The life of Muhammad

২১ শে আগস্ট, ২০১৩ দুপুর ২:৩৫

570

Muhammad's Birth and Infancy

Muhammad was born in the year 570 in the

town of Mecca, a mountain town in the

high desert plateau of western Arabia. His

name derives from the Arabic verb hamada,

meaning "to praise, to glorify." He was the

first and only son of Abd Allah bin Al-

Muttalib and Amina bint Wahb. Abd Allah

died before Muhammad's birth and

Muhammad was raised by his mother

Amina, who in keeping with Meccan

tradition entrusted her son at an early age

to a wet nurse named Halima from the

nomadic tribe of the Sa'd ibn Bakr. He grew

up in the hill country, learning their pure

Arabic.



575

Muhammad Becomes an Orphan

When Muhammad was five or six his

mother took him to Yathrib, an oasis town

a few hundred miles north of Mecca, to

stay with relatives and visit his father's

grave there. On the return journey, Amina

took ill and died. She was buried in the

village of Abwa on the Mecca-Medina Road.

Halima, his nurse, returned to Mecca with

the orphaned boy and placed him in the

protection of his paternal grandfather,

Abdul Al-Muttalib. In this man's care,

Muhammad learned the rudiments of

statecraft. Mecca was Arabia's most

important pilgrimage center and Abdul Al-

Muttalib its most respected leader. He

controlled important pilgrimage

concessions and frequently presided over

Mecca's Council of Elders.



578

Muhammad in Mecca in Care of an Uncle

Upon his grandfather's death in 578 ,

Muhammad, aged about eight, passed into

the care of a paternal uncle, Abu Talib.

Muhammad grew up in the older man's

home and remained under Abu Talib's

protection for many years. Chroniclers have

underscored Muhammad's disrupted

childhood. So does the Qur'an: "Did God

not find you an orphan and give you

shelter and care? And He found you

wandering, and gave you guidance. And he

found you in need, and made you

independent" (93:6-8).



580-594

Muhammad's Teens

When young boy, Muhammad worked as a

shepherd to help pay his keep (his uncle

was of modest means). In his teens he

sometimes traveled with Abu Talib, who

was a merchant, accompanying caravans to

trade centers. On at least one occasion, he

is said to have traveled as far north as

Syria. Older merchants recognized his

character and nicknamed him El–Amin, the

one you can trust.



594

Muhammad Acts as Caravan Agent for

Wealthy Tradeswoman, Khadija

In his early twenties, Muhammad entered

the service of a wealthy Meccan merchant,

a widow named Khadija bint Khawalayd.

The two were distant cousins. Muhammad

carried her goods to the north and

returned with a profit.



595-609

Muhammad's Marriage and Family Life

Impressed by Muhammad's honesty and

character, Khadija eventually proposed

marriage. They were wed in about 595 . He

was twenty-five. She was nearly forty.

Muhammad continued to manage Khadija's

business affairs, and their next years were

pleasant and prosperous. Six children were

born to them, two sons who both died in

infancy, and four daughters. Mecca

prospered too, becoming a well–off trading

center in the hands of an elite group of

clan leaders who were mostly successful

traders.



610

Muhammad Receives First Revelation

Mecca's new materialism and its traditional

idolatry disturbed Muhammad. He began

making long retreats to a mountain cave

outside town. There, he fasted and

meditated. On one occasion, after a

number of indistinct visionary experiences,

Muhammad was visited by an

overpowering presence and instructed to

recite words of such beauty and force that

he and others gradually attributed them to

God. This experience shook Muhammad to

the core. It was several years before he

dared to talk about it outside his family



613

Muhammad Takes his Message Public

After several similar experiences,

Muhammad finally began to reveal the

messages he was receiving to his tribe.

These were gathered verse by verse and

later would become the Qur'an, Islam's

sacred scripture. In the next decade,

Muhammad and his followers were first

belittled and ridiculed, then persecuted and

physically attacked for departing from

traditional Mecca's tribal ways.

Muhammad's message was resolutely

monotheistic. For several years, the the

Quraysh, Mecca's dominant tribe, levied a

ban on trade with Muhammad's people,

subjecting them to near famine conditions.

Toward the end of the decade,

Muhammad's wife and uncle both died.

Finally, the leaders of Mecca attempted to

assassinate Muhammad.



622

Muhammad and the Muslims Emigrate

to Medina

In 622 , Muhammad and his few hundred

followers left Mecca and traveled to Yathrib,

the oasis town where his father was buried.

The leaders there were suffering through a

vicious civil war, and they had invited this

man well known for his wisdom to act as

their mediator. Yathrib soon became known

as Medina, the City of the Prophet.

Muhammad remained here for the next six

years, building the first Muslim community

and gradually gathering more and more

people to his side.



625-628

The Military Period

The Meccans did not take Muhammad's

new success lightly. Early skirmishes led to

three major battles in the next three years.

Of these the Muslims won the first (the

Battle of Badr, March, 624 ), lost the second

(the Battle of Uhud, March, 625 ), and

outlasted the third, (The Battle of the

Trench and the Siege of Medina, April,

627 ). In March, 628 , a treaty was signed

between the two sides, which recognized

the Muslims as a new force in Arabia and

gave them freedom to move unmolested

throughout Arabia. Meccan allies breached

the treaty a year later.



630

The Conquest of Mecca

By now, the balance of power had shifted

radically away from once-powerful Mecca,

toward Muhammad and the Muslims. In

January, 630 , they marched on Mecca and

were joined by tribe after tribe along the

way. They entered Mecca without

bloodshed and the Meccans, seeing the

tide had turned, joined them.



630-632

Muhammad's Final Years

Muhammad returned to live in Medina. In

the next three years, he consolidated most

of the Arabian Peninsula under Islam. In

March, 632 , he returned to Mecca one last

time to perform a pilgrimage, and tens of

thousands of Muslims joined him.

After the pilgrimage, he returned to

Medina. Three months later on June 8, 632

he died there, after a brief illness. He is

buried in the mosque in Medina. Within a

hundred years Muhammad's teaching and

way of life had spread from the remote

corners of Arabia as far east as Indo-China

and as far west as Morocco, France and

Spain.

(collected from pbs)

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