In today's article, we will talk about the biography of the Prophet in detail, starting from the Prophet's birth and upbringing until his death.
The Prophet's biography in detail
The detailed biography of the Prophet Muhammad is the greatest example of education and guidance in Islam, as the story of the Prophet's life includes everything a Muslim needs to guide his life and achieve happiness in this world and the hereafter. The biography begins with the arrival of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) to this world that was spoken of in ancient prophecies, where he was heralded to the whole world as the Seal of the Prophets and Messengers. From the beginning of his life, Muhammad was characterized by high morals and wisdom.
The biography then turns to the stage of his prophethood and the beginning of his divine message, where the Prophet Muhammad began calling his people to worship God, leave idols, and adhere to justice, mercy, and tolerance. The Prophet lived in Mecca and then migrated to Medina after being pressured and persecuted in Mecca.
In Medina, the Prophet Muhammad built a strong Islamic state, organized society and guided it towards goodness, justice and tolerance. The Prophet participated in the defense of Islam and protected it from enemies, leading many invasions and battles with courage and wisdom.
The Prophet Muhammad was a role model in all aspects of life, whether in the family, society, or worship. He lived a simple and humble life and was concerned with caring for the poor and needy and achieving equality among people.
At the end of his life, the Prophet Muhammad completed his mission and left the Muslim nation with a great legacy of knowledge, guidance, and wisdom. After his death, Islam continued to spread and grow, making the Prophet's biography a constant source of inspiration for Muslims around the world.
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The Prophet's birth and upbringing
On Monday of the month of Rabi' al-Awwal in the year of the elephant, the Prophet of the Ummah and the Seal of the Messengers, Muhammad (peace be upon him), was born. At the moment of his birth, his mother witnessed a miraculous vision, in which she saw a light sneaking out of her to illuminate the palaces of the Levant. The Prophet, peace be upon him, grew up as an orphan without a father, and remained in the care of his mother, who sought to secure nursing mothers for him from an early age.
The Prophet (peace be upon him) moved to Bani Sa'ad, where he found a nursing Arab woman who raised and nurtured him. During his time there, he experienced a unique incident: Gabriel (peace be upon him) came to him and cut open his chest, extracted his heart, cleaned it from the devil, washed it with Zamzam water, and then put it back in its place after repairing it. This incident is an indication of the Prophet's preparation to receive the divine message.
These early moments of Muhammad's life show the divine providence and spiritual preparation he underwent to carry out his great prophetic mission.
Muhammad spent his childhood and adolescence in Mecca, where he lived with his mother Amina and his grandfather Abdul Muttalib. When his mother died at the age of eight, he was taken in by his uncle Abu Talib.
Abu Talib was poor, yet he had a large family to support. When the Prophet saw his uncle's need and financial vulnerability, he decided to contribute to the family's support by working in commerce.
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) began his trading journey with his uncle to the Levant, and during one of the trips, while they were in a hermitage, one of the monks noticed strange signs on the Prophet Muhammad indicating his future prophecy. He came out and told the people that Muhammad would be a prophet in the future and would be a mercy to the world.
This incident highlights the beginning of references to Muhammad's prophethood and the beginning of the Islamic call, as signs and miracles began to appear to people indicating the existence of a divine message in the prophet's life.
The Prophet's Youth
In his youth, the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was known for his honesty and integrity, and these qualities stood out clearly among his peers. When his fame and prominence spread among the people, Mrs. Khadija trusted him and entrusted him with the management of her money in commerce. Khadija was a wise and wealthy woman, and the Prophet succeeded in managing her money wisely and skillfully, resulting in great profits.
Khadija deliberately invited the Prophet (peace be upon him) to marry her after she saw his great status among the people and his good morals. The Prophet accepted the marriage when Khadija was forty years old and the Prophet was twenty-five years old. The Prophet Muhammad remained a faithful husband to Khadija throughout their twenty-five-year marriage until her death.
When the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was thirty-five years old, an incident occurred that highlighted his wisdom and good behavior in dealing with matters. The incident occurred when the Quraysh tribes disagreed over who should place the Black Stone in its place during the rebuilding of the Kaaba.
The tribes started arguing and competing for the honor of placing the Black Stone, but they couldn't reach an agreement. They summoned the Prophet Muhammad to resolve the dispute. In his wisdom and good judgment, Prophet Muhammad suggested that the Black Stone be placed in a piece of cloth and that each tribe hold one end of it.
The tribes agreed to this proposal and carried the Black Stone and placed it in its place as directed by the Prophet Muhammad, demonstrating his skill in resolving disputes and his ability to find fair and acceptable solutions for all.
The Prophet's Worship in the Cave of Hira
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) loved solitude with his Lord, and he used to worship on countless nights in the cave of Hira in the religion of Hanifiyyah. One night, when he was forty years old, the angel Gabriel descended on him from heaven and ordered him to read, and although he was not a reader, he received the command to read twice, as the Prophet apologized each time, then the Prophet received the first verses of revelation from Gabriel, where he said to him: “Read in the name of your Lord, who created* He created man from a stick* Read and your most honored Lord* Who taught with the pen.”.
After the Prophet Muhammad returned to Mrs. Khadija, trembling with fear, she took away his worries and calmed him down with her reassuring words. She reminded him of his noble morals and his good dealings with people, where he would honor the guest, connect the womb, help the needy, and stand with them in difficult circumstances. She took him to her cousin, Waraqa ibn Nawfal, who was knowledgeable about the Book, and asked him about what had happened to the Prophet. He knew that this was nothing more than the revelation of revelation as it was revealed to Moses, peace be upon him. Thus, the Prophet became more steadfast and confident in his message after this event.
Revelations to the Prophet
The revelation came to the Prophet Muhammad for the first time as preparation and education, then Gabriel (peace be upon him) returned with the revelation again six months later, which meant the beginning of the phase of calling and spreading the message. The verse, “Arise and enlighten” was the clear signal to start this mission. This shows that carrying out the mission requires preparation and readiness, and evoking all the meanings necessary to perform the duties with sincerity and uprightness to the command of God.
Secret Advocacy
After the revelation of the revelation and the command to call, which came in the Almighty's words, “O you who have been warned, arise and enlighten”, the Prophet Muhammad began to fulfill the duties and responsibilities of the call by warning the people. The Prophet began by calling those closest to him, his family and companions. This call was secret, so that they would not be endangered by the Quraysh who were opposed to the religion of Islam and their death threats, due to their adherence to the worship of idols. This invitation continued secretly for three years.
The Prophet's public proclamation
The Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) began the public call to Islam when the verse was revealed in which God said, “So warn your immediate family.” The Prophet set out to call his people, standing on Mount Safa and calling them to gather. Most of the people gathered, and the Prophet began his sermon, trying to test his status and the credibility of his faith. He asked them if they would believe him if he warned them of an impending danger, and they all affirmed that they would believe him. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) told them that he was warning them of God's punishment if they continued on their path.
Harming Quraysh
When the suffering of the Muslims worsened due to the increasing torture of the Quraysh, Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) allowed them to migrate to Abyssinia until God brought a way out for them. The country of Abyssinia followed the Christian religion, and its king was just and kind to the people. The Muslims migrated to Abyssinia twice; the first time they were twelve men and four women, and the second time they were eighty-three men and eleven women. After that, the harm to the Prophet and the Muslims worsened.
The Quraysh decided to boycott Banu Hashim in the streets of Mecca, refraining from dealing with them, marrying them or allying with them, and this boycott lasted for three years. God then decided to lift this boycott by harnessing a wise man to end it. It is worth noting that the death of the Prophet's uncle Abu Talib had preceded the migration to Medina in the tenth year of the Prophet's mission. The Prophet was deeply saddened by the loss of his support and protection, as well as by the death of his wife Khadija in the same year, making that year known as the Year of Sorrow.
The Prophet's Exodus to Taif
After the departure of his uncle Abu Talib, the pain and suffering of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) was compounded by the departure of his uncle Abu Talib, and thus the lack of support from members of his tribe. So, the Prophet decided to travel to Taif in the hope that he would find support there. However, he found nothing but torment and persecution from the people of Taif, who threw stones at him, hurt him, and mocked him. After this harsh experience, the Prophet returned to Mecca again to continue his call to God.
Then came the miracle of Israa and Mi'raj, which was a miracle that entertained and confirmed the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). One night from Mecca, the Prophet's soul and body were taken to Jerusalem, and then he was taken back to heaven, where he met all the prophets, greeted them, and saw the great signs of his Lord. On that night, the most important worship and pillar of Islam, prayer, was imposed on Muslims, and God made it obligatory for the nation of Islam to pray five times a day and night.
Migration to Medina
After returning from Taif, the Prophet Muhammad continued his call to Islam and utilized the Hajj season to meet people and offer them the religion. During this time, he met a group of young men from Medina who had come to perform the pilgrimage, introduced Islam to them, and they responded to his invitation and returned to their city to invite their people to Islam and prepare the city to receive the Prophet. At first, the Prophet authorized his companions to emigrate, and they left Mecca for Medina in secret. When the Quraysh learned of their departure, they sent men after them to kill them, but God protected the Prophet during their migration. The Prophet Muhammad arrived safely in Madinah after passing through the cave of Thawr.
Construction of the mosque
God authorized the Prophet Muhammad to migrate from Mecca to Medina, and the first thing the Prophet took care of after arriving in Medina was building a mosque. He parked his camel on land belonging to two orphan boys, and bought it from them to be the site for building the mosque.
The brotherhood between the Muhajireen and the Ansar
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) built the mosque, then did a great deed that laid the foundations of brotherhood among Muslims, by bringing together the immigrants and Ansar in the house of Anas ibn Malik (may Allah bless him), so that Muslims in Madinah became brothers who shared their livelihood together. This fraternization was a solution to the financial hardship that the immigrants faced after leaving their money in Mecca.
The Prophet's Invasions
Allah, the Almighty, authorized the Prophet (peace be upon him) to fight the polytheists of the Arab tribes after he settled in Medina. These invasions began with a major invasion in which the Muslims were victorious, the Battle of Badr, and continued until it reached nearly twenty-five invasions, during which nine famous battles were organized, including Badr, Uhud, Khandaq, Bani Qurayza, Bani al-Mustaslaq, Khaybar, the Conquest of Mecca, the Day of Hanin, and Taif. Among these battles, the conquest of Mecca was the most important, launched on the tenth day of Ramadan in the eighth year of the Hijrah. The Prophet and his companions prepared an army of 10,000 fighters and entered Mecca without fighting. The Prophet entered the Sacred House and smashed the idols, then ordered Bilal to call for prayer, after which the Prophet stood up and preached to the people, announcing his pardon and release.
The Death of the Prophet
The Prophet (peace be upon him) went to the Sacred House in Makkah to perform the Hajj in the tenth year of the Hijrah. This pilgrimage signaled the cleansing of the Sacred House from polytheism and straying, and the beginning of a new phase of purity and faith. It also signaled the approaching end of the Prophet's life, as he stood among the people as an orator, giving them immortal commandments. It should be noted that the Prophet began to feel ill at the end of the month of Safar in the eleventh year of the Hijrah, so he asked permission from his wives to be sick in the house of Umm al-Mu'minin Aisha, and entrusted Abu Bakr al-Siddiq to lead the Muslims in their prayers during his illness. He died on Monday, the twelfth day of Rabi' al-Awwal in the eleventh year of the Hijrah.
In the conclusion of the detailed biography of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), his eternal commandments and lofty teachings on which he based his call and his life. His life was an example of tolerance, generosity, patience, and exerting effort to guide people to goodness and righteousness. With his broad vision and deep wisdom, he was able to achieve unity and coexistence between the followers of different religions in his city of Medina. He left humanity a great legacy of justice, mercy and peace, and his values and teachings continue to enlighten humanity at every time and place.