The life of the Prophet ﷺ

He was born in Makkah into the clan of Hashim, part of the tribe of Quraysh. His father ‘Abdullah had died before he was born.

His mother Aminah died when he was about six. He was taken in first by his grandfather ‘Abd al-Muttalib, and after his death by his uncle Abu Talib.

He married Khadijah bint Khuwaylid, a Makkan merchant whose trading caravans he had led. She would be the first person to believe him.

When the Quraysh rebuilt the Kaaba, the clans could not agree on who would set the black stone back in place. He was asked to settle it, and had the stone carried on a cloth that all of them held together.

In the cave of Hira, above Makkah, the first ayat of Surah Al-‘Alaq were revealed to him. He was about forty years old.

After about three years of teaching privately, he was commanded to call his people openly. Most of the Quraysh leadership refused him, and those of his followers without a clan to protect them were persecuted.

A group of Muslims crossed the Red Sea to Abyssinia, where the Christian king gave them refuge and declined to hand them back.

The Quraysh agreed to cut off trade and marriage with the clans of Hashim and al-Muttalib, who were protecting him. The boycott held for about three years.

Khadijah and Abu Talib both died within the same year — the wife who first believed him, and the uncle whose protection had kept him safe in Makkah.

He travelled to the town of Ta’if to call its people, and was driven out of it.

He was taken by night from the sacred mosque in Makkah to the furthest mosque in Jerusalem, and from there raised through the heavens. The five daily prayers date from this night.

Over two pilgrimage seasons, delegations from the town of Yathrib met him at Aqabah and pledged their allegiance, inviting him and his followers to come and live among them.

He emigrated from Makkah to Yathrib, which became known as Madinah. The Islamic calendar counts its years from this emigration, not from his birth.

The Prophet’s Mosque was built in Madinah, and the emigrants from Makkah were each paired with a family among the helpers of Madinah.

The direction faced in prayer was turned from Jerusalem to the sacred mosque in Makkah.

The first major battle, fought at the wells of Badr against a much larger Makkan force.

A second battle, at the mountain of Uhud outside Madinah, in which the Muslims suffered heavy losses after archers left their position.

A confederate army besieged Madinah. On the advice of Salman al-Farisi, a trench was dug across the city’s exposed side, and the siege broke without a general battle.

A ten-year truce was agreed with the Quraysh at Hudaybiyyah, on terms that looked unfavourable to many of his followers at the time.

Makkah was entered with almost no fighting. The idols in and around the Kaaba were removed, and a general amnesty was declared.

He performed the pilgrimage to Makkah and addressed a large gathering at ‘Arafah. It was the only complete hajj he performed.

He died in Madinah after a short illness, aged about sixty-three, and was buried in the room where he died. He left no property of consequence.