jerusalem - this is al-Isra. At al-Aqsa he led all the previous Prophets in prayer. Then he was raised through the seven heavens - al-Mi'raj - meeting in turn Adam, Yahya and Isa, Yusuf, Idris, Harun, Musa and Ibrahim (peace be upon them all). He was shown wonders of the unseen and reached the Lote Tree of the Furthest Boundary (Sidrat al-Muntaha), where the five daily prayers were ordained as the central worship of his community.

During the Hajj seasons the Prophet ﷺ presented Islam to tribes coming to Makkah from across Arabia. At Aqabah, a pass outside Makkah, he met six men from Yathrib (later Madinah) of the Khazraj tribe in 620 CE; they accepted Islam and returned to spread it. The next year (621 CE) twelve men of Aws and Khazraj came and pledged the First Pledge of Aqabah: to worship none but Allah, not to steal, not to commit adultery, not to kill their children, not to slander, and to obey the Prophet ﷺ in what is right. He sent the young Companion Mus'ab ibn Umayr (ra) back with them to teach Islam. The following year (622 CE), seventy-three men and two women came and gave the Second Pledge of Aqabah, undertaking to protect the Prophet ﷺ as they would their own families and to fight in his defence if needed. Yathrib was now an open door.

Quraysh resolved to murder the Prophet ﷺ before he could escape. A young man from each clan would strike together with a sword, so that his blood would be shared and Banu Hashim could not seek revenge. The same night, Allah commanded the Hijra. Ali (ra) lay in the Prophet's bed wrapped in his green cloak as a decoy; the Prophet ﷺ slipped past the assassins, casting dust on their heads. With Abu Bakr (ra) he hid for three days in the Cave of Thawr south of Makkah while pursuers came within feet of them; Abu Bakr (ra) wept that they would be seen, and the Prophet ﷺ comforted him: "Do not grieve - indeed Allah is with us" (9:40). A spider spun a web and a dove laid eggs across the cave's mouth, and the searchers turned away. They then travelled north by an unusual coastal route. Suraqah ibn Malik pursued them for the bounty, but his horse stumbled and sank into the sand; he then asked instead for a pledge of safety, and the Prophet ﷺ wrote one for him. They reached Quba on the outskirts of Yathrib on 12 Rabi al-Awwal (24 September 622 CE), where the Prophet ﷺ established Masjid al-Quba, the first mosque of Islam. Days later he entered Yathrib itself, which thereafter became al-Madinah al-Munawwarah - the Illuminated City. There he founded al-Masjid al-Nabawi as the centre of the new community.

One of the Prophet's ﷺ first acts in Madinah was to pair every Muhajir (emigrant from Makkah) with an Ansari (helper from Madinah) in a bond of brotherhood. Each Ansari shared his home, property and livelihood with his Muhajir brother; the bond was so deep that for a time the two even inherited from each other, until that ruling was later replaced by ordinary kinship inheritance. Abd al-Rahman ibn Awf (ra), for instance, was paired with Sa'd ibn al-Rabi, who offered him half his wealth and one of his two wives in divorce; Abd al-Rahman declined and asked only to be shown the marketplace, where his trading skill made him wealthy again. This bond of brotherhood healed the wounds of migration and forged one community from two peoples.

Soon after arrival, the Prophet ﷺ drew up the Sahifah - often called the Constitution of Madinah - a written compact that bound together the Muhajirun, the Ansar of Aws and Khazraj, and the three main Jewish tribes of the city: Banu Qaynuqa, Banu Nadir and Banu Qurayzah. It declared the Muslims and the Jews "one ummah to the exclusion of others," guaranteed each community its religion, property and laws of its own people, forbade alliance with the enemies of Madinah, required common defence of the city, and made the Prophet ﷺ the final arbiter in disputes. It is widely regarded as one of the earliest written constitutions in history. The Jewish tribes initially accepted it, though relations would later break down as some of them sided with Quraysh against the new community.

After the Conquest of Makkah and the victory at Hunayn, the Arabs of the peninsula saw that the religion of Muhammad ﷺ was true and triumphant. The ninth year of the Hijrah is called Aam al-Wufud, the Year of Delegations, because tribe after tribe sent representatives to Madinah to accept Islam, pledge allegiance, and learn the new law of life. It was the direct fulfilment of Surah an-Nasr (110): "When the help of Allah comes and the victory, and you see the people entering the religion of Allah in crowds, then exalt your Lord with praise and seek His forgiveness, for indeed He is ever Accepting of repentance." Almost every major tribe of Arabia, from Yemen in the south to the borders of Syria in the north, came in those months.

Among the most memorable delegations was that of Banu Thaqif from Ta'if. After the lifted siege the year before, their nobles realised that resistance was hopeless and came to Madinah; the Prophet ﷺ pitched a tent for them in the mosque so they could hear the Quran night and day, and they accepted Islam, dismantled their goddess al-Lat with their own hands, and returned home as Muslims. The delegation of Banu Hanifah from al-Yamamah came too - among them the false claimant Musaylimah ibn Habib, who would later proclaim himself a prophet and become Musaylimah al-Kadhdhab (the Liar), the chief apostate fought by Abu Bakr in the wars of riddah. From Banu Tamim came a famous delegation that challenged the Prophet ﷺ with their orators and poets; he answered them with Thabit ibn Qays (ra) and Hassan ibn Thabit (ra), out-spoke and out-versed them, and they accepted Islam in awe of the eloquence of the Quran and the wisdom of its Messenger.

In Dhul-Hijjah of 10 AH / 632 CE, the Prophet ﷺ performed his only Hajj, accompanied by more than 100,000 Muslims. He demonstrated every rite of the pilgrimage in person, the Talbiyah from Dhul-Hulayfah, the tawaf of arrival, the sa'i between Safa and Marwa, the standing at Arafat, the night at Muzdalifah, the stoning at Mina, the sacrifice, and the shaving of the head. This pilgrimage established the model that every Muslim has followed for 1,400 years.

On the day of Arafat the Prophet ﷺ delivered his Farewell Sermon to the assembled pilgrims. He declared the equality of all races: "No Arab is superior to a non-Arab, no white to a black, except by piety." He affirmed the sanctity of life, property, and honour: "Your blood, your wealth, and your honour are inviolable, like the sanctity of this day, in this month, in this city." He abolished pre-Islamic usury and blood-feud, charging the people with the rights of women, and ordered them to hold fast to two things by which they would never go astray: "the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Prophet."

Three months later, on returning to Madinah, the Prophet ﷺ fell into a severe illness in the house of his wife Aisha (ra). The headache grew so heavy that he tied a cloth around his head. In his final days he instructed Abu Bakr (ra) to lead the people in prayer, a clear signal to the community. On the day of his death he was strong enough to come briefly to the masjid and addressed the people one last time, asking if he owed any debt or had wronged anyone, that they might exact their right from him. Then he returned to Aisha's chamber. Around noon on 12 Rabi al-Awwal, 11 AH / 632 CE, his soul departed between Aisha's chest and chin, his last words being: "O Allah, with the highest companionship." (Bukhari).

Umar (ra), unable to bear it, drew his sword and declared the Prophet ﷺ had not died but only gone like Musa, and that whoever said otherwise would be struck down. Abu Bakr (ra) entered, kissed the Prophet's forehead, came out to the people and said: "Whoever worshipped Muhammad, Muhammad has died. Whoever worshipped Allah, Allah is alive and never dies." He recited: "Muhammad is no more than a messenger. Messengers have passed away before him. If he dies or is killed, will you turn back on your heels?" (Qur'an 3:144). Umar said the verse felt as though he had never heard it before, his knees gave way, and he knew that the Prophet ﷺ had truly died. He was buried in Aisha's chamber, beneath the very spot where his soul departed.

Ali ibn Abi Talib (ra), Anas ibn Malik (ra), and Hind ibn Abi Halah described him: of medium height, neither tall nor short; broad shoulders and a wide chest; large head with slightly curly hair that fell to his earlobes; a wide forehead; long eyelashes naturally dark, large eyes with a slight redness in the corners; a high nose with a fine bridge; even, well-spaced teeth; a beautiful beard; light brown skin with a luminous radiance, "as though the sun ran in his face." Between his shoulder blades was the Seal of Prophethood, a raised mark the size of a pigeon's egg.

He sat with the poorest of his companions and ate from what they ate. He milked his own goat, mended his own sandals, patched his own clothes, and helped his wives in their household work. He visited the sick of any rank and walked behind the funeral of a slave. He never struck anyone or anything in anger except in defence of the boundaries of Allah. Aisha (ra) said: "He used to be in the service of his family; when the time of prayer came, he would go out for prayer." (Bukhari).

He kissed his grandsons Hasan and Husayn in public; when a Bedouin remarked that he never kissed any of his own ten sons, the Prophet ﷺ replied: "What can I do for you if Allah has stripped mercy from your heart?" (Bukhari). He lengthened or shortened the prayer to ease worshippers, especially when a baby cried. He fed and protected animals, scolding a man who had loaded his camel beyond its strength. He said: "He is not one of us who shows no mercy to our young and no respect to our elders." (Tirmidhi).

He gave whatever was asked of him. Anas (ra) said: "He was never asked for anything to which he answered no." (Muslim). On one occasion a man asked for an entire flock of sheep filling a valley; the Prophet ﷺ gave it. The man returned to his people and said: "Embrace Islam, for Muhammad gives the gift of one who does not fear poverty." Even in the days he tied a stone to his stomach against hunger, he never refused a beggar.

Ali ibn Abi Talib (ra) said: "Whenever the battle grew fierce, and the eyes of the bravest of us turned red, we used to take refuge behind the Messenger of Allah ﷺ; none was closer to the enemy than him." At Hunayn, when the Muslims fled in the first moments of the battle, he stood alone calling: "I am the Prophet, I do not lie. I am the son of Abd al-Muttalib." He never refused a duel, never struck a man from behind, and never broke a promise of safety even with his bitterest opponents.