(ca. 570-632) prophet
Muhammad (also known as Mohammed) was the founder of Islam, the first leader of the Muslim community, and the author or transmitter of the koran, the sacred scripture of the Muslim religion. Nearly everything that is known about Muhammad, whom his followers called “the Prophet,” comes from Muslim tradition. The main sources are the Koran, Islam’s holiest book; and the hadith, oral stories about Muhammad that were written in early Muslim times.
Muhammad was born in Mecca, a trading city in the Hijaz region of the Arabian Peninsula and the site of a pagan shrine, the Ka’bah. His family was prominent, but he became an orphan at an early age with no inheritance. He was raised by his uncle Abu Talib, a prominent merchant and head of the noble Hashem clan, part of the Quraysh tribe that dominated Mecca.
Around 595, Muhammad married Khadija, who remained his sole wife until her death in 619. Celebrated in the Koran, she bore four daughters; all of their husbands eventually played prominent roles in the early Muslim community. Khadija’s wealth gave Muhammad both trading capital and the independence to pursue his religious ideas and political ambitions.
Muhammad was said to have frequented a cave near Mecca to think in solitude. There, one day in 610, he had a frightening vision of an angelic being, whom he believed to be God, who told him, “You are the messenger of God.” This was followed by many further revelations, often delivered while the prophet was in a trance. Because Muhammad could not read or write, he related the revelations to his followers, at first a small band. According to some traditions, he had many of the verses recorded by scribes. The stories were eventually collected and edited into the Koran about 20 years after the prophet’s death.
Research has revealed that Muhammad supplemented the actual revelations with his own comments and explanations. In this way, he eventually learned, and conveyed to his followers, all the basic precepts of what became Islam. He also laid the groundwork for the legal and social practices that later became the basis of Muslim law. Many Muslims insist that every word of the Koran is divine and immutable; thus, Muhammad became one of the most influential figures in the Islamic world, and the Koran one of the most influential works of world literature.
Muhammad began preaching publicly around 613. He attracted supporters among the younger members of the chief merchant families and also among the poor, who were attracted by his criticism of the wealthy for not helping the “weak.” His supporters came to be called Muslims, or those who had submitted to God.
Muhammad’s fame soon extended beyond Mecca, but he still faced opposition from the powerful leaders of the city. After negotiating with tribal leaders and Muslims in Medina, a city to the north, the prophet and about 70 supporters left Mecca for Medina. This event, known as the hijra (hegira), took place in the year 622, which thus became year one of the Muslim calendar.
At Medina, Muhammad gradually reduced intertribal warfare and sent his followers off on raids against Meccan caravans. In the 620s, he had a falling-out with the Jewish clans, who were prominent in both agriculture and trade in Medina. Refusing to recognize his claims to being God’s prophet, they were all eventually expelled or killed. Previously, Muslims had prayed toward Jerusalem; thereafter, they prayed toward Mecca and its Ka’bah shrine. Following Muhammad’s victory in 624 in a battle with a Meccan force at Badr, most Arabs of Medina rallied to his cause. By 629, further military losses to Muhammad’s supporters convinced the Meccans to accept his rule. Many soon became Muslims as well, as did many pagan tribes.
Among Muhammad’s last campaigns was a large raid near Syria in 630, in which the Muslims confronted several Christian Arab tribes. This completed the break of Islam with the previous monotheistic religions.
Muhammad died in 632. Although his failure to appoint a successor led to future conflicts among the faithful, he left Arabia united for the first time in history. The new, highly motivated confederation of Arabic tribes soon launched a series of campaigns that succeeded in spreading Arab rule, and the Muslim religion, to a large part of the civilized world.
An English Version of a Work by Muhammad
The Koran. Translated by J. M. Rodwell. London: J. M. Dent, 1994.
Works about Muhammad
Armstrong, Karen. Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1992.
Forward, Martin. Muhammad: A Short Biography. Oxford: One World, 1997.
Lings, Martin. Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources. New York: Inner Traditions International, 1983.
Rodinson, Maxime. Muhammad. New York: The New Press, 1980.
