Prophet Muhammad

The last of the prophets.

His lineage, Muhammad b. 'Abdullâh b. 'Abd al-Muttalib b. Hâshim b. 'Abd Manâf, runs through Quraysh up to 'Adnân. He was born at Mecca; two separate computations are given for the date of his birth (see the note below).

His father 'Abdullâh had died before he was born; he lost his mother Âmina also while still a child. He grew up first in the care of his grandfather 'Abd al-Muttalib and, after his death, in that of his uncle Abû Tâlib.

He began to trade with his uncle. It is reported that he was twenty-five years old when he married Khadîja bint Khuwaylid.

The first revelation came within the last ten days of Ramadân of the year 610, at Hirâ: on the night the angel came, towards dawn, with the first five verses of the sûra al-'Alaq.

The call continued in secret for about three years; then the message was given openly.

He emigrated to Medina on 1 Rabî' al-awwal / 13 September 622.

At Medina, immediately after the emigration, the mu'âkhât was put into effect: each of the emigrants was declared the brother of a Muslim of the Aws or the Khazraj. A document was drawn up with the inhabitants of the city and the city-state was thereby organised.

The chief expeditions: Badr, on 17 Ramadân of the second year of the Hijra (13 March 624); Uhud, on 7 or 11 Shawwâl of the third year (23 or 27 March 625); the Trench, towards the end of Shawwâl of the fifth year (March 627).

The Treaty of Hudaybiya was made at the beginning of Dhu al-Qa'da of the sixth year, and it was agreed that the peace should last ten years. The conquest of Mecca took place on 20 Ramadân of the eighth year.

The Farewell Pilgrimage was made in the tenth year of the Hijra.

He died at Medina on Monday 13 Rabî' al-awwal 11 / 8 June 632.

His Tomb and Complex — After the emigration, on 12 Rabî' al-awwal (24 September 622), the building of the Mosque of the Prophet was begun at Medina; the ground belonged to two orphans named Sahl and Suhayl and was bought for ten dinars, though some sources say it was given. The Prophet was buried in the room of 'Â'isha; this is known as the Blessed Chamber. The room was taken into the mosque in the enlargement carried out by the Umayyad caliph al-Walîd b. 'Abd al-Malik in 706-707. The Rawda al-Mutahhara is the space between the Prophet's house and his pulpit, about 22 × 15 metres, described in a hadith as one of the gardens of paradise. The Qubbat al-khadrâ, the Green Dome over the chamber, was first built in wood by Sultan Qâytbây, and was then built in stone during the Ottoman rebuilding of 1850-1861, in the time of Sultan Abdülmecid, and painted green.