Muhammad
Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...
, the final
Islam
Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
ic
prophet
In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divinity, divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings ...
, was born and lived in Mecca for the first 53 years of his life (''c.'' 570–622 CE) until the
Hijra. This period of his life is characterized by his proclamation of
prophethood. Muhammad's father,
Abdullah ibn Abd al-Muttalib
Abdullah ibn Abd al-Muttalib (; ; ) was the father of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.Ibn Hisham note 97.Muhammad ibn Saad, ''Tabaqat'' vol. 8. Translated by Bewley, A. (1995). ''The Women of Madina''. London: Ta-Ha Publishers. He was the son of A ...
, died before he was born. His mother would raise him until he was six years old, before her death around 577 CE at
Abwa'. Subsequently raised by his grandfather,
Abd al-Muttalib
Shayba ibn Hāshim (; ), better known as ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib, () was the fourth chief of the Quraysh tribal confederation and grandfather of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.
Early life
His father was Hashim ibn 'Abd Manaf,Muhammad ibn Sa ...
, and then his uncle,
Abu Talib ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib, Muhammad's early career involved being a shepherd and merchant. Muhammad married
Khadija bint Khuwaylid after a successful trading endeavour in
Syria
Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...
. After the death of Khadija and Abu Talib in the
Year of Sorrow, Muhammad married
Sawdah bint Zam'a and
Aisha
Aisha bint Abi Bakr () was a seventh century Arab commander, politician, Muhaddith, muhadditha and the third and youngest wife of the Prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad.
Aisha had an important role in early Islamic h ...
.
Muslims believe Muhammad
began receiving revelation sometime in the year 610 CE. Initially, the ranks of the Muslims only included Muhammad and some of his close friends and relatives. However, as more members of the
Quraysh
The Quraysh () are an Tribes of Arabia, Arab tribe who controlled Mecca before the rise of Islam. Their members were divided into ten main clans, most notably including the Banu Hashim, into which Islam's founding prophet Muhammad was born. By ...
and other
Arab tribes respected his words and
accepted his message, the vast majority of them, including tribal leaders and some of his relatives, such as
Abū Lahab, opposed, ridiculed and eventually boycotted his clan, the
Banu Hashim
Banu Hashim () is an Arab clan within the Quraysh tribe to which the Islamic prophet Muhammad belonged, named after Muhammad's great-grandfather Hashim ibn Abd Manaf.
Members of this clan, and especially their descendants, are also referred ...
, and Muhammad and his followers were harassed, assaulted and forced into exile in Abyssinia. After experiencing the
''Isra'' and ''Mi'raj'' in 620 and receiving delegations from Medina and pledges of protection from the two Arab tribes that lived in the city at al-'Aqabah, Muhammad instructed his companions to gradually migrate to the city, before
doing so himself in 622.
The
Quran
The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...
, early biographies of Muhammad (''
seerah''), and
hadith
Hadith is the Arabic word for a 'report' or an 'account f an event and refers to the Islamic oral tradition of anecdotes containing the purported words, actions, and the silent approvals of the Islamic prophet Muhammad or his immediate circle ...
literature are some of the primary sources used by both early and modern historians in portraying this period of Muhammad's life. While questions have been raised regarding the certainty of some of these sources, most academics have come to accept these along with some of their revisions as the definitive sources for Muhammad's early life in
Mecca
Mecca, officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley above ...
.
Background
The central and northern parts of the
Arabian Peninsula
The Arabian Peninsula (, , or , , ) or Arabia, is a peninsula in West Asia, situated north-east of Africa on the Arabian plate. At , comparable in size to India, the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world.
Geographically, the ...
were largely arid and volcanic, making agriculture difficult except near oases or springs. Thus the Arabian landscape was dotted with towns and cities near those oases, and in fertile Southern Arabia and in coastal areas such as
Tihamah. Two prominent cities of the era were Mecca and Medina (then known as Yathrib).
[Watt (1953), pp.1–2] Communal life was essential for survival in desert conditions, as people needed support against the harsh environment and lifestyle. The tribal grouping was thus encouraged by the need to act as a unit. This unity was based on the bond of kinship by blood. People of Arabia were either nomadic or sedentary, the nomadic element constantly traveling from one place to another seeking water and pasture for their flocks, while the sedentary inhabitants settled and focused on trade and agriculture. The survival of nomads (or
bedouins) was also partially dependent on raiding caravans or oases; thus they saw this as no crime.
[Loyal Rue, ''Religion Is Not about God: How Spiritual Traditions Nurture Our Biological'',2005, p.224][John Esposito, ''Islam'', Expanded edition, Oxford University Press, p.4-5] Medina was a large flourishing agricultural settlement, while Mecca was an important financial center for many of the surrounding tribes.

In
pre-Islamic Arabia
Pre-Islamic Arabia is the Arabian Peninsula and its northern extension in the Syrian Desert before the rise of Islam. This is consistent with how contemporaries used the term ''Arabia'' or where they said Arabs lived, which was not limited to the ...
gods or goddesses were viewed as protectors of individual tribes and their spirits were associated with sacred trees, stones, springs and wells. There was an important shrine in Mecca (called the
Kaaba
The Kaaba (), also spelled Kaba, Kabah or Kabah, sometimes referred to as al-Kaba al-Musharrafa (), is a stone building at the center of Islam's most important mosque and Holiest sites in Islam, holiest site, the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, Sa ...
) that housed statues of 360 idols of tribal patron-deities and was the site of an annual pilgrimage. Aside from these tribal gods, Arabs shared a common belief in a
supreme deity Allah (akin to "God" in English, as opposed to "god") who was however remote from their everyday concerns and thus not the object of cult or ritual. Three goddesses were associated with Allah as his daughters:
al-Lat,
Manat and
al-Uzza. Some
monotheistic communities also existed in Arabia, including
Christians and
Jews.
According to tradition, Muhammad himself was a descendant of
Ishmael
In the Bible, biblical Book of Genesis, Ishmael (; ; ; ) is the first son of Abraham. His mother was Hagar, the handmaiden of Abraham's wife Sarah. He died at the age of 137. Traditionally, he is seen as the ancestor of the Arabs.
Within Isla ...
, son of
Abraham
Abraham (originally Abram) is the common Hebrews, Hebrew Patriarchs (Bible), patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father who began the Covenant (biblical), covenanta ...
.
Genealogy, birth and childhood
Muhammad was born in the month of
Rabi' al-Awwal. Islamic historians place the year of Muhammad's birth as ''c.'' 570, corresponding with the
Year of the Elephant. However, recent scholarship has suggested earlier dates for this event, including 568 and 569.
[Watt (1974), p. 7.] The precise date of Muhammad's birth varies between different
Islamic sects, with most
Sunnis accepting the 12th of Rabi'-ul-Awwal as the date of his birth as posited by
Ibn Ishaq
Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Ishaq ibn Yasar al-Muttalibi (; – , known simply as Ibn Ishaq, was an 8th-century Muslim historian and hagiographer who collected oral traditions that formed the basis of an important biography of the Islamic proph ...
. Other opinions claim dates like the 2nd, 8th, or the 10th of Rabi'-ul-Awwal while
Shi'a Muslims believe it to have been the dawn of 17th day of same month. Muhammad was born into the family of
Banu Hashim
Banu Hashim () is an Arab clan within the Quraysh tribe to which the Islamic prophet Muhammad belonged, named after Muhammad's great-grandfather Hashim ibn Abd Manaf.
Members of this clan, and especially their descendants, are also referred ...
,
[ p. 34] one of the prominent clans forming the
Quraysh
The Quraysh () are an Tribes of Arabia, Arab tribe who controlled Mecca before the rise of Islam. Their members were divided into ten main clans, most notably including the Banu Hashim, into which Islam's founding prophet Muhammad was born. By ...
tribe of
Mecca
Mecca, officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley above ...
, although the family seems to have not been as prosperous during Muhammad's early lifetime.
[See also cited in EoI; Muhammad] His parents were
'Abdullah ibn 'Abd al-Muttalib of the Banu Hashim and
Aminah bint Wahb, the sister of the then-chief of the
Banu Zuhrah. According to
Ibn Ishaq
Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Ishaq ibn Yasar al-Muttalibi (; – , known simply as Ibn Ishaq, was an 8th-century Muslim historian and hagiographer who collected oral traditions that formed the basis of an important biography of the Islamic proph ...
, an early biographer of Muhammad, '
Abd al-Muttalib
Shayba ibn Hāshim (; ), better known as ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib, () was the fourth chief of the Quraysh tribal confederation and grandfather of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.
Early life
His father was Hashim ibn 'Abd Manaf,Muhammad ibn Sa ...
, Muhammad's grandfather, came up with the child's name, which was quite unknown at the time in the
Arabian Peninsula
The Arabian Peninsula (, , or , , ) or Arabia, is a peninsula in West Asia, situated north-east of Africa on the Arabian plate. At , comparable in size to India, the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world.
Geographically, the ...
.
Muhammad's father,
Abdullah, died almost six month before he was born. Muhammad was sent to live with a
Bedouin
The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu ( ; , singular ) are pastorally nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia (Iraq). The Bedouin originated in the Sy ...
family in the desert soon after his birth, as the desert life was considered healthier for infants.
Because he was fatherless,
wet nurse
A wet nurse is a woman who breastfeeding, breastfeeds and cares for another's child. Wet nurses are employed if the mother dies, if she is unable to nurse the child herself sufficiently or chooses not to do so. Wet-nursed children may be known a ...
s refused to take him, fearing that it would not be profitable to take care of an orphan. However, he was accepted by
Halimah bint Abi Dhuayb al-Sa'diyyah, who had found no child to take care of.
[Ramadan (2007), p. 10-12] Muhammad stayed with Halimah and her husband until he was two or three years old.
[William Montgomery Watt, "Halimah bint Abi Dhuayb", ]Encyclopaedia of Islam
The ''Encyclopaedia of Islam'' (''EI'') is a reference work that facilitates the Islamic studies, academic study of Islam. It is published by Brill Publishers, Brill and provides information on various aspects of Islam and the Muslim world, Isl ...
[Peterson (2006), p. 38] He lived with his mother in Mecca for the next three years until she took him to
Medina
Medina, officially al-Madinah al-Munawwarah (, ), also known as Taybah () and known in pre-Islamic times as Yathrib (), is the capital of Medina Province (Saudi Arabia), Medina Province in the Hejaz region of western Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, ...
(then known as Yathrib) to visit his maternal relatives, and died on the way back around
Abwa'. Having lost both his parents, Muhammad's grandfather,
'Abd al-Muttalib, took over custodianship of the child. Two years later, his grandfather died and Muhammad was raised under the care of his uncle
Abu Talib, the leader of the
Banu Hashim
Banu Hashim () is an Arab clan within the Quraysh tribe to which the Islamic prophet Muhammad belonged, named after Muhammad's great-grandfather Hashim ibn Abd Manaf.
Members of this clan, and especially their descendants, are also referred ...
.
While living with his uncle, Muhammad began tending flocks of sheep on the outskirts of
Mecca
Mecca, officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley above ...
to earn his living. He also accompanied his uncle on several of his commercial journeys. These journeys exposed Muhammad to
cultural diversity
Cultural diversity is the quality of diverse or different cultures, as opposed to Monoculturalism, monoculture. It has a variety of meanings in different contexts, sometimes applying to cultural products like art works in museums or entertainment ...
and varying
religious traditions. At the age of 9, he went with his uncle
Abu Talib on a business journey to
Syria
Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...
, where Muslims believe he met
Bahira in the town of
Bosra
Bosra (), formerly Bostra () and officially called Busra al-Sham (), is a town in southern Syria, administratively belonging to the Daraa District of the Daraa Governorate and geographically part of the Hauran region.
Bosra is an ancient cit ...
, who foretold his prophecy.
[Abel, A. "Baḥīrā". '']Encyclopaedia of Islam
The ''Encyclopaedia of Islam'' (''EI'') is a reference work that facilitates the Islamic studies, academic study of Islam. It is published by Brill Publishers, Brill and provides information on various aspects of Islam and the Muslim world, Isl ...
''. Brill. Brill Online, 2007
Adulthood prior to revelation
Later in his life, influenced by the commercial journeys with his uncle, Muhammad worked as a merchant and was involved in trade between the
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or approximately 20% of the water area of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia (continent), ...
and the
Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...
.
[William Montgomery Watt(1974), p.8][''Berkshire Encyclopedia of World History'' (2005), v.3, p.1025] During his career as a merchant, Muhammad became known as "the Trustworthy" () and was sought out as an impartial arbitrator of disputes.
[''Encyclopedia of World History'' (1998), p.452]
After parts of the
Kaaba
The Kaaba (), also spelled Kaba, Kabah or Kabah, sometimes referred to as al-Kaba al-Musharrafa (), is a stone building at the center of Islam's most important mosque and Holiest sites in Islam, holiest site, the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, Sa ...
were destroyed in
flash floods, with the reconstruction almost complete, disagreements arose among the leaders of the different clans of the
Quraysh
The Quraysh () are an Tribes of Arabia, Arab tribe who controlled Mecca before the rise of Islam. Their members were divided into ten main clans, most notably including the Banu Hashim, into which Islam's founding prophet Muhammad was born. By ...
as to which one should put the
Black Stone
The Black Stone () is a rock set into the eastern corner of the Kaaba, the ancient building in the center of the Masjid al-Haram, Grand Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is revered by Muslims as an Islamic relic which, according to Muslim tradi ...
into place. These disagreements led to an escalation in tensions, and war seemed imminent before they agreed to take the advice of the next person entering the
Haram
''Haram'' (; ) is an Arabic term meaning 'taboo'. This may refer to either something sacred to which access is not allowed to the people who are not in a state of purity or who are not initiated into the sacred knowledge; or, in direct cont ...
. Muslims believe Muhammad was this person, and that he spread out his cloak, put the stone in the middle and had the members of the four major clans raise it to its destined position, before ensuring its secure placement with his own hands.
Marriage to Khadija bint Khuwaylid and adoption of Zayd ibn Haritha
Khadija bint Khuwaylid, a female merchant and widow, asked Muhammad to manage her commercial operations in Syria after hearing of his trustworthiness. Impressed with the extraordinary success of Muhammad's leadership, Khadija sent a
marriage proposal to Muhammad through her friend Nafisa.
Muhammad accepted the proposal and married Khadija. Khadija gave Muhammad the slave boy
Zayd ibn Harithah, whom Muhammad would adopt later.
Ibn Ishaq
Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Ishaq ibn Yasar al-Muttalibi (; – , known simply as Ibn Ishaq, was an 8th-century Muslim historian and hagiographer who collected oral traditions that formed the basis of an important biography of the Islamic proph ...
records that Khadija bore Muhammad six children: a boy named
Al Qasim (who would die at the age of two), then four girls,
Zaynab,
Ruqayyah,
Umm Kulthum
Umm Kulthum (; 31 December 1898 – 3 February 1975) was an Egyptians, Egyptian singer and film actress active from the 1920s to the 1970s. She was given the honorific title (). Immensely popular throughout the Middle East and beyond, Umm Kul ...
,
Fatimah
Fatima bint Muhammad (; 605/15–632 CE), commonly known as Fatima al-Zahra' (), was the daughter of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his wife Khadija bint Khuwaylid, Khadija. Fatima's husband was Ali, the fourth of the Rashidun caliphs and ...
, and another boy,
Abdullah (who also died at two).
[Ramadan (2007), p. 22-4]
Due to the death of Abdullah, Muhammad's desire to relieve his uncle Abu Talib of the burden of providing for a large family, and Abu Talib's financial situation, Muhammad took Abu Talib's son and his cousin,
Ali, into his own home. Muhammad also adopted Zayd, giving him the name Zayd ibn Muhammad. Muslims believe that this renaming was rendered invalid by the revelation of some verses in
Surah
A ''surah'' (; ; ) is an Arabic word meaning 'chapter' in the Quran. There are 114 ''suwar'' in the Quran, each divided into ayah, verses (). The ''suwar'' are of unequal length; the shortest ''surah'' (al-Kawthar) has only three verses, while ...
33 of the Qur'an,
Al Aḥzāb, wherein it is stated that an adopted child could not be treated as a natural son by marriage or inheritance. Consequently, the adopted child had to retain the name of his or her biological father. Therefore, Zayd's name was reverted to Zayd ibn Haritha.
Early revelations and opposition
At some point, Muhammad adopted the practice of meditating alone for several weeks every year in a cave on
Mount Hira near Mecca. Islamic belief holds that in one of his visits to Mount Hira in the year 610, 13 years before the
Hijra, the angel
Gabriel
In the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam), Gabriel ( ) is an archangel with the power to announce God's will to mankind, as the messenger of God. He is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament and the Quran. Many Chris ...
began communicating with and commanded Muhammad to recite the following verses of the 96th
Surah
A ''surah'' (; ; ) is an Arabic word meaning 'chapter' in the Quran. There are 114 ''suwar'' in the Quran, each divided into ayah, verses (). The ''suwar'' are of unequal length; the shortest ''surah'' (al-Kawthar) has only three verses, while ...
of the
Quran
The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...
,
Al 'Alaq:
Proclaim! (or read!) in the name of thy Lord and Cherisher, Who created- Created man, out of a (mere) clot of congealed blood: Proclaim! And thy Lord is Most Bountiful,- He Who taught (the use of) the pen,- Taught man that which he knew not. (Qur'an )
Most
Sunni
Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Mu ...
traditions believe that upon receiving his first revelations Muhammad was deeply distressed, but the spirit moved closer and told him that he had been chosen as a messenger of God, and that Muhammad returned home and was consoled and reassured by Khadija and her
Christian
A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...
cousin,
Waraqah ibn Nawfal.
Shiite Muslims maintain that Muhammad was neither surprised nor frightened at the appearance of Gabriel but rather welcomed him as if he had been expecting him. The initial revelation was followed by a pause of three years during which Muhammad gave himself up further to prayers and
spiritual practice
A spiritual practice or spiritual discipline (often including spiritual exercises) is the regular or full-time performance of actions and activities undertaken for the purpose of inducing spiritual experiences and cultivating spiritual developm ...
s. When the revelations resumed he was reassured and commanded to begin preaching:
Your lord has not forsaken you nor does he hate ou(Qur'an )
According to
Welch, these revelations were accompanied by mysterious
seizures
A seizure is a sudden, brief disruption of brain activity caused by abnormal, excessive, or synchronous neuronal firing. Depending on the regions of the brain involved, seizures can lead to changes in movement, sensation, behavior, awareness, o ...
, and the reports are unlikely to have been forged by later Muslims.
W. Montgomery Watt further adds that Muhammad was confident that he could distinguish his own thoughts from these messages.
Mission and early efforts
Muhammad's early efforts in preaching the new faith focused on the preaching of a single ideal:
monotheism
Monotheism is the belief that one God is the only, or at least the dominant deity.F. L. Cross, Cross, F.L.; Livingstone, E.A., eds. (1974). "Monotheism". The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (2 ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. A ...
.
Surah
A ''surah'' (; ; ) is an Arabic word meaning 'chapter' in the Quran. There are 114 ''suwar'' in the Quran, each divided into ayah, verses (). The ''suwar'' are of unequal length; the shortest ''surah'' (al-Kawthar) has only three verses, while ...
s of the Quran believed to have been revealed during this period, known as the
Meccan surahs (), command Muhammad to proclaim and praise the name of
Allah
Allah ( ; , ) is an Arabic term for God, specifically the God in Abrahamic religions, God of Abraham. Outside of the Middle East, it is principally associated with God in Islam, Islam (in which it is also considered the proper name), althoug ...
, instruct him not to worship idols or associate other deities with Allah and to worship Him alone,
warn the
pagans of their eschatological punishment, sometimes referring to the
Day of Judgement indirectly, while providing examples from the history of some extinct communities.
[Uri Rubin, ''Muhammad'', Encyclopedia of the Qur'an] Early converts to Islam included Muhammad's wife,
Khadija, his cousin
Ali, his adopted son
Zayd, his nursemaid
Umm Ayman, and his friend
Abu Bakr
Abd Allah ibn Abi Quhafa (23 August 634), better known by his ''Kunya (Arabic), kunya'' Abu Bakr, was a senior Sahaba, companion, the closest friend, and father-in-law of Muhammad. He served as the first caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate, ruli ...
.
Very few of the
Quraysh
The Quraysh () are an Tribes of Arabia, Arab tribe who controlled Mecca before the rise of Islam. Their members were divided into ten main clans, most notably including the Banu Hashim, into which Islam's founding prophet Muhammad was born. By ...
gave weight to Muhammad's message; most ignored it and a few mocked him.
[''The Cambridge History of Islam'' (1977), p.36] According to
Welch, early Qur'anic verses were not "based on a
dogmatic conception of
monotheism
Monotheism is the belief that one God is the only, or at least the dominant deity.F. L. Cross, Cross, F.L.; Livingstone, E.A., eds. (1974). "Monotheism". The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (2 ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. A ...
but on a strong general moral and religious appeal," further adding that the key themes of these
Meccan surahs include the
moral responsibility
In philosophy, moral responsibility is the status of morality, morally desert (philosophy), deserving praise, blame, reward (psychology), reward, or punishment for an act or omission in accordance with one's moral obligations. Deciding what (if ...
of man towards his creator: the resurrection of the dead, the Day of Judgement supplemented with vivid descriptions of the tortures in hell and pleasures in paradise, the wonders of nature and everyday life, the signs of God, and the proof of the existence of a greater power who will take into account the greed of people and their suppression of the poor.
[Welch, Muhammad, Encyclopedia of Islam] The foundations of early religious duties were also laid and included
belief in God, asking for forgiveness of sins, offering
frequent prayers, assisting others with emphasis on those in need, ejecting cheating and the love of wealth, chastity, and the prevention of
femicide which was prevalent in early
Arabia
The Arabian Peninsula (, , or , , ) or Arabia, is a peninsula in West Asia, situated north-east of Africa on the Arabian plate. At , comparable in size to India, the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world.
Geographically, the ...
.
There were three main groups of early converts to
Islam
Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
: younger brothers and sons of great merchants, people who had fallen out of the first rank in their tribe or failed to attain it, and the weak, mostly unprotected, foreigners.
Abu Bakr, who used to purchase slaves to set them free in accordance with Muhammad's principle of equality, attracted a large number of converts. Nevertheless, the number of these early converts remained small, and Muhammad concentrated on quietly building a small, but spiritually strong, community.
[Ramadan (2007), p. 37-9] Around 613, the Quran commanded Muhammad to "admonish your nearest kinsmen," initiating the phase of public preaching. One day, Muhammad climbed the
As Safa mountain, and called out the tribal chiefs. After receiving assurances that the chiefs, who reportedly never heard Muhammad tell lies, would believe him, he declared the
Oneness of God. Later Muhammad
organized dinners in which he conveyed and advocated the substance of his message. At these events, Muhammad met fierce opposition from one of his uncles,
Abu Lahab.
[Peterson (2006), p. 26-7]
Opposition and persecution of early Muslims
Conservative opposition arose to Muhammad's speeches. According to
Ibn Sa'd
Abū ‘Abd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Sa‘d ibn Manī‘ al-Baṣrī al-Hāshimī or simply Ibn Sa'd () and nicknamed ''Scribe of Waqidi'' (''Katib al-Waqidi''), was a scholar and Arabian biographer. Ibn Sa'd was born in 784/785 CE (168 AH) and di ...
, the opposition in Mecca began with Muhammad delivering verses that "spoke shamefully of the idols
he Meccansworshiped other than [
Allah
Allah ( ; , ) is an Arabic term for God, specifically the God in Abrahamic religions, God of Abraham. Outside of the Middle East, it is principally associated with God in Islam, Islam (in which it is also considered the proper name), althoug ...
] and mentioned the perdition of their fathers who died in disbelief." According to Watt, as Muhammad's followers gained traction in
Mecca
Mecca, officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley above ...
, they posed a new, internal threat to the local tribes and the rulers of the city, whose wealth rested upon the annual pilgrimage to the Kaaba, the focal point of Meccan religious life, which Muhammad threatened to overthrow; his denunciation of the Meccan traditional religion was especially offensive to his own tribe, the Quraysh, as they were the guardians of the Ka'aba.
Some of the ranking and influential leaders of the Quraysh tried and failed to come to arrangements with Muhammad in exchange for abandoning his preaching. They offered him admission into the inner circle of merchants and establishing his position in the circle by an advantageous marriage, but Muhammad refused.
During this period, Muhammad urged his followers to be
pacifist; according to
Peterson, to "deal gently with the infidels".
[Peterson (2006), p. 70-1]
Relations between Muhammad's Islamic faction and the other members of the
Quraysh
The Quraysh () are an Tribes of Arabia, Arab tribe who controlled Mecca before the rise of Islam. Their members were divided into ten main clans, most notably including the Banu Hashim, into which Islam's founding prophet Muhammad was born. By ...
rapidly deteriorated. Muhammad's open denunciation of the Meccan idols provoked hostile reactions, and he was mainly protected from physical harm for he belonged to the
Banu Hashim
Banu Hashim () is an Arab clan within the Quraysh tribe to which the Islamic prophet Muhammad belonged, named after Muhammad's great-grandfather Hashim ibn Abd Manaf.
Members of this clan, and especially their descendants, are also referred ...
; injuring Muhammad threatened to open up a blood feud between the Banu Hashim and the rest of the Quraysh, undermining the legitimacy and morality of the tribal leaders, thus, the Quraysh were reluctant to hurt or kill Muhammad.
Regardless, several attempts were made at Muhammad's life.
[Sirat Ibn Hisham, vol. 1, p. 298][ Sahih Bukhari: Volume 6, Book 60, Number 339] Traditional Islamic accounts maintain that the Quraysh first taunted Muslims by interrupting their prayers. Western scholars have accepted records of persecution and ill-treatment of Muhammad's followers. Many of Muhammad's followers were harassed, assaulted and forced into exile—and two,
Yasir bin 'Amir and
Sumayya bint Khabbat, were tortured and killed.
In 615, at a time of heightened violence against the Muslims, Muhammad arranged for his followers to emigrate to the
Kingdom of Aksum
The Kingdom of Aksum, or the Aksumite Empire, was a kingdom in East Africa and South Arabia from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages, based in what is now northern Ethiopia and Eritrea, and spanning present-day Djibouti and Sudan. Emerging ...
and found a small colony there under the protection of the Christian king,
al-Negashi.
While the traditions view the persecutions of Meccans to have played the major role in the emigration,
William Montgomery Watt, a professor of Islamic studies, states "there is reason to believe that some sort of division within the embryonic Muslim community played a role and that some of the emigrants may have gone to Abyssinia to engage in trade, possibly in competition with prominent merchant families in Mecca."
The Meccans sent
Amr ibn al-As and Abdullah ibn Rabi'ah to negotiate the surrender of the Muslims to the Quraysh, however, the
Negus
''Negus'' is the word for "king" in the Ethiopian Semitic languages and a Ethiopian aristocratic and court titles, title which was usually bestowed upon a regional ruler by the Ethiopian Emperor, Negusa Nagast, or "king of kings," in pre-1974 Et ...
refused their request.
Umar's acceptance of Islam and banishment of the Hashemites
Sunni
Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Mu ...
Muslims believe Muhammad prayed for the strengthening of the cause of Islam through the conversion of either
Umar ibn al-Khattab or
Amr ibn Hishām. Umar initially reacted to Muhammad's preaching by ardently opposing it. Angered by Muhammad's preaching which had led to divisions within Meccan society, he eventually decided to kill Muhammad, whom he held responsible for the divisions.
[Peterson (2006), p. 72-3] While en route to assassinate Muhammad, Umar was informed of his sister's conversion to Islam. Approaching his sister's house, he heard her reciting the
Quran
The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...
. Eventually considering the words beautiful and noble, Umar converted to Islam, making his conversion public instantly. Tempered by Umar's conversion, Muslims could now pray openly at the
Kaaba
The Kaaba (), also spelled Kaba, Kabah or Kabah, sometimes referred to as al-Kaba al-Musharrafa (), is a stone building at the center of Islam's most important mosque and Holiest sites in Islam, holiest site, the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, Sa ...
, as the pagans were reluctant to confront Umar, known for his forceful character.
Two important clans of Quraysh declared a public banishment against the clan of Banu Hashim in order to put pressure on the clan to withdraw their protection of Muhammad.
The terms imposed on Banu Hashim, as reported by
Ibn Ishaq
Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Ishaq ibn Yasar al-Muttalibi (; – , known simply as Ibn Ishaq, was an 8th-century Muslim historian and hagiographer who collected oral traditions that formed the basis of an important biography of the Islamic proph ...
, were that "no one should marry their women nor give women for them to marry; and that no one should either buy from them or sell to them." The banishment lasted for two or three years but eventually collapsed mainly because it was not achieving its purpose and sympathizers of the Hashemites within the Quraysh finally united to annul the agreement.
[Moojan Momen, ''An Introduction to Shi'i Islam: The History and Doctrines of Twelver Shiʻism'', Yale University Press, p.4]
Events leading up to the Hijra
Deaths of Khadija and Abu Talib and Muhammad's visit to Ta'if
9 years into Muhammad's claim to prophethood, two of the most committed defenders of Muhammad's message, his wife
Khadija and his uncle
Abu Talib, died. With the death of Abu Talib, the leadership of the clan of Banu Hashim was passed to another uncle of Muhammad,
Abu Lahab, an inveterate enemy of Muhammad and Islam. Abu Lahab soon withdrew the clan's protection from Muhammad, placing Muhammad in mortal danger since the withdrawal of clan protection implied that the blood revenge for his killing would not be exacted. Muhammad then tried to find a protector for himself in another important Arabian city close to Mecca,
Ta'if
Taif (, ) is a city and governorate in Mecca Province in Saudi Arabia. Located at an elevation of in the slopes of the Hijaz Mountains, which themselves are part of the Sarawat Mountains, Sarat Mountains, the city has a population of 563,282 pe ...
, but his effort failed as he was pelted with stones in the city.
Marriages to Sawda bint Zam'a and Aisha
Sometime in 620, the year following the Year of Sorrow, Muhammad sent a proposal of marriage to Sawda bint Zam'a, an early convert to Islam. The proposal was accepted by both her and her father, Zam'a ibn Qays. Muhammad and Sawda were married in Ramadan of that year. Muhammad also married Aisha, a daughter of his friend and companion
Abu Bakr
Abd Allah ibn Abi Quhafa (23 August 634), better known by his ''Kunya (Arabic), kunya'' Abu Bakr, was a senior Sahaba, companion, the closest friend, and father-in-law of Muhammad. He served as the first caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate, ruli ...
, when she was somewhere between 6 and 9 years old, which has caused controversy in modern scholarly discussion. Both Sawda and Aisha would outlive Muhammad, dying around sometime between 642–672 and in 678, respectively. Aisha would narrate more than 2,200 hadiths in the 44 years she lived after Muhammad, covering several diverse topics, including
inheritance
Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Offi ...
,
pilgrimage
A pilgrimage is a travel, journey to a holy place, which can lead to a personal transformation, after which the pilgrim returns to their daily life. A pilgrim (from the Latin ''peregrinus'') is a traveler (literally one who has come from afar) w ...
,
eschatology
Eschatology (; ) concerns expectations of the end of Contemporary era, present age, human history, or the world itself. The end of the world or end times is predicted by several world religions (both Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic and non-Abrah ...
and Muhammad's private life.
''Isra'', ''Mi'raj,'' and pledges at al-'Aqabah
Some time in 620, Muhammad told his followers that he had experienced the ''
Isra and Mi'raj'', a supernatural journey to
Jerusalem
Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
(''Isra'') and ascension to the
Seven Heavens (''Mi'raj''), said to have been accomplished in one night along with the angel
Gabriel
In the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam), Gabriel ( ) is an archangel with the power to announce God's will to mankind, as the messenger of God. He is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament and the Quran. Many Chris ...
. Muhammad is said to have toured
heaven
Heaven, or the Heavens, is a common Religious cosmology, religious cosmological or supernatural place where beings such as deity, deities, angels, souls, saints, or Veneration of the dead, venerated ancestors are said to originate, be throne, ...
and
hell
In religion and folklore, hell is a location or state in the afterlife in which souls are subjected to punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history sometimes depict hells as eternal destinations, such as Christianity and I ...
, and spoken with earlier prophets, including
Adam
Adam is the name given in Genesis 1–5 to the first human. Adam is the first human-being aware of God, and features as such in various belief systems (including Judaism, Christianity, Gnosticism and Islam).
According to Christianity, Adam ...
,
Ibrahim,
Musa, and
Isa.
Ibn Ishaq
Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Ishaq ibn Yasar al-Muttalibi (; – , known simply as Ibn Ishaq, was an 8th-century Muslim historian and hagiographer who collected oral traditions that formed the basis of an important biography of the Islamic proph ...
, author of first
biography
A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or curri ...
of Muhammad, presents this event as a spiritual experience while later historians like
al-Tabari
Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Jarīr ibn Yazīd al-Ṭabarī (; 839–923 CE / 224–310 AH), commonly known as al-Ṭabarī (), was a Sunni Muslim scholar, polymath, historian, exegete, jurist, and theologian from Amol, Tabaristan, present- ...
and
Ibn Kathir
Abu al-Fida Isma'il ibn Umar ibn Kathir al-Dimashqi (; ), known simply as Ibn Kathir, was an Arab Islamic Exegesis, exegete, historian and scholar. An expert on (Quranic exegesis), (history) and (Islamic jurisprudence), he is considered a lea ...
present it as a physical journey.
[''Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World'' (2003), p. 482] Some western scholars of Islam hold that the oldest Muslim tradition identified as a journey traveled through the heavens from the
sacred enclosure at Mecca to the ''Bayt al-Ma'mur'' (a celestial recreation of the Kaaba); others identify it as Muhammad's journey from Mecca to the ''Bayt al-Maqdis'' in
Jerusalem
Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
.
Since the Quraysh gave little weight to Muhammad's message, Muhammad took to spreading his message to the merchants and pilgrims that frequented Mecca. After several unsuccessful negotiations, he found hope with some men from Medina.
[''Muhammad'', Encyclopedia of Islam.] The Arab population of Yathrib were somewhat familiar with monotheism because a
Jewish
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
community existed in that city. Muhammad met with a few members of the two tribes of Medina, the
Aws and
Khazraj, twice, at a hill known as al-'Aqabah near
Mina, where they pledged their allegiance to Muhammad and agreed to protect Muhammad if he were to migrate to Medina. Following the pledges at al-'Aqabah, Muhammad encouraged his followers to emigrate to Medina. The Quraysh attempted to stop the Muslims from emigrating to the city, however, almost all Muslims managed to leave.
[Peterson (2006), pg. 86-9]
Hijra
Muslims believe Muhammad waited until he was commanded by Allah to migrate to Medina. Upon receiving this divine direction, Muhammad planned to leave Mecca the same night. The Quraysh had besieged his house hearing of the large numbers of Muslims who had emigrated prior to him. Muhammad slipped from his home the night of the planned assassination. Due to his possession of several articles that belonged to members of the Quraysh, Muhammad asked Ali to stay behind to settle his outstanding financial obligations. Ali had worn Muhammad's cloak, leading the assassins to think Muhammad had not yet departed. By the time the assassins realised this, Muhammad had already left the city with Abu Bakr. Ali survived the plot, but risked his life again by staying in Mecca to carry out Muhammed's instructions: to restore to their owners all the goods and properties that had been entrusted to Muhammad for safekeeping. Ali then went to Medina with his mother,
Fatima bint Asad, and Muhammed's daughters,
Fatimah
Fatima bint Muhammad (; 605/15–632 CE), commonly known as Fatima al-Zahra' (), was the daughter of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his wife Khadija bint Khuwaylid, Khadija. Fatima's husband was Ali, the fourth of the Rashidun caliphs and ...
and
Umm Kulthum
Umm Kulthum (; 31 December 1898 – 3 February 1975) was an Egyptians, Egyptian singer and film actress active from the 1920s to the 1970s. She was given the honorific title (). Immensely popular throughout the Middle East and beyond, Umm Kul ...
as well as two other women, Muhammad's wife,
Sawda, and wetnurse,
Umm Ayman.
Muhammad and Abu Bakr took refuge in a cave atop the
Thawr mountain outside Mecca before continuing their journey. To further delude the Quraysh, Muhammad travelled south for the first few days of his journey, in the opposite direction to Medina. Later, Muhammad and Abu Bakr turned to the Red Sea, following the coastline up to Medina, arriving at
Quba' on Monday, 27 September 622.
Conquest of Mecca and return
Muhammad returned to Mecca not long before his death, following the victory of his forces in the
Muslim–Quraysh War
The Muslim–Quraysh War () was a six-year war, military and religious war in the Arabian Peninsula between the Companions of the Prophet, early Muslims led by Muhammad on one side and the Arabs, Arab Pre-Islamic Arabia, pagan Quraysh tribe on the ...
( ). The date Muhammad set out for Mecca is variously given as 2, 6 or 10 Ramadan 8 AH
(December 629 or January 630).
[F.R. Shaikh, ''Chronology of Prophetic Events'', Ta-Ha Publishers Ltd., London, 2001 pp 3, 72, 134-6. Shaikh places the departure on Wednesday, 29 November. This is apparently calculated using the tabular Islamic calendar and then substituting Ramadan for Sha'ban in an (ineffective) attempt to allow for intercalation.] (10–20
Ramadan
Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. It is observed by Muslims worldwide as a month of fasting (''Fasting in Islam, sawm''), communal prayer (salah), reflection, and community. It is also the month in which the Quran is believed ...
, 8
AH).
The date of his entry into Mecca is variously given as 8–12 days later (10, 17/18, 19 or 20 Ramadan 8 AH).
While in Mecca, Muhammad prayed in the direction of the Kaaba and addressed the Quraysh, destroyed pagan idols, while his army destroyed pre-Islamic influences and punished Quraysh stragglers.
Historiography and sources
The
Quran
The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...
is the only
primary source
In the study of history as an academic discipline, a primary source (also called an original source) is an Artifact (archaeology), artifact, document, diary, manuscript, autobiography, recording, or any other source of information that was cre ...
for the life of Muhammad in Mecca. The text of the Quran is generally considered by university scholars to record the words spoken by Muhammad as the search for variants in Western academia has not yielded any differences of great significance. The Quran, however, mainly records the ideological and spiritual considerations of Muhammad, and only fragmentarily references to the details of his life in the city, which makes it difficult to reconstruct the chronological order of the incidents in his or his followers' lives in Mecca.
[William Montgomery Watt, Muhammad in Mecca, p.xv] Modern biographers of Muhammad try to reconstruct the socioeconomic and sociopolitical aspects of Mecca and read the ideological aspects of the Quran in that context.

Other later historical works, particularly those of the 3rd and 4th century of the Islamic calendar, are also of considerable importance in mapping Muhammad's life in the city.
[William Montgomery Watt, ''Muhammad in Mecca'', Oxford University Press, p.xi] These include the early biographies of Muhammad (''
seerah''), particularly those written by
Ibn Ishaq
Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Ishaq ibn Yasar al-Muttalibi (; – , known simply as Ibn Ishaq, was an 8th-century Muslim historian and hagiographer who collected oral traditions that formed the basis of an important biography of the Islamic proph ...
(–767 CE) and
Ibn Sa'd
Abū ‘Abd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Sa‘d ibn Manī‘ al-Baṣrī al-Hāshimī or simply Ibn Sa'd () and nicknamed ''Scribe of Waqidi'' (''Katib al-Waqidi''), was a scholar and Arabian biographer. Ibn Sa'd was born in 784/785 CE (168 AH) and di ...
(–845 CE), and quotes attributed to Muhammad in
hadith
Hadith is the Arabic word for a 'report' or an 'account f an event and refers to the Islamic oral tradition of anecdotes containing the purported words, actions, and the silent approvals of the Islamic prophet Muhammad or his immediate circle ...
literature, compiled by Islamic scholars such as
Al Bukhari (–870 CE) and
Muslim ibn Hajjaj (–875 CE) which provide further information on his life.
[Reeves (2003), pp. 6–7] The earliest surviving ''seerah'' is the "''Sīrah Rasūl Allah''" by Ibn Ishaq. Although the original is lost, portions of it survive in the recensions of
Ibn Hisham and
al-Tabari
Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Jarīr ibn Yazīd al-Ṭabarī (; 839–923 CE / 224–310 AH), commonly known as al-Ṭabarī (), was a Sunni Muslim scholar, polymath, historian, exegete, jurist, and theologian from Amol, Tabaristan, present- ...
. Many historians accept the accuracy of these biographies, though their accuracy is unascertainable.
[''Islam'', S. A. Nigosian, p. 6, ]Indiana University Press
Indiana University Press, also known as IU Press, is an academic publisher founded in 1950 at Indiana University that specializes in the humanities and social sciences. Its headquarters are located in Bloomington, Indiana. IU Press publishes ...
According to
William Montgomery Watt, in the legal sphere, it would seem that sheer invention could have very well happened. In the historical sphere, however, aside from exceptional cases, the material may have been subject to "tendential shaping" rather than being completely fabricated.
Hadiths are the record of the traditions or sayings of Muhammad, defined as the biography of Muhammad perpetuated by the long memory of his companions and community for their exemplification and obedience. The development of hadiths is a vital contributive element to the biography of Muhammad in early Islamic history. There had been a common tendency among earlier western scholars against these narrations and reports gathered in later periods, who regarded them as fabrications.
Leone Caetani considered the attribution of historical reports to
Abdullah ibn 'Abbas and
'Aisha as mostly fictitious while examining accounts reported without ''
sanad'' by the early compilers of ''seerah'' such as
Ibn Ishaq
Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Ishaq ibn Yasar al-Muttalibi (; – , known simply as Ibn Ishaq, was an 8th-century Muslim historian and hagiographer who collected oral traditions that formed the basis of an important biography of the Islamic proph ...
.
Wilferd Madelung
Wilferd Ferdinand Madelung FBA (26 December 1930 – 9 May 2023) was a German author and scholar of Islamic history widely recognised for his contributions to the fields of Islamic and Iranian studies. He was appreciated in Iran for his "know ...
has rejected the stance of indiscriminately dismissing everything. Madelung and some later historians do not reject the narrations which have been compiled in later periods and try to judge them in the context of history and on the basis of their compatibility with the events and figures.
Sunni
Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Mu ...
Muslims consider the
Sahih al-Bukhari and
Sahih Muslim
() is the second hadith collection of the Six Books of Sunni Islam. Compiled by Islamic scholar Muslim ibn al-Ḥajjāj () in the format, the work is valued by Sunnis, alongside , as the most important source for Islamic religion after the Q ...
, the collection of hadiths made by Al Bukhari and Muslim ibn Hajjaj, to be the most authoritative hadith collections. Al Bukhari is said to have spent over 16 years gathering over 1,600,000 hadiths and finding the best 7,397 of them. Most of these traditions deal with the life of Muhammad. For
Shiites, the words and deeds of their
Imams, the progeny of Muhammad, are given that authority. Originally transmitted from generation to generation orally before being compiled, some of these sayings, according to their chain of transmission, are sayings of Muhammad.
[Moojan Momen, An Introduction to Shi`i Islam: The History and Doctrines of Twelver, Yale University Press, 1985, , p.174]
See also
*
History of Islam
The history of Islam is believed, by most historians, to have originated with Muhammad's mission in Mecca and Medina at the start of the 7th century CE, although Muslims regard this time as a return to the original faith passed down by the Abr ...
*
Religion in pre-Islamic Arabia
In pre-Islamic Arabia, the dominant religious practice was that of Arab polytheism, which was based on the veneration of various deities and spirits, such as the god Hubal and the goddesses al-Lāt, al-‘Uzzā, and Manāt. Worship was ...
*
Timeline of the history of Islam
References
Citations
Works cited
*Bowersock, Glen Warren; Grabar Oleg (1999). ''Late Antiquity: A Guide to the Postclassical World''.
Harvard University Press
Harvard University Press (HUP) is an academic publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University. It is a member of the Association of University Presses. Its director since 2017 is George Andreou.
The pres ...
. .
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Rodinson, Maxime, ''Muhammad: Prophet of Islam'', Tauris Parke Paperbacks, 2002.
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Encyclopediae
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{{Islam topics, state=
Mecca
Mecca, officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley above ...
History of Mecca