The Prophet Muhammad was the son of Abdullah, who was the son of Abdul-Muttalib,

who was the son of Hashim; whose ancestry reaches the Prophet Ismael son of the
Prophet Abraham, peace be upon them.
Muhammad was born in the city of Mecca , in Arabia , on a Friday, the 17th day of the
lunar month of Rabi‘-I, in the year 570CE into a noble family whose fathers and
ancestors were amongst the chiefs of the Quraysh tribe, and the Bani-Hashim clan.
His Prophetic mission began in the year 610CE on the 27th day of the month of Rajab,
when he first received the divine revelation. Then the Qur'an was revealed to the
Prophet progressively according to the circumstances of the time over a period of 23
years.
The Prophet Muhammad was killed by poisoning on the 28th day of the month of Safar in
the 11th year of the Hijrah, 630CE.

Start of His Mission

The Prophet Muhammad used to spend much time in prayer and worship of the one
God. This he used to do in a cave, known as Hira, in the al-Noor mountain near the city
of Mecca .
In 610CE, at the age of forty, Muhammad received the first of the divine revelations
when he was engaged in devotion and prayer inside the cave of Hira :
In the name of Allah the Merciful, the Compassionate;
Read in the name of thy Lord who created,
Created man from a clot,
Read and thy lord is the most noble,
Who taught by pen,
Taught man what he knew not . . .
The Prophet Muhammad conveyed the news and the Message to Ali and Lady
Khadijah. Ali and Lady Khadijah both embraced the new revelation instantly and without
any hesitation.
Khadijah was thus the first woman to believe in the Messenger of Allah and the first
woman to pray with him. She supported him wholeheartedly and spent all her wealth in
the way of Allah. She was the first woman that the Prophet married and he married no
other during her lifetime. She was immensely loyal to the Prophet.
The Prophet Muhammad begins to invite individuals to the new revelation but in
secret. There were very few supporters and believers. When the Prophet used to
perform a congregational prayer, those who were with him were Lady Khadijah and
Ali. This low-key approach continued for three years.
Afterwards, on instructions from the Almighty, the Prophet's invitation to Islam started to
became more and more public. The Almighty instructs His messenger to begin with his
clan, And warn your nearest kinsmen[5]. For this purpose the Prophet Muhammad
prepared a banquet and invited the elders and chiefs of the Bani-Hashim, who totalled
forty. After they were served with a good feast, the Prophet invited them to Islam,
called upon them to support him in his mission, and promised them that whoever does so
would be appointed as his successor, but none took up the offer dismissing the Prophet
and his mission as nonsense, with the sole exception of Ali. Ridiculing the whole thing,
they turned to Abu Talib saying, “Your son will be your commander, you should obey
him!” Nevertheless the mission continues unabated albeit with very few supporters.

Resonance of His Call

The followers of the new religion start to grow, and so does the concern of the Quraysh
towards them. The elders of Quraysh send Abu Talib, the trusted uncle of the Prophet to
him, asking him to stop his call for this new religion, and in return they would give him
whatever he would want. When Abu Talib conveys the message of the elders of Quraysh
to his nephew-prophet, the Messenger of Allah replies, “I swear by the Almighty that if
they put the Sun in my right hand and the Moon in my left on condition that I desist from
this affair I would not leave it until Allah causes it to prevail or I die in the process.” Then
the Messenger of Allah began to weep and rose and made to leave, but Abu Talib called
him and said: ‘Come back my nephew. Say what you like my nephew, for by Allah I will
never hand you over to them ever.'
The Quraysh realised that it is dealing with a true and determined prophet. From then
on, open hostility towards this new religion, its prophet, and its followers started to
increase. Lady Khadijah dedicates all her wealth and resources for the cause of her
prophet-husband's mission. The extent of this hostility reaches blatant persecution of
the followers of the new religion and its prophet.

‘Neutralise the Messenger and his Message'

Then the Quraysh plotted amongst themselves about the companions of the Messenger
of Allah who had entered Islam with him from amongst the tribes. Each tribe pounced
upon any of its own who were Muslims by tormenting them and forcing them from their
religion. Abu Talib protected the Messenger of Allah, and seeing what the Quraysh were
doing to the sons of Hashim and Abdul-Muttalib, he called for them to protect the
Messenger of Allah just as he was protecting him. So they gathered with him and stood
up with him, except for Abu Talib's brother Abu Lahab and his sons who had assisted the
Quraysh against the Prophet.
Then the Quraysh openly decided to kill the Messenger of Allah. When this news reached
Abu Talib he gathered the sons of Hashim and Abdul-Muttalib and took the Messenger of
Allah to his quarter and protected him from those who sought to kill him.
The Quraysh imposes total and complete embargo against the Prophet and his followers
in all its forms; social, economic, political, etc. No citizen of Mecca is allowed to buy from
or sell to them, no one is allowed to marry anyone of them, or even befriend or socialise
with them, not even help them. Nor should a peace settlement be accepted from them
ever, nor should they be shown mercy until they hand over the Messenger of Allah to be
killed.
The Quraysh agreed to draw up a document to this effect, and one of them wrote this
document in his own hand, which subsequently was afflicted by paralysis, and then they
hung the document inside the Ka‘bah.
The Prophet and many of his followers, and members of the Hashim clan withdrew to Abu
Talib and entered the Abu Talib Quarter known as She'b Abu Talib, which had become
their virtual open-top prison. Their condition deteriorated as time went by, and although
some friends of sympathisers managed to smuggle in some help to the Muslims, but this
was few and far between. There they remained in the quarter for three years until they
were exhausted. The voices of the children could be heard from the quarter crying of
hunger. They also increased the pressure on those who had entered Islam but had not
entered the quarter. The trials became grave and the Muslims were severely shaken. It
is reported that Ali son of Abu Talib used to secretly leave the quarter in disguise and
fetch foodstuff to the besieged, carrying it on his back, into the quarter.
Abu Talib set out with a group of the clan of Abdul-Muttalib until he reached the vicinity
of the Ka‘bah, which was full of the people of Quraysh.

First Muslim Community

With a significant number of those who embraced Islam migrating from Mecca to Medina,
as well as the majority of the native Medinans, it could be said that the first Muslim
community began to take shape in the city of Medina, under the guidance of the Prophet.
Through his teachings, the Messenger of Allah brought about harmony and peace
between the different rivalries and warring groups and tribes of the city and its
surroundings. Whereas prior to his arrival, greed, enmity and wars prevailed between
the inhabitants, in a short space of time the Prophet managed to sow the seeds of a
peaceful cohesive order to the extent that they shared everything they had amongst
themselves and with the Muslim migrants from Mecca despite their poverty. With the
city of Medina being some 400 km north of Mecca, some of the Muslims considered it to
be a reasonably safe distance from the Quraysh who were mostly in Mecca.
However, the Quraysh and their allies did not relent, and they forced the Muslims of
Medina into a number of battles and skirmishes. These were usually unequal, especially
at the early days, with the Quraysh and their allies being superior in number and
armour. For example at the battle of Badr, which was one of the early clashes between
the two sides, the Muslims combatants were 313 men, who had seventy camels and two
horses, while their opponents were about one thousand, had seven hundred camels and
one hundred horses.
Peace between the two sides was eventually brought about through the peace treaty of
Hodaybiyah – signed in the eleventh month of the sixth year after Hijrah – which was
highly biased in favour of the Quraysh and their allies, to the extent that some of the
companions of the Prophet protested to him for agreeing and signing a treaty that was
‘unfair and unacceptable'. However, subsequent events after the Hodaybiyah were
pointedly in the interest of the Muslims, which in turn exonerated the Prophet's
judgement and decision, and proved his wisdom and farsightedness.

Mecca Liberated
Less than two years after the treaty of Hodaybiyah, Quraysh grew impatient with the
environment of peace and security that reigned in the land. Muslim losses in the battle
of Mu'tah in north Arabia – in today's Jordan – encouraged the Quraysh to stir up unrest
in the land and break the treaty that they had signed with the Messenger of Allah at
Hodaybiyah. They began to distribute weapons to their allies and urged them to attack
the allies of the Muslims at night, in breach of the peace treaty they had with the
Muslims.
The Messenger of Allah left Medina on a Friday in the month of Ramadan in the eighth
year of the Hijrah. He took with him all the Muslim troops which numbered ten thousand
and nearly four hundred horsemen.
Then the Messenger of Allah proceeded until he arrived at Marr al-Dhahran, the heights
of Mecca, in the evening. He ordered his companions to light more than ten thousand
fires. News of his progress had been kept hidden from the Quraysh who were concerned
and feared that he might attack them.
When the Messenger of Allah entered Mecca, a tent was pitched for him by the grave of
his uncle Abu Talib. He refused to enter his house or the houses of his companions in
Mecca that had been confiscated by the Polytheists.
Then the Messenger of Allah, after having rested a little in his tent, bathed and mounted
his camel and set out for the sacred mosque. The Muslims were before him and behind
him and all around him and they were repeating along with the Messenger of Allah the
words of Allah Almighty: The truth has come and falsehood has perished, indeed
falsehood is (by nature) perishing [8]
Mecca resounded with the sound of their voices until he entered the sacred mosque and
approached the black stone at the corner of the Ka‘bah, and kissed it. Then he circled the
House upon his camel and with a bow in his hand. Around the House there were some
three-hundred and sixty idols and he began to stab at them with his bow saying: The
truth has come and falsehood has perished, indeed falsehood is perishing and The truth
has come and falsehood will not revive again and will not return [9] while the idols fell
upon their faces. Then he raised Ali upon his shoulders so that he could bring down the
rest of the idols which were upon the Ka‘bah.
And thus a whole era of idol worshipping in Arabia was brought to an irreversible end,
and Mecca was liberated. The conquest of the Capital City of the idolaters and the
liberation of the holy city of Mecca at the hands of Prophet Muhammad took place
without bloodshed.
But the Prophet never again took his birth city, Mecca, as his abode. The Prophet only
stayed in the city for fifteen days to manage its affairs. When he left the city of Mecca for
Medina, he appointed Etab ibn Osayd, 21 years of age, as the city's governor.

Ideal Islamic Order

From early days, the Prophet gradually established an Islamic system of governance and
a way of life. In its first years, the nascent Muslim community in Medina had to contend
with a number of attacks and onslaughts by the Quraysh and their allies. The Prophet
used every opportunity to teach the Muslims the right code of conduct for a Muslim in
times of war and peace; from personal and ethical qualities they must aspire to, to
social, political and fiscal policies.
On the political front, the Prophet enjoined the community to avoid wars and violence as
far as possible, and it should only be the absolute last resort, when all other avenues
have been exhausted. The Prophet Muhammad went out of his way to avoid conflict and
violence, and it is recorded that in the ten years that the Prophet was in Medina and
despite the many battles that the Muslims were drawn into, a total of some 800 were
killed on both sides throughout the period. The Prophet instructed his army against
destroying houses or pillaging or cutting down fruiting trees. He ordered them not to
draw their swords except in dire need. He used to rebuke some of his generals and
physically put right their mistakes.
Another social-political principle instilled by the Prophet Muhammad was that “Land
belongs to Allah and whoever develops it” [10]. This had a very significant impact on the
development of the country both socially and politically, not to mention the economic
progress and revival it entailed.
Another socio-economic policy was established by the Prophet's declaration “I am
responsible for them” [11]. He who dies and leaves family who do not have enough to
make ends meet, then the Prophet would be responsible for them and they should go to
him. On the other hand, “he who dies and leaves a wealth behind, it is for his
heirs” [12]. All that wealth is for the family he leaves behind, i.e. no inheritance tax in
Islam. But this policy did not stop there, and it went further when the Prophet
announced that if a person dies and leaves a debt behind, then he [Muhammad, and
subsequently the leader of the Islamic state in general] is responsible for paying it [13].
The Prophetic legislation also addressed the interest of the non-Muslims living under the
Islamic state, referred to as dhimmy; literally means “the responsibility of” [the Islamic
state]: “He who hurts a dhimmy, then indeed he has hurt me” [14].
Such laws, and the peaceful liberation of Mecca, encouraged many to come and live
under the Islamic State, for there was at least economic and security guarantees for
them and their families, present and future. People started to embrace Islam as a way
of life en masse. Thus came the divine revelation:
By the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful,
When came Allah's succour and the conquest,
And thou saw the peoples entering into the religion of Allah in troops -
So glorify the praise of thy Lord and seek His forgiveness, indeed He is relenting.

It is impossible for anyone who studies the life and character of the great Prophet
of Arabia, who knows how he taught and how he lived, to feel anything but
reverence for that mighty Prophet, one of the great messengers of the Supreme.
He also credits the authorship of the Quran to Muhammad, making his role in the
development of Islam an unparalleled combination of secular and religious
influence which entitles Muhammad to be considered the most influential single
figure in human history.