Summary of the life of Muhammad

According to Islamic tradition, a leading chieftain of the tribe of Quraysh named Qusayy had four sons. When he died, the oldest son named 'Abd ad-Dar took over as leader of the tribe; but his popularity was overshadowed by that of another son named 'Abd Mandaf. Slowly, a schism developed as each son rallied the support of a separate faction. 'Abd Mandaf never moved against his older brother, but when his son Hashim reached adulthood, matters came to a head. The tribe split into two. The larger group of people followed Hashim and would later be known as the 'Hashemites.'

Hashim married and had three sons, one of whom was 'Abd al-Muttalib; he, in turn, fathered a son named 'Abdullah. In 568 or 569, 'Abdullah decided to marry a beautiful young woman named Amina, whose family also traced its lineage back to the legendary Qusayy. 'Abdullah's proposal was accepted. They had a solemn marriage ceremony, enjoyed a three-day honeymoon, and then 'Abdullah left for Yathrib on business. Once his affairs had been attended to, he immediately prepared to return to Makkah. But fate intervened. 'Abdullah died suddenly, just as he was leaving Yathrib, and was buried in the city. Some months later, around 570 CE, the widow Amina delivered a baby boy, and called him Muhammad.

Muhammad grew up as a bright, healthy boy, but fate clearly wasn't finished with him. Since the boy was without a father, he and his mother were taken in by their eldest relative, his grandfather 'Abd al-Muttalib. When Muhammad was six, his mother Amina took him to Yathrib to visit his father's grave. But Amina had always been sickly. Perhaps the emotion of seeing her young husband's grave overwhelmed her. As it was, Amina also died suddenly while still in Yathrib. Now, Muhammad was truly an orphan. He continued to live in the care of his grandfather, until he, too, passed away a short time thereafter.

The young orphan was now transferred to the household of an uncle named Abu Talib. Naturally, this uncle was also a Hashemite, and it so happened that the Hashemites were not as prosperous as other clans, like the aristocratic Umayyads were. So young Muhammad was put to work, tending the sheep in the sparse grazing areas around Makkah.

From this point on, the story of Muhammad enters a period of darkness. As in the case of Jesus, Muhammad's years as a growing teenager are lost to history. Muhammad himself recalled that on two separate occasions, as a young man, he made plans to take part in the usual reverie common to older teenage boys in urban nightlife...both times he recalled that upon entering Mecca in the heat of its night life, he was overcome with sleep, sat down at the nearest poets audience or festive occasion - and awoke to the dawn sunrise, having missed the 'gallivanting and fun.' By all accounts Muhammad gained a reputation as an earnest, intelligent and utterly honest kid, a young man who honored his word. He became known as al-Amīn, 'the trustworthy.' This virtue would serve him well, for when Muhammad once again emerges in recorded history he is a merchant on the business run to Bostra and other caravan markets in Syria and the Near East. Some biographers have him travelling as far as the Daba Market in Oman and the Hubashah Market in Yemen.

Many of these cities were Christian, at a time when the strife between Catholic orthodoxy and sects such as the Arianites and Monophysites was still raging strong. It is quite possible that an inquisitive mind like Muhammad's would have wanted to learn more about this strange struggle between people who all claimed to be the followers of Jesus, the Christ. By the same token, Muhammad would often have dealt with Jews, both as trading partners and as providers of letters of credit for long-haul cargo, in which Jewish merchant bankers excelled.

When Muhammad was twenty-five, his slender, energetic figure caught the eye of a successful businesswoman named Khadija of the clan of Asad. Khadija was a beautiful widow, reportedly forty years old, who was looking for a manager to attend to her various business interests. Muhammad had just returned from a journey in which he had sold some of her merchandise. Impressed with his honest ethic and conduct, which with regard to matters of money was as rare then as it is now, Khadija offered the job to Muhammad, who accepted. In time, the two fell in love, and she proposed to him. They were married.

For the next twenty-six years, Khadija was Muhammad's sole and constant companion. By all accounts, it was a good and affectionate marriage. Muhammad remained monogamous until her death, even though most men of his age and station would have taken other and perhaps younger wives as well. Khadija already had several children from her first marriage; she now bore Muhammad six or seven children, including at least two sons. Sadly, all but one of the children died; only Muhammad's daughter Fatimah survived. Later, she would marry Muhammad's cousin 'Ali, whom the Shi'ah branch of Islam would later consider the true heir of Muhammad.

Muhammad appeared to have flourished as the chief executive of Khadija's businesses. His trips took him now even farther, and with ever-greater loads of merchandise; as Khadija's partner he had become quite wealthy. But there came a point in his career when the urge to make money began to fade; a time when Muhammad began to wonder if there was not a deeper meaning to life. He was particularly concerned about the growing gap between the super-rich and the poor of Makkah. He also grew increasingly uncomfortable with the primitive idolatry and rituals of his tribe. He remembered that his grandfather would sometimes retire to a lonely cave when he needed a bit of peace of mind. He retraced his grandfather's steps to the spot, which was located in the hills of Jebel-an-Nur. Here he would sit and meditate, fast and pray, often for days at end.

And then, one night in the year 610 CE, Muhammad experienced his first revelation. As his biographer describes it, the word came to him through the persona of Gabriel, the same angel who had delivered the Annunciation to Mary. The imperative word "Recite" (Iqraa) emerged as a command from Gabriel, at which point Muhammad (unlettered and unfamiliar with literacy) responded that he knew not how to recite. He felt Gabriel's embrace. Its pressure overwhelmed him to the point of exhaustion, and the imperative was given two more times, followed by the same response by Muhammad. Finally, Muhammad asked, 'but what to recite?' The response came "Recite in the name of the Lord thy creator; who created man from a clinging clot," the angel continued. "Read, thy Lord is the most bountiful, who taught by means of the pen, taught man what he knew not" (Q 96.1-5).

When the angel had departed, Muhammad ran back to his family who had accompanied him on this particular journey. Completely jarred and afraid that he had suffered from possessesion (the equivalent of the modern term 'psychosis'), he told his wife Khadija about the apparition, and asked her what he should do. She reassured her husband that he was not possessed, and apparently was convinced of the authenticity of the situation before Muhammad himself was! Khadija decided to take the matter to Muhammad's cousin, Waraqa, an elderly, blind Christian sage. Waraqa heard the story and was overcome with emotion. "Holy!" he exclaimed; "I swear to Him in whose hands the life of Waraqa is, that the law of Moses has been bestowed on him and he is the prophet of this nation! Would that God grant me my sight and youth back, so I may stand at his side when his own people seek to reject him. Tell him to stand firm." This was the second recorded instance when a Christian pietistic endorsed Muhammad's status as a prophet of God. The first was when a reclusive monk living along the caravan route to Syria named Bahira encountered Muhammad as a lad during a caravan trip. Noting certain signs in the approaching caravan, Bahira invited the travelers in, found Muhammad and enquired about the lad's dreams. At the end of the encounter, he advised Muhammad's guardian, Abu Talib, to keep 'these things from the townsfolk', and to protect the lad from what is to come.