Born around 570 into the Hashimite group of the Quraysh tribe, little Muhammad was raised as an orphan by his grandfather, Abd al-Muttalib. He was soon passed on to his uncle, Abu Talib upon his grandfather's death, and worked the caravan routes. As a young man, he was hired by - and a few years later, marries - a rich widow, Khadijah, to work in her caravans. The routes took him to many cities and afforded him great knowledge of the Arab world. But what he saw was abhorrent to him, as a hanif. Idolatry ran rampant, not only in the foreign towns, but at home as well. Muhammad sought sanctuary from the graven images in the caves of Mount Hira during Ramadan.
On one such retreat, while deep in his meditations, Muhammad felt strong hands clasp around him, binding him fast.
"Recite!" came the trumpeting voice.
Light poured through his closed eyelids, but he dared not open them for fear of blindness.
"I cannot read!" Muhammad stammered.
"Recite, in the name of the Lord who created, created man from a blood clot. Recite, for your Lord is most magnanimous - who taught by the pen, taught man what he did not know." (Qur'an 96:1-5)
Deeply afraid, Muhammad breaks free and flees into the night. As he wanders the Meccan hills, the sky lights up and a throne is emblazoned across the horizon. Upon it sits a heavenly being bearing a familiar voice.
"O Muhammad, I am Jibril (Gabriel), and you are the Messenger of God!"
Needless to say, Muhammad runs home to his wife.
This happens several more times, each time his wife consoles and reassures him that Jibril is no evil spirit, rather an emissary of God. Muhammad becomes fully convinced of this after recounting these events to Khadijah's cousin, Waraqah b. Nawfal, a fellow hanif, albeit Christian. He confirmed that Muhammad was the last Nabi, indeed the fabled Seal of the Prophets. With new resolve Muhammad seeks out Jibril in the cave where it all started.
Finding it cumbersome to relay the revelations revealed to him in the mountain by Jibril to scribes back home, Muhammad is accompanied by a retinue of scribes and scrolls, ready and waiting to transcribe the words he will recite. This was much more convenient as the rotation of scribes brought food and other good things. Thus the Qur'an was realized.
In the city of Mecca, the centre of Arabian trade and religion, Muhammad preached the One God, but was met with reluctance to change their ways of life.
"We found our fathers following a custom, and we shall follow in their footsteps." (Q. 40:22)
This new faith was not very marketable as there were no idols to sell and he was not heeded.
Among those that listened were his wife, his friend Abu Bakr and his freed slave Zayd b. Harithah. Word spread throughout the slaves and poor and a community began to form. Their moral uprightness and piety attracted the likes of Umar al-Khattab and Uthman b. Affan, prestigious men of wealth.
However, Muhammad and his followers did not have tribal protections, especially not following the deaths of his wife and uncle, Abu Talib, and were persecuted. Among his persecutors was his uncle, Abu Lahab. Homeless and under threat, Muhammad sought protection from neighbouring tribes, but to no avail.
In 622, Muhammad was invited to Yathrib, 400 km north of Mecca, to arbitrate between two feuding tribes (likely a standoff on contract details). He set off on his hijrah, his journey. So welcoming was the city of Muhammad and his followers that it was renamed Madinah. Built upon a desert oasis, Madinah was home to the Aws and the Khazraj (the two feuding factions) and a large Jewish community. Under Muhammad, Madinah flourished as a Muslim theocracy, with the Jews living with full religious freedom and equality.
he has always depended on the kindness of strangers.
