Khatam al-Anbiya — Seal of the Prophets
Prophet Muhammad ﷺ مُحَمَّد ﷺ
The final messenger, sent as a mercy to all the worlds. Born in Makkah in the Year of the Elephant, he received his first revelation in his fortieth year and conveyed Islam over twenty-three years — thirteen in Makkah and ten in Madinah — bringing the human race its last and most complete guidance.
The Year of the Elephant
He ﷺ was born in Makkah in the year an Abyssinian Christian general named Abrahah marched on the Ka'bah with a great army and a war elephant, intending to demolish it because the Arabs would not redirect their pilgrimage to a great church he had built in Sana'a. The chief elephant — named Mahmud — refused to march toward the Ka'bah, kneeling when turned in its direction (Ibn Ishaq). Allah sent flocks of birds (ababil) that dropped pebbles of baked clay upon the army, and they were destroyed before they reached the city. Allah's verdict on the event became a permanent Surah: 'Have you not considered, [O Muhammad], how your Lord dealt with the companions of the elephant? Did He not make their plan into misguidance? And He sent against them birds in flocks, striking them with stones of hard clay, and He made them like eaten straw.' (Qur'an 105:1-5). That same year Muhammad ﷺ was born — Allah declared the sanctity of Makkah and gave the Quraysh new dignity in the same year their newborn child began his.
Birth and Naming
He ﷺ was born on a Monday — the Prophet himself confirmed this when asked about fasting Mondays: 'That is the day I was born and the day I received revelation.' (Muslim 1162). The classical year, by the lunar reckoning, was the Year of the Elephant — around 570 CE. His father Abdullah had died months before in Madinah on a trade journey. His mother Aminah named him on the seventh day. His grandfather Abdul-Muttalib took him into the Ka'bah and chose his name — Muhammad, 'the Praised One' — explaining that he hoped 'he would be praised by Allah in the heavens and by the people on the earth.' (Ibn Hisham). The name was unusual in Quraysh and had been given to only a few Arabs before him.
Halimah as-Sa'diyyah
Arab custom was to send infants of noble families to be nursed and raised by Bedouin foster-mothers in the desert, where the air and language were considered purest. Several women of Banu Sa'd came to Makkah looking for infants; none wanted the orphan boy of Aminah because his father was dead and they hoped for payment from a living parent. Halimah was the last — and reluctantly took him. From the moment she placed him at her breast, her milk overflowed; her old camel gave milk again; her sheep returned fat from the same pastures that had fed the others' sheep into thinness. The whole tribe of Sa'd, the narrations record, knew their land had been blessed because of one child (Ibn Hisham, Ibn Ishaq). He stayed with her for nearly four years.
The Splitting of the Chest
While he was still in Halimah's care, two angels in white came to him while he was playing with other children. They laid him on his back, opened his chest, removed a black clot from his heart, washed it in a basin of snow, and replaced it. (Muslim 162, recorded in the long hadith of the Isra; Bukhari mentions the incident briefly.) The other children ran to Halimah crying that Muhammad had been killed. She found him pale but unharmed. Frightened, she returned him to his mother in Makkah. The Prophet ﷺ in his old age would tell his Companions: 'My heart was opened that day and a black clot was removed — that is the share of Shaytan in every son of Adam, removed from me.' Allah refers obliquely to this opening in Surah ash-Sharh: 'Did We not open for you your breast?' (94:1).
The Death of Aminah
When he was six, Aminah took him to Madinah to visit his father's relatives and his father's grave. On the return journey to Makkah she fell ill at a place called al-Abwa and died there. The Prophet ﷺ remembered the place in later life. After the Hijrah, on one of his journeys, he visited al-Abwa and stood at her grave. He wept. The Companions wept seeing him weep. He said: 'I asked my Lord's permission to ask forgiveness for her, and He did not give me permission. I asked permission to visit her grave, and He gave me permission. So visit graves, for they remind you of death.' (Muslim 976). His was the grief, and the Sunnah of visiting graves was born from it.
The Care of Abdul-Muttalib
His grandfather Abdul-Muttalib, the chief of Quraysh, took the orphan boy into his own household. A special cushion was always laid out for the chiefs in the shade of the Ka'bah; nobody else sat on it — not even the chief's own sons. But Abdul-Muttalib placed his grandson there from a young age, saying: 'Leave him — by Allah, he will be of high standing.' (Ibn Ishaq). He kept him at his side wherever he went. When Abdul-Muttalib died, Muhammad ﷺ was eight years old. The boy walked behind the funeral, weeping uncontrollably. He was now twice orphaned — first of his parents, and now of the grandfather who had taken their place.
The Care of Abu Talib
Abdul-Muttalib's death left Muhammad ﷺ in the care of his uncle Abu Talib — full brother to Abdullah, his father. Abu Talib was not wealthy, but he loved his nephew uniquely; he is recorded as preferring his nephew's portion over his own children's. The Prophet ﷺ later said of him: 'He raised me as a son — and Allah will reward him for it.' Abu Talib protected him through every year of persecution that came later. Though he himself never declared shahadah openly (the Prophet ﷺ was deeply pained by this — see Bukhari 1360, the account of his death), the protection he gave the Prophet ﷺ kept Quraysh from killing him during the most dangerous Makkan years.
The Journey with Bahira
When Muhammad ﷺ was twelve, Abu Talib was preparing to lead a trading caravan to Sham. The boy clung to him and pleaded to come; Abu Talib relented. At Bostra in Sham, a Christian monk named Bahira lived in a cell. As the caravan passed, he noticed a small cloud over one rider that moved with him and shaded only him; the branches of a tree bent down to give him more shade when he sat. Bahira came out, asked who the boy was, examined him discreetly, found the small seal between his shoulders (khatm an-nubuwwah) described in his old books, and told Abu Talib: 'Take him back to your city quickly — keep him safe. If the people of the Book see what I have seen, they will harm him.' (Ibn Ishaq, Tirmidhi 3620). Abu Talib turned the caravan back.
The Shepherd's Years
Every prophet was a shepherd before he was a prophet. The Prophet ﷺ confirmed this directly: 'Allah did not send any prophet except that he shepherded sheep.' His Companions asked: 'You too, O Messenger of Allah?' He said: 'Yes — I used to shepherd them on the qararit (a place outside Makkah) for the people of Makkah.' (Bukhari 2262). The lesson he gave was deliberate: leading sheep teaches patience with creatures that cannot speak for themselves, the discipline of seeing every soul under your care, and the wisdom of moving slowly when the herd is tired. The character of his future leadership was formed in the hills outside Makkah, before any human knew.
Marriage to Khadijah
By his early twenties, his honesty in trade had become so well known that the Quraysh had given him one title: Al-Amin — the Trustworthy. Khadijah bint Khuwaylid was a widow of high lineage and considerable wealth, twice married before. She had heard of his honesty and hired him to lead a caravan of hers to Sham, sending her servant Maysarah with him. Maysarah returned reporting marvels: a cloud shading the young man, monks pointing to him, and double the usual profit. Khadijah sent her friend Nafisah to discreetly inquire if he would marry. He agreed. She was forty; he was twenty-five. He gave her twenty young camels as dowry. Of all his marriages later, she was the one whose memory he honored with the greatest tenderness; even after her death, he would slaughter a sheep and send portions to her old friends in her name (Bukhari 3818).
Children with Khadijah
From Khadijah he had four daughters and two sons: Qasim, Zaynab, Ruqayyah, Umm Kulthum, Fatimah, and Abdullah. Both his sons died in infancy in Makkah. He was so devastated by Qasim's death that the disbelievers mocked him as al-abtar — the cut-off, the man with no male heir to carry his name. Allah responded with one of the shortest Surahs in the Qur'an, defending him directly: 'Indeed, We have granted you al-Kawthar. So pray to your Lord and sacrifice. Indeed, your enemy is the one cut off.' (Qur'an 108:1-3). Al-Kawthar — the abundance, a river in Paradise — would be his portion. His daughter Fatimah would become the mother of all the descendants who carry his line to the Day of Resurrection.
The Rebuilding of the Ka'bah
When he was thirty-five, the Quraysh rebuilt the Ka'bah after a flash flood damaged its walls. They divided the work among the tribes. When the time came to lift the Black Stone (al-Hajar al-Aswad) into its corner, the tribes nearly went to war over which of them would have the honor of carrying it. They withdrew their weapons and agreed to abide by the judgement of the next person to enter the haram. The first man through the gate was Muhammad ﷺ. They cried: 'Al-Amin! We are pleased!' He spread his cloak on the ground, placed the stone in its center, and asked the chief of each tribe to take a corner of the cloak. They carried it together to the wall. He then took the stone in his own hand and set it in its place. A near-civil-war was averted by a creative compromise — and the entire incident is recorded in the major Sirah collections (Ibn Hisham, Ibn Ishaq).
The Cave of Hira
He began to withdraw from the noise of Makkah and seclude himself in the cave of Hira on Jabal an-Nur — the Mountain of Light, about three miles north-east of the Ka'bah. He would take simple provisions and stay for days, fasting, reflecting on the heavens and the people below. Aisha narrated: 'The first revelation that came to him was true visions in his sleep — every vision came as the breaking of the dawn. Then he was made to love seclusion. He would go to the cave of Hira and worship there for many nights before returning to his family.' (Bukhari 3). His worship was the worship of Ibrahim — the natural tawhid still preserved in some Arab souls — but not yet the Salah. The Salah would come later.
The First Revelation
In his fortieth year, in the month of Ramadan, on a night the Qur'an itself names — Laylat al-Qadr — the angel Jibril came to him in the cave. He pressed him three times so hard he could not breathe, and said: 'Read!' (Iqra). The Prophet ﷺ answered: 'I am not one who reads.' (Ma ana bi-qari'). The angel pressed him again, then released him: 'Read, in the name of your Lord who created — created man from a clinging clot. Read, and your Lord is the Most Generous, who taught by the pen, taught man that which he knew not.' (Qur'an 96:1-5, full text in Bukhari 3). The first five verses of the Qur'an. The first word: Iqra — Read. He repeated the words after Jibril until they were written on his heart. Then the angel was gone.
اقْرَأْ بِاسْمِ رَبِّكَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ خَلَقَ الْإِنسَانَ مِنْ عَلَقٍ اقْرَأْ وَرَبُّكَ الْأَكْرَمُ الَّذِي عَلَّمَ بِالْقَلَمِ عَلَّمَ الْإِنسَانَ مَا لَمْ يَعْلَمْ
Iqra' bi-smi rabbika lladhi khalaq. Khalaqa l-insana min 'alaq. Iqra' wa rabbuka l-akram. Alladhi 'allama bi-l-qalam. 'Allama l-insana ma lam ya'lam.
Read! In the name of your Lord who created — created man from a clinging clot. Read! And your Lord is the Most Generous, who taught by the pen, taught man what he knew not. The first verses ever revealed of the Qur'an. The choice of the first word — Iqra (read) — is itself a sign: revelation begins with knowledge, and knowledge begins with reading.
كَانَ أَوَّلُ مَا بُدِئَ بِهِ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ﷺ مِنَ الْوَحْيِ الرُّؤْيَا الصَّالِحَةُ فِي النَّوْمِ، فَكَانَ لَا يَرَى رُؤْيَا إِلَّا جَاءَتْ مِثْلَ فَلَقِ الصُّبْحِ
The first revelation that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ received was the form of true dreams in his sleep — he would not see a dream but it would come like the breaking of the dawn. (Aisha narrates the full account of the first encounter with Jibril in the cave of Hira.) The longest hadith on the start of revelation, narrated by Aisha. Bukhari opens his whole Sahih with it.
The Heart of Khadijah
He returned home trembling, his face pale, and said to Khadijah: 'Cover me, cover me' (zammiluni, zammiluni). She wrapped him in his cloak. When the trembling subsided he told her what had happened and feared for himself. She said the words for which every Muslim woman is still in her debt: 'No, by Allah, Allah will never humiliate you. You keep good relations with your kin, you carry the weak, you give to the poor, you host the guest, and you aid the afflicted.' (Bukhari 3). She took him to her cousin Waraqah ibn Nawfal — an old man, blind, who had become a Christian and learned the older scriptures. Waraqah heard the account and said: 'This is the great Namus (the angel Jibril) who came to Musa. I wish I were young, that I might be alive when your people drive you out.' He said: 'They will drive me out?' Waraqah said: 'Yes — no man has ever brought what you bring without being treated with hostility. And if I live to see your day, I will support you with strength.' (Bukhari 3).
The Pause and the Return
After the first revelation, Jibril did not return for a period the classical scholars place at several weeks. The Prophet ﷺ grew anxious; the early Muslims grew anxious for him. Then Allah sent down Surah ad-Duha — one of the most personally consoling chapters in the Qur'an: 'By the morning brightness, and by the night when it covers in darkness — your Lord has not abandoned you, nor has He become displeased. And the Hereafter is better for you than the first life. And your Lord is going to give you, and you will be satisfied. Did He not find you an orphan and give you refuge? And He found you wandering and guided. And He found you in need and made you self-sufficient. So as for the orphan, do not oppress. And as for the petitioner, do not repel. But as for the favor of your Lord, report it.' (Qur'an 93:1-11). The Surah names every chapter of his early life — orphanhood, wandering, need — and reframes it as preparation. Revelation then returned and continued for the next twenty-three years.
وَالضُّحَىٰ وَاللَّيْلِ إِذَا سَجَىٰ مَا وَدَّعَكَ رَبُّكَ وَمَا قَلَىٰ وَلَلْآخِرَةُ خَيْرٌ لَّكَ مِنَ الْأُولَىٰ وَلَسَوْفَ يُعْطِيكَ رَبُّكَ فَتَرْضَىٰ
Wa-d-duha. Wa-l-layli idha saja. Ma wadda'aka rabbuka wa ma qala. Wa la-l-akhiratu khayrun laka min al-ula. Wa la-sawfa yu'tika rabbuka fa-tarda.
By the morning brightness, and by the night when it covers in darkness — your Lord has not abandoned you, nor has He become displeased. And the Hereafter is better for you than the first life. And your Lord is going to give you, and you will be satisfied.
The Secret Call
For the first three years of his prophethood, the call was secret. He invited only those he was closest to. The first to believe was his wife Khadijah. The first man from the free was his closest friend Abu Bakr. The first child was his cousin Ali, ten years old, raised in his own household. The first freedman was Zayd ibn Harithah, whom he had freed years before. These four are sometimes called as-Sabiqun al-Awwalun — the first forerunners. Through Abu Bakr came many of the early converts: Uthman ibn Affan, az-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam, Abdur-Rahman ibn Awf, Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas, Talhah ibn Ubaydillah. They met in the house of al-Arqam — a wealthy young man who offered his home as a school — at the foot of Mount Safa. The first masjid of Islam was a private house.
The Open Call from Mount Safa
After three years, Allah commanded openness: 'And warn your closest kindred' (Qur'an 26:214) and 'Then declare what you are commanded and turn away from the polytheists' (15:94). The Prophet ﷺ climbed Mount Safa and called out the names of every clan of Quraysh, one by one. When they had gathered, he said: 'If I told you that an army was behind this mountain about to attack you, would you believe me?' They said: 'Yes — we have never known you to lie.' He said: 'Then I am a warner to you of a severe punishment.' His own uncle Abu Lahab cried: 'Tabban laka — may you perish! Is this why you gathered us?' (Bukhari 4770). Allah answered Abu Lahab in a Surah of his own: 'Perish the hands of Abu Lahab, and perish he. His wealth will not avail him, nor whatever he has gained. He will burn in a Fire of blazing flames.' (Qur'an 111:1-3). The opposition had begun.
The Persecution of the Weak
Quraysh could not touch the Prophet ﷺ himself because of Abu Talib's protection. They turned their fury on the weak: slaves, freedmen, women without tribal protection. Bilal ibn Rabah was pinned in the desert sun under a great rock; he repeated 'Ahad, Ahad' (One, One) until Abu Bakr came and bought his freedom. Sumayyah bint Khayyat — wife of Yasir, mother of Ammar — was speared by Abu Jahl for refusing to renounce Islam; she became the first martyr (shahidah) of Islam. Her husband Yasir died from his tortures shortly after. Their son Ammar, still a boy, was tortured to the point that words came out of his mouth against the Prophet ﷺ. He returned to him weeping; Allah revealed: 'Whoever disbelieves in Allah after his belief — except for one who is forced while his heart is secure in faith — but those who let their breast be opened to disbelief, upon them is wrath from Allah and they will have a great punishment.' (Qur'an 16:106). The Prophet ﷺ reassured Ammar: 'If they return to it, return to it.' (Bayhaqi).
The First Migration to Abyssinia
As the persecution worsened, the Prophet ﷺ told a small group of believers: 'There is in Abyssinia a king under whom no one is wronged. Go there until Allah makes a way for you.' (Ibn Hisham). In the fifth year of prophethood, eleven men and four women — among them Uthman ibn Affan with his wife Ruqayyah (the Prophet's ﷺ daughter), and Ja'far ibn Abi Talib (Ali's brother) — secretly slipped to the port and crossed the Red Sea. The Negus (an-Najashi) of Abyssinia received them with honor. It was the first Hijrah in Islam — the first migration of a believing community for the sake of faith. The number of emigrants grew to over eighty in the years that followed.
Ja'far Before the Negus
Quraysh sent envoys with gifts to the Negus, demanding the Muslims be returned. The Negus called the Muslims to defend themselves. Ja'far ibn Abi Talib spoke for them with words that have echoed in Muslim memory ever since: 'O King, we were a people of ignorance, worshipping idols, eating dead meat, committing every kind of abomination, severing the ties of kinship, treating the strong as our right and the weak as our prey. Then Allah sent us a Messenger from among ourselves whose lineage, truthfulness, trustworthiness, and chastity we knew. He called us to Allah alone — to worship Him and reject the stones and idols our fathers worshipped…' He then recited Surah Maryam from its opening down to the words: 'Peace be upon him the day he was born, the day he dies, and the day he is raised alive' (19:33) — the verses about Isa, son of Maryam. The Negus wept until his beard was wet. He drew a line in the sand and said: 'By Allah, what your Prophet brought and what Isa brought come from the same lamp.' He refused to surrender them. (Ibn Hisham, Bayhaqi). The Negus later accepted Islam in secret; when he died, the Prophet ﷺ led his funeral prayer in absence from Madinah.
The Boycott of Banu Hashim
In the seventh year of prophethood, Quraysh decreed a comprehensive boycott of the Prophet's ﷺ clan — Banu Hashim — and their allies Banu al-Muttalib. They wrote the terms of the boycott on a parchment and hung it inside the Ka'bah: no marriage with them, no trade with them, no contact with them until they handed over Muhammad ﷺ. The clan retreated into a narrow valley (Shi'b Abi Talib) outside the city. For three years they endured hunger so severe that mothers ate leaves and their children's cries could be heard outside the valley. The boycott ended when termites ate the parchment inside the Ka'bah — leaving only the words 'In Your Name, O Allah.' The Prophet ﷺ told his uncle Abu Talib of the miracle before it was discovered; Abu Talib went to Quraysh and challenged them to verify it. They found the parchment as he said. Several Quraysh leaders ended the boycott in shame. Soon after, both Abu Talib and Khadijah died, weakened by the privations of the boycott.
The Year of Sorrow
The tenth year of prophethood is called 'Am al-Huzn — the Year of Sorrow. In a single year he lost both Abu Talib (his protector) and Khadijah (his wife, his first believer, the mother of his children). The Quraysh sensed his weakness and intensified persecution; one man even threw dust on him in the streets of Makkah. His daughter Fatimah, still young, wept and wiped the dust from his face. He said: 'Do not weep, my little one — Allah will protect your father.' (Bukhari 240, 3185). In the depth of this grief, he travelled to the nearby town of Ta'if hoping for refuge among the tribe of Thaqif.
The Journey to Ta'if
He walked to Ta'if with Zayd ibn Harithah, his freedman and adopted son. He spent ten days there meeting the chiefs of Thaqif. Not only did they reject him, they sent the children and slaves of the town to chase him out, pelting him with stones until his sandals filled with blood and Zayd was wounded shielding him. He took refuge in an orchard outside the town. Beneath a grape vine he made one of the most heartbreaking du'as in the whole Sirah: 'O Allah, to You I complain of my weakness, my lack of resource, and my lowliness before men. O Most Merciful of the merciful, You are the Lord of the weak, and You are my Lord. To whom would You leave me? To a distant stranger who will sour his face at me, or to an enemy You have given mastery over my affair? If You are not angry with me, I do not care…' (Tabarani). Jibril came to him with the angel of the mountains, who offered to crush Ta'if between the two mountains. He answered: 'No — I hope that Allah will bring out of their loins those who will worship Allah alone.' (Bukhari 3231, Muslim 1795). Centuries later, Ta'if became a stronghold of Islam.
The Isra and Mi'raj
In that same period of grief, Allah comforted him with a journey no human had been given. He was sleeping in the Hijr by the Ka'bah when Jibril came. The Buraq — a creature 'whose stride was as far as the eye could see' — was brought. He was taken in a single night to al-Masjid al-Aqsa in Jerusalem, where he led all the prophets in prayer. From the Rock he was raised through the seven heavens. He met Adam in the first, Yahya and Isa in the second, Yusuf in the third, Idris in the fourth, Harun in the fifth, Musa in the sixth, and Ibrahim in the seventh leaning against the Bayt al-Ma'mur — the heavenly Ka'bah circumambulated by 70,000 angels daily. (Bukhari 3207, Muslim 162). He was raised beyond the Sidrat al-Muntaha — the Lote-Tree of the Furthest Boundary — where 'the sight did not swerve, nor did it transgress' (Qur'an 53:17). There the obligation of fifty daily prayers was given. On Musa's advice he returned to ask for reduction; the prayers were reduced to five, with the reward of fifty. The Quraysh laughed when he told them. Abu Bakr believed without hesitation — and from that day he was known as As-Siddiq, the Truthful, the Confirmer.
The Pledges of Aqaba
In the eleventh year of prophethood, six men of Yathrib (Madinah) met him at Aqaba near Makkah during the Hajj season. They had heard from their Jewish neighbors that a prophet was awaited; they recognized him at once and accepted Islam. The next year — the First Pledge of Aqaba — twelve men of Yathrib pledged to him: 'not to associate anything with Allah, not to steal, not to commit fornication, not to kill their children, not to slander, and not to disobey him in what was right.' (Bukhari 18). He sent Mus'ab ibn Umayr back with them to teach them the Qur'an. A year later — the Second Pledge of Aqaba — seventy-three men and two women came, ready to receive the Prophet ﷺ in their city and protect him as they protected their own wives and children. The Hijrah was prepared.
The Plot Against Him
Quraysh in council, in the building of Dar an-Nadwah, debated how to be rid of him. Iblis was present in the form of an old man from Najd, the narrations say, contributing arguments. They settled on a plan: a young man from each clan of Quraysh would strike him together, so that his blood-vengeance would be scattered across so many clans that Banu Hashim could not retaliate against any one. Allah revealed the plot to His Messenger ﷺ: 'And recall when those who disbelieved plotted against you to restrain you or kill you or evict you — and they plotted, and Allah plotted, and Allah is the best of plotters.' (Qur'an 8:30). The night was set. The young men gathered outside his house with drawn swords.
The Cave of Thawr
He told Ali to sleep in his bed wearing his green cloak; the assassins would think it was him. He recited Surah Ya-Sin from its opening to verse 9: 'And We have put before them a barrier, and behind them a barrier, and covered them so they do not see' (36:9). He walked out among them, throwing a handful of dust over their heads. None of them saw him. He went to the house of Abu Bakr — who had been preparing two camels for this journey for months — and the two of them slipped out by night through a back road, heading south (the opposite direction from Madinah) to throw off pursuers. They hid for three nights in the cave of Thawr. Quraysh's pursuers came to the very mouth of the cave; Abu Bakr saw their feet and whispered: 'O Messenger of Allah, if one of them looks down at his feet, he will see us.' He answered: 'What do you think of two when Allah is the third?' (Qur'an 9:40 records the moment: 'When the two were in the cave, when he said to his companion, Do not grieve; indeed Allah is with us.'). Allah blinded the searchers' eyes.
Arrival in Madinah
They emerged after three nights, mounted the camels, and travelled north along an unused road, guided by a man named Abdullah ibn Urayqit. They reached the village of Quba on the outskirts of Madinah, where the Prophet ﷺ stayed several days and laid the foundations of the first masjid built on tawhid — Masjid Quba. The verse 'a mosque founded on righteousness from the first day is more deserving that you stand in it' (Qur'an 9:108) refers to it. He then entered Madinah on a Friday and led the first jumu'ah prayer in the valley of the Banu Salim. The whole city came out to receive him — women on rooftops, children in the streets, the famous song 'tala'a al-badru 'alayna — the full moon has risen upon us from the valleys of Wada'.' Every clan of Madinah invited him to stay with them. He answered: 'Leave the camel — she is commanded.' His camel knelt at last at an empty plot of land owned by two orphan boys. He bought the land from them at a fair price. There he built the Masjid an-Nabawi.
The Masjid an-Nabawi
The first Masjid an-Nabawi was simple: walls of unbaked brick, a roof of palm fronds and palm trunks for pillars, a sand floor. The Prophet ﷺ himself carried bricks with the Companions, reciting: 'O Allah, no life is the life except the life of the next world — so honor the Ansar and the Muhajirin.' The qiblah faced Bayt al-Maqdis in Jerusalem at first. Adjoining the masjid were small rooms for his wives (the hujurat). A covered area outside was set aside for the homeless and the seekers of knowledge — the people of the Suffah — who lived on the dates the Prophet ﷺ and the Companions sent them. The masjid became the center of every Muslim activity: prayer, education, council, the receiving of delegations, the launching of expeditions, the courtroom of justice. The model of every later masjid in Islam descends from this one.
The Brotherhood
The Muhajirun arrived in Madinah with nothing. The Ansar opened their homes. The Prophet ﷺ formalized the relationship with an institution found in no other prophet's life: he paired each Muhajir with an Ansari as a brother — closer than blood. The Ansari gave his Muhajir brother half of his property and even (in some cases) offered to divorce one of his wives so the Muhajir could marry her. The Muhajirun were touched but, characteristically, refused: 'Show me the way to the market — I will earn my own bread,' said Abdur-Rahman ibn Awf to his Ansari brother. He went to the market and became one of the wealthiest of the Companions. The Qur'an honors the Ansar in unique terms: 'And those who were settled in the home and in the faith before them — they love those who emigrated to them, and they find not any want in their breasts of what the Muhajirun were given, but give them preference over themselves, even though they themselves are in privation.' (Qur'an 59:9).
The Madinah Charter
Madinah at his arrival held Muslims (Muhajirun and Ansar), three Jewish tribes (Banu Qaynuqa, Banu an-Nadir, Banu Qurayza), and pagan Arab clans not yet Muslim. The Prophet ﷺ drew up a written constitution — recorded in full by Ibn Ishaq — that established Madinah as one ummah while preserving the autonomy of each community in religion and internal law. Jews were guaranteed their religion, property, and freedom; they were obligated to share the defense of Madinah; armed conflict between communities was forbidden; disputes that crossed communities would be brought to the Prophet ﷺ for arbitration. The document is among the earliest written constitutions of any society — the first pluralistic city-state under a single rule of law.
The Change of Qiblah
For sixteen or seventeen months in Madinah, the Muslims prayed facing Bayt al-Maqdis in Jerusalem — the qiblah of the prophets before Muhammad ﷺ. He yearned for the Ka'bah, the qiblah of Ibrahim, to be restored. Allah saw him 'turning your face about the sky' (Qur'an 2:144) and revealed: 'We have certainly seen the turning of your face toward the heaven, and We will surely turn you to a qiblah that will please you. So turn your face toward al-Masjid al-Haram, and wherever you may be — turn your faces toward it.' (2:144). The change came during a Dhuhr prayer at the Masjid of Banu Salimah (now called Masjid al-Qiblatayn — the Masjid of Two Qiblahs). Mid-prayer, the Prophet ﷺ and the worshippers behind him turned 180 degrees, completing the prayer toward the Ka'bah. The Jews of Madinah, who had assumed the qiblah of Jerusalem confirmed a sub-rank to their own tradition, were unsettled. The Qur'an addressed it directly (2:142-150) — the qiblah was a test of who would follow the Messenger and who would turn back.
Badr
In the second year of Hijrah, in Ramadan, the Prophet ﷺ set out with 313 men intending only to intercept a Quraysh caravan returning from Sham. Abu Sufyan, the caravan leader, sensed danger and rerouted to the coast — but also sent for Quraysh's army. A force of around 1,000 men, fully armed, with cavalry and tribal banners, marched out from Makkah to crush the Muslims. The Prophet ﷺ consulted his Companions. Abu Bakr spoke. Umar spoke. Then al-Miqdad ibn al-Aswad said: 'O Messenger of Allah, go where Allah has commanded — we are with you. We will not say to you what the Children of Israel said to Musa: You and your Lord go and fight — we are sitting here. Rather: You and your Lord go and fight, and we will fight with you.' (Bukhari). They met at the wells of Badr. The Prophet ﷺ spent the night in du'a, weeping: 'O Allah, if this small band is destroyed, You will not be worshipped on the earth.' (Muslim 1763). Allah sent angels — a thousand of them, then three thousand, then five thousand (Qur'an 8:9, 3:124-125). The Quraysh army was scattered. Their chiefs — Abu Jahl, Utbah, Shaybah, al-Walid — were killed. Seventy were captured. The Qur'an commemorated the victory in Surah al-Anfal: 'You did not kill them; rather, Allah killed them. And you, [O Muhammad], did not throw when you threw, but it was Allah who threw.' (8:17).
Uhud
A year after Badr, Quraysh returned for revenge with 3,000 men — including 700 mailed warriors and 200 cavalry. The Prophet ﷺ took 1,000 men out of Madinah; on the road, the hypocrite Abdullah ibn Ubayy turned back with 300 of his followers, leaving 700. The Muslims took position on the slope of Mount Uhud. The Prophet ﷺ stationed fifty archers on a low hill to guard the rear. His instruction was absolute: 'Do not leave your position even if you see us being defeated. Do not leave it even if you see the birds picking at our corpses.' (Bukhari 3039, 4043). The battle began. The Muslims drove the Quraysh into retreat. The archers — seeing the rout and fearing they would lose their share of booty — abandoned the hill. Khalid ibn al-Walid, then still a Quraysh commander, swept his cavalry around the undefended rear. The Muslims were caught between two forces. Hamzah ibn Abdul-Muttalib — the Prophet's ﷺ uncle, the Lion of Allah, his greatest warrior — was killed by a slave named Wahshi at the hire of Hind bint Utbah. The Prophet's ﷺ helmet was driven into his cheek; his tooth was broken; blood ran down his face. He said: 'How will a people prosper who have done this to their prophet?' Allah revealed: 'And do not think of those who have been killed in the cause of Allah as dead — rather, they are alive with their Lord, receiving provision.' (Qur'an 3:169). Seventy Muslims were martyred. The lesson of Uhud — that disobeying the Prophet's ﷺ instruction even once, even out of seeming victory, brought defeat — was permanently etched into the conscience of the ummah.
The Battle of the Trench
In the fifth year of Hijrah, the surviving leaders of Quraysh joined with the Jewish tribe of Banu an-Nadir (expelled from Madinah earlier), with Ghatafan, and with several large Arab tribes to assemble a coalition of 10,000 men — the largest army the Arabs had ever fielded — to march on Madinah and end Islam. The Prophet ﷺ consulted. Salman al-Farisi, a Persian Companion, suggested a tactic unfamiliar to the Arabs: a trench (khandaq) around the exposed northern side of Madinah. The Companions and the Prophet ﷺ himself dug the trench for many days. Hunger was severe. The Prophet ﷺ tied a stone against his stomach to suppress the pangs (Bukhari 4101). They struck a great rock that none of them could break. The Prophet ﷺ took the pickaxe himself and struck it with three blows, each one producing a great flash of light, prophesying — within the same trench — the eventual conquest of Sham, Persia, and Yemen by the Muslims (Ahmad). The siege lasted nearly a month. Banu Qurayza inside Madinah broke their treaty and joined the besiegers. Allah sent a freezing wind that toppled the enemy tents, scattered their fires, and broke their morale. They withdrew in disarray. The Qur'an records: 'O you who have believed, remember the favor of Allah upon you when armies came to attack you and We sent upon them a wind and armies you did not see.' (Qur'an 33:9).
Hudaybiyyah
In the sixth year of Hijrah, the Prophet ﷺ saw a vision that he and his Companions would enter Makkah safely and perform Umrah. He set out with 1,400 Companions in the white clothes of ihram, unarmed except for travel-swords. Quraysh, alarmed, sent cavalry to block him. He turned aside and camped at Hudaybiyyah on the edge of the haram. After weeks of envoys, a treaty was signed: the Muslims would return to Madinah this year without entering Makkah; the next year they could enter for three days; there would be a ten-year truce; any from Quraysh who came to the Muslims without their guardian's permission would be returned, but any from the Muslims who went to Quraysh would not be. The terms felt humiliating. Umar in particular asked the Prophet ﷺ again and again: 'Are you not the Messenger of Allah? Are we not upon the truth?' The Prophet ﷺ answered with a steadiness that became a model for every believer: 'Yes — and I am the servant of Allah, His Messenger; I will not disobey His command, and He will not forsake me.' (Bukhari 2731). On the return road Allah revealed Surah al-Fath: 'Indeed, We have given you a clear conquest (innaa fatahnaa laka fathan mubina).' (48:1). The two years that followed showed why: more Arabs accepted Islam during the truce than in all the previous years combined.
Khaybar and the Letters to Kings
After Hudaybiyyah, the Prophet ﷺ secured the northern frontier by neutralizing the Jewish fortresses of Khaybar — the last hostile power within reach of Madinah — in the seventh year of Hijrah. Then, freed from immediate threat, he turned to the world. He dictated letters to the great powers of the day inviting them to Islam: to Heraclius the Roman emperor at Constantinople, to Khosrow II of Persia, to the Negus of Abyssinia, to al-Muqawqis the Coptic ruler of Egypt, to al-Harith the chieftain of Ghassan, to the king of Yamamah. To Heraclius, the letter began: 'In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Especially Merciful. From Muhammad, the servant and Messenger of Allah, to Heraclius, the great of the Romans. Peace be upon whoever follows the guidance.' Heraclius read the letter and treated it with respect (Bukhari 7 records his lengthy interrogation of Abu Sufyan about Muhammad's ﷺ character). Khosrow tore his letter. The Prophet ﷺ said: 'May Allah tear his kingdom.' Within years, the Persian empire was torn from him and never recovered. The Negus, who had once received the migrants, accepted Islam in secret and died as a Muslim.
The Conquest of Makkah
Two years after Hudaybiyyah, Quraysh's allies attacked an ally of the Muslims, breaking the treaty. The Prophet ﷺ marched on Makkah with 10,000 Companions in the eighth year of Hijrah, Ramadan. He kept the march secret; the Quraysh did not know until the campfires were already lit on the hills outside the city. Abu Sufyan, the chief of Quraysh, was brought to the Prophet's ﷺ tent at night by al-Abbas (the Prophet's ﷺ uncle, now a Muslim). Abu Sufyan accepted Islam there in the dark. The next morning, the Muslims entered Makkah from four directions. There was almost no resistance. The Prophet ﷺ rode in with his head lowered upon his camel until his beard touched the saddle, in humility before the Lord who had returned him to the city that had driven him out. He went to the Ka'bah. There were 360 idols around it; he pointed his staff at each, reciting: 'Truth has come, and falsehood has departed. Indeed falsehood is ever bound to depart.' (Qur'an 17:81). Each fell as he pointed. He entered the Ka'bah, cleared the idols inside, and prayed two rak'ahs. He came out and stood at the door before the Quraysh who had once driven him out, tortured his Companions, and tried to kill him. He said: 'What do you think I am about to do with you?' They said: 'Good — a noble brother, the son of a noble brother.' He said: 'Go — you are free. No reproach upon you this day. May Allah forgive you. He is the Most Merciful of the merciful.' (the words echo Yusuf's words to his brothers in Qur'an 12:92). On that day Bilal climbed to the roof of the Ka'bah and gave the adhan — the call of Tawhid restored over the House of Ibrahim.
Hunayn and Ta'if
Two weeks after Makkah, the tribes of Hawazin and Thaqif — based in the valleys around Ta'if — mobilized to attack the new Muslim power. The Prophet ﷺ marched out with 12,000 men, the largest Muslim army yet assembled. Some of the new Muslims murmured: 'We will not be defeated today for lack of numbers.' Allah corrected them: 'On the day of Hunayn, when your great numbers pleased you but availed you nothing — and the earth was straitened for you despite its vastness — and you turned back, retreating.' (Qur'an 9:25). At Hunayn the Muslim front broke and fled under a surprise attack from a narrow valley. The Prophet ﷺ stood on his mule, calling out: 'I am the Prophet, no lie! I am the son of Abdul-Muttalib!' (Bukhari 2864). Al-Abbas, with his powerful voice, called the Companions back: 'O people of the Tree (those who pledged at Hudaybiyyah)! O people of Surat al-Baqarah!' They returned. Allah sent His tranquility and 'soldiers you did not see' (Qur'an 9:26). The Hawazin were defeated. The siege of Ta'if that followed ended without a final victory; the Prophet ﷺ withdrew and Ta'if accepted Islam peacefully soon after.
Tabuk
In the ninth year of Hijrah, word reached Madinah that the Byzantine Romans were assembling on the northern frontier to invade. It was a year of severe drought and intense summer heat (the journey was later called Ghazwat al-'Usrah — the Expedition of Hardship). The Prophet ﷺ called for a general mobilization — the first he had ever called openly by name. The wealthy gave abundantly: Uthman ibn Affan donated 1,000 camels, 70 horses, and 10,000 dinars; Umar gave half of all he owned; Abu Bakr gave all that he owned, telling the Prophet ﷺ: 'I have left Allah and His Messenger for my family.' The Muslims marched 700 km north to Tabuk in the heat. The Byzantine army did not show. The Prophet ﷺ camped in Tabuk for twenty days, made treaties with the surrounding peoples, and returned. Three Companions had stayed back without an excuse — Ka'b ibn Malik, Hilal ibn Umayyah, and Murarah ibn ar-Rabi'. They were socially boycotted by the entire community on the Prophet's ﷺ order for fifty days. Then Allah revealed their repentance accepted: 'And to the three who were left behind, until when the earth was straitened for them in all its vastness and their own souls were straitened to them — and they knew there was no refuge from Allah except in Him — He turned to them so they might repent.' (Qur'an 9:118). The story of those three is the Qur'an's lesson that truthfulness — even truthfulness that costs everything — is the gate of Allah's mercy.
The Year of Delegations
The ninth year of Hijrah became known as 'Am al-Wufud — the Year of Delegations. Tribes from every corner of Arabia, having seen Islam victorious at Makkah and the Romans not opposing it at Tabuk, sent emissaries to Madinah to accept Islam and learn its teachings. The Prophet ﷺ received them at the Masjid an-Nabawi day after day. He taught them the prayer, the zakah, the basics of the religion, and sent representatives back with them to instruct their tribes. Among them were the delegations of Banu Tamim, of Najran (the Christian delegation, with whom the famous Mubahalah was offered — Qur'an 3:61), of Ta'if, of Hadramawt, of Yemen. Within a single year, the Arabian Peninsula had become Muslim by treaty or by faith. Allah revealed Surah al-Hujurat to instruct the community on how to deal with the new converts and the new etiquette of a vast ummah.
The Farewell Hajj
In the tenth year of Hijrah, the Prophet ﷺ announced that he would make Hajj. Around 100,000 Muslims joined him. At Arafat, on the back of his she-camel al-Qaswa, before the gathered ummah, he delivered the Farewell Sermon (Khutbat al-Wada'). He began by asking them to listen — for he did not know if he would meet them again. He affirmed the sanctity of life, property, and honor among Muslims: 'Your blood, your property, and your honor are sacred to one another like the sanctity of this day, of this month, of this place.' He abolished riba — beginning with the riba owed to his own uncle Abbas. He abolished the blood-feuds of the Jahiliyyah, beginning with the blood owed to his own clan. He warned the men of their obligations to their wives, and the women of their obligations to their husbands. He affirmed: 'O people, your Lord is one. Your father is one. All of you are from Adam, and Adam is from dust. There is no superiority of an Arab over a non-Arab, nor of a non-Arab over an Arab, nor of a red person over a black person nor of a black person over a red one — except in piety.' (Ahmad 22978). He concluded: 'I have left among you that which, if you hold to it firmly, you will never go astray after me — the Book of Allah and my Sunnah.' (Hakim, Muwatta). At each part he asked the people: 'Have I conveyed?' They cried: 'Yes!' He raised his finger to the sky: 'O Allah, bear witness.' Soon after, while still at Arafat on the camel, Allah revealed: 'This day I have perfected for you your religion and completed My favor upon you and approved Islam as your religion.' (Qur'an 5:3). Abu Bakr wept on hearing it; he understood it meant the Prophet ﷺ would be leaving them soon.
The Final Illness
Three months after the Hajj, the Prophet ﷺ fell ill with a severe fever. He continued leading the prayer until the illness made it impossible. He then asked Aisha: 'Where am I tomorrow? Where am I the day after?' — asking when he would be in her apartment, where he wished to spend his last days. His wives, understanding, agreed unanimously to let him be nursed there. He appointed Abu Bakr to lead the prayers in his stead. Three times he tried to come out to attend the prayer himself, supported between al-Abbas and Ali; on his last appearance, he sat next to Abu Bakr who was leading, and prayed sitting. The Companions afterwards remembered how he had pulled aside the curtain of Aisha's apartment to look at them praying behind Abu Bakr and smiled — they had not seen his smile in days.
His Return to His Lord
On a Monday in the month of Rabi' al-Awwal of the eleventh year of Hijrah, his condition worsened. He had a small vessel of water and would dip his hand and wipe his face, saying: 'There is no god but Allah — death has its agonies' (Bukhari 4449). Toward the end he said in a low voice: 'Allahumma, ar-rafiq al-a'la — O Allah, the highest companions… the highest companions.' (Bukhari 4435). Aisha said: 'He died with his head between my chin and my chest.' Umar refused to believe it and threatened to strike anyone who said the Prophet ﷺ had died. Abu Bakr came in, kissed his forehead, and came out and steadied the ummah with words that have steadied it ever since: 'Whoever used to worship Muhammad — Muhammad has died. And whoever used to worship Allah — Allah is alive, He does not die.' He recited: 'Muhammad is not but a messenger. Other messengers have passed on before him. So if he was to die or be killed, would you turn back on your heels?' (Qur'an 3:144). Umar's legs gave way; he had not, he said, realized the verse had ever been revealed until that moment. The Prophet ﷺ was buried in Aisha's room, where he had died — and his grave is there to this day, beneath the green dome that pilgrims see when they enter Madinah.
Lessons
- Mercy is the heart of his message — he was sent as a mercy to all the worlds (Qur'an 21:107).
- Difficulty precedes ease — every setback (Ta'if, Uhud, Hudaybiyyah) opened a greater door.
- Character is the proof of prophecy — he was Al-Amin long before he was the Prophet ﷺ.
- Forgiveness is the highest victory — at the conquest of Makkah he released those who had tortured his Companions.
- The Ummah is a single family — no superiority by race or wealth, only by taqwa.
- The Book of Allah and the Sunnah are the two ropes left for us — whoever holds to them will not go astray.
- Allah does not die; the work of the Prophet ﷺ continues until the Day of Resurrection.
Quran references
33:21 · 33:40-46 · 48:1-29 · 53:1-18 · 94:1-8 · 96:1-19 · 105:1-5 · 108:1-3