His Life

The Prophet (s) was born c. 570 CE in Mecca to an Arabic family of Banu Hashim of tribe Quraysh. His father, Abdullah, died six months before his birth. After birth he lived with a foster mother, Halimah, until age of 2 years old. His biological mother, Amina, died when he was at age six years old. Next two years he lived with his grandfather, Abd Almutalib, until grandfather died. Then he moved to the care of his uncle, Abu Talib, until adulthood. He helped his uncle, Abu Talib, on trading journeys to Syria and later became a merchant himself. For his upright character he was named "al-Sadiq", truthful, "al-Amin", trustworthy. He married Khadijah c. 595 CE.

The Prophet (s) used to go to the Mount Hira near Mecca for several weeks every year to practice meditation alone. c. 610 CE, the angel Gabriel appeared to him as a messenger of Allah and commanded him to recite the first verses of Quran, which said in approximate translation from Arabic language: "Read in the name of your Lord Who created, He created man from a clot, Read and your Lord is Most Honorable, Who taught (to write) with the pen, Taught man what he knew not".

The first woman who believed in his prophecy was his wife, Khadijah, and when later he approached his family Banu Hashim, the first and the only man who believed in him was, Ali (a), the son of his uncle, Abu Talib, who was still in teen age. At this meeting the Prophet (s) told his family that Ali (a) is his successor but they mocked them both. After 3 years of secret spreading of the message of Islam, the Prophet (s) started to approach public but very few people believed in him. He gathered few followers around him but they were all persecuted by the powerful tribe of Quraysh. However, the Prophet (s) had the protection and the support of his uncle, Abu Talib. The situation got worse after Abu Talib's death c. 619 CE. At the same year his wife Khadijah also died and this caused the Prophet big sorrow and that is why this year is called "the year of sorrow". In 622 CE the Prophet (s) decided to emigrate (Hijra) to another place called Medina.

In Medina the Prophet (s) established for the first time in history a kind of constitution for the citizens of Medina where peoples had the freedom of religion and equal right and duties depending on their beliefs. The Prophet (s) spent around ten years in Medina, his followers were growing fast from all Arabic tribes. In 630 CE, he conquered Mecca without fight. In 13 AH/632 CE, the Prophet (s) performed his last pilgrim to Mecca and on the way back at the Ghadir Khumm he declared Imam Ali (a), the son of Abu Talib , as his successor and few months later he died at age of 62 years old.