He was a member of the Quraysh*te clan of Banu Hashim, a highly respected faction despite their declining wealth. Orphaned at an early age, he was raised by his uncle Abu Talib, who is said to have loved him even more than his own sons. Muhammad became a trader and was renowned for his honesty (as it was a rare trait in Arabia in those days), and this honesty attracted the attention of a wealthy w
idow named Khadija who sent a marriage proposal, which he accepted, although she was 15 years older than him (he was 25 years of age at the time). Khadija's support for Muhammad was instrumental in the Prophet pursuing his mission. As he reached his late thirties, he began worshipping in seclusion, in a cave called Hira, in the mountain Jabal al-Nour (“Mountain of Light”), near Mecca. One day in 610 CE, the Angel Gabriel is said to have approached him with the first revelation from God – Allah (meaning “the God”). Muhammad is said to have initially reacted negatively to the revelation – he was perplexed and scared, he ran back home, shivering with fear – but later on he realized that he was a prophet of God. Muhammad began preaching the oneness of God to his family and close friends, and afterwards, to the general public. Arabia was polytheistic at the time and so Muhammad's preaching of a single god brought him into conflict with the Meccans whose economy relied on polytheism (merchants sold statues, figurines, and charms of the various gods) and the social stratification it supported. The Meccans took serious measures to stop him but he continued to preach this new faith as he felt he owed it to God to do so. In the year 619 CE, he lost both his uncle Abu Talib and his wife Khadija (a date known to Muslims as The Year of Sorrow) and now he felt alone in the world and sorely grieved, a situation worsened by the persecution he experienced in Mecca. By the time of his death in 632 CE, Muhammad was the most powerful religious and political leader in all of Arabia. Most of the tribes had converted to Islam and swore their allegiance to him. He died in his own house, in Medina, and was buried there as well. The site has now been converted to a tomb named “Roza – e – Rasool” (Tomb of the Prophet), which lies adjacent to the famous “Masjid al-Nabwi” (Mosque of the Prophet) in Medina and is visited by millions of Muslims every year. In his book, A History of Medieval Islam, scholar J. Saunders comments on the Prophet of Islam:
The revelations which are said to have been given to Muhammad by the angel Gabriel were memorized by his followers and, within a few years after his death, were written down as the Quran (“the teaching” or “the recitation”), the holy book of Islam.
