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.