Prphet Mohammad

The oldest and noblest tribe in the whole of Arabia was Banu Hashim. They were the descendants of Hazrat Ibrahim (A.S.) through his son Hazrat Isma"il (A.S.).The Arabs respected them for their goodness, knowledge, and bravery.
Abd al-Muttalib was the chief of Banu Hashim and he was also the Trustee of the Holy Ka’bah. Among his ten sons, Hazrat Abdullah was the father of the Holy Prophet.


In Mecca, a baby boy named Muhammad was born on 17th Rabi’ al-Awwal, 570 AD. His father Abdullah, son of Abd al-Muttalib, died before he was born and when he was six, he lost his loving mother Aminah bint Wahab. His grandfather, Abd al-Muttalib, took the responsibility of bringing up the orphan. At the age of ten, he was bereft of his venerable grandfather. On his deathbed, he appointed his son Abu Talib as the guardian of Muhammad. As a gentle, soft spoken, tall and handsome boy, Muhammad, accompanied the trading caravans of Abu Talib, across the deserts, giving him deep insight into nature and human beings.


The wealthy noble widowed lady Khadijah, who was looking for a manager for her rich mercantile caravans, selected Muhammad (SAWA) as her manager. The able and fair dealing Muhammad (SAWA) was a tremendous success. Khadijah already an admirer of Muhammad (SAWA), made him an offer of marriage. Muhammad (SAWA) was twenty five and Khadijah forty. In spite of this disparity in age, the marriage proved to be a very happy one.


Lover of nature and quite worried about human sufferings, Muhammad (SAWA) often retreated to Mount Hira for meditation. One night - Laylat al-Qadr (the Night of Majesty) - a voice addressing him, commanded
"Recite in the name of thy Lord."
Deeply excited by the strange phenomena of the Divine Visitation, Muhammad (SAWA) hurried home to his wife, Khadijah, who listened to him attentively and said that
"I bear witness that you are the Apostle of God."
After an interval, the voice from heaven spoke again
"O thou shrouded in thy mantle, arise, and warn, and magnify thy Lord."
This was a signal for him to start preaching the gospel of truth of One God. In the beginning Muhammad (SAWA) invited only those near him, to accept the new Faith. The first to embrace Islam among women was Khadijah and among men was Ali (AS). For three long years, he labored quietly to wean his people from the worship of idols and drew only thirty followers. Muhammad (SAWA) then decided to appeal publicly to the Quraysh to give up idol worship and embrace Islam.
Almost ten years of hard work and preaching, in spite of all persecution, produced over a hundred followers, physical cruelties and social boycott made life unbearable in Mecca. The Holy Prophet of Islam advised his followers, to seek refuge in the neighboring country of Ethiopia. Eighty eight men and eighteen women sailed to the hospitable shores of the Negus, under the leadership of Ja"far at-Tayyar (brother of Ali) and the cousin of the Holy Prophet.


With the death of the old patriarch Abu Talib, the Meccans planned to assassinate the prophet. Under the Divine guidance, Muhammad (SAWA) asked Ali to sleep in his bed and the Holy Prophet put his green garment on Ali. While the murderers mistook "Ali for Muhammad (SAWA), the Holy Prophet of Islam escaped to Medina. The Muslim era of Hijrah (Emigration) is named after this incident and dated from 17th Rabi" al-Awwwal, 622 AD. From the time he came to Medina, he was the grandest figure upon whom the light of history has ever shone.
He laid the foundation of the Muslim commonwealth and drew up a charter which has been acknowledged as the work of highest statesmanship, a master-mind not only of his age, but of all ages. Unlike the Arabs, the Prophet, had never wielded a weapon, but now he was forced to defend Islam by force of arms. Commencing from the battle of Badr, a series of eighty battles had to be fought, which the infant community fought successfully.



The Muslims had been in self exile for six years and began to feel a keen yearning for their homeland, Mecca. The Prophet desired to perform a pilgrimage to Ka’bah. When he forsook his home town he was weak, but when he wanted to return, he was strong. He did not use his strength to force an entry into the sacred city. Finding the Quraysh hostile, Muhammad (SAWA) entered into a treaty known as the Peace of Hudaybiyyah, appearing not very advantageous to the Muslims, but which revealed the Islamic character of moderation and magnanimity.


In the 8th year AH, the idolaters violated the peace of Hudaybiyyah by attacking the Muslims. The enemies were defeated and Mecca was conquered. The Prophet who fled from Mecca as a fugitive, now returned home as a mighty conqueror. The Rahmatun lil "Alamin (mercy for the whole universe i.e., the Prophet) entered the city with his head bowed low in thankfulness to the Almighty Allah and declared a general amnesty, instead of the mass massacre of those who persecuted him and his followers.


Under the Divine intuition of his approaching end, Muhammad (SAWA) prepared to make the farewell pilgrimage to Mecca. Before completing all the ceremonies of Hajj, he addressed a huge multitude from the top of mount Arafat on 8th Dhi al-hijjah, 11 AH, in words which shall ever ring and live in the atmosphere. After finishing the Hajj the Holy Prophet started for Medina. On his way, at Ghadir Khumm the Voice from Heaven cried:
"O Apostle! deliver what has been revealed to you from your Lord; and if you do it not, then you have not delivered His message and Allah will protect you from the people, surely Allah will not guide the unbelieving people". (5:67)
Muhammad (SAWA) immediately ordered Hazrat Bilal (R.A.) to recall the Muslims, who had gone ahead, who were behind and who were proceeding to their homes at the junction, to assemble. Fakhr ad-Din ar-Razi in his At-Tafsir al-Kabir, vol. 12, pp. 49-50, writes that the Prophet took "Ali by the hand and said: "Whoever whose mawla (master) I am, Ali is his master. O Allah! Love him who loves Ali, and be the enemy of the enemy of Ali; help him who helps Ali, and forsake him who forsakes Ali."


On his return to Medina, Muhammad (SAWA) got busy settling the organization of the provinces and the tribes which had adopted Islam. His strength rapidly failed and the poison (administered at Khaybar by a Jewess) took its deadly toll. So ended the life dedicated to the service of God and humanity from first to last, on 28th Safar, 11 AH.

Iqbal Amrohi