Short answer
Muhammad (ﷺ) was the last prophet God (﷾) sent to mankind. He was born in Makkah, in Arabia, in about 570. His father died before he was born, and his mother when he was six. His grandfather and then his uncle Abu Talib raised him. He worked as a trader and was known as al-Amin, the trustworthy. At 25 he married Khadija. At 40 the angel Gabriel brought him the first verses of the Qur'an. He preached in Makkah for thirteen years, much of it under persecution, then moved to Madinah in 622. Eight years later he returned to Makkah and forgave almost all his enemies. He died in 632, aged 63, with most of Arabia Muslim. He never claimed to be more than a man and a messenger. Muslims follow him as God's (﷾) final messenger.
Full explanation
An orphan in Makkah
Muhammad (ﷺ) was born in Makkah, by tradition in the Year of the Elephant, about 570. That was the year the Arabs named after an army with elephants that marched on Makkah. His father Abdullah died before his birth, and his mother Amina when he was six. His grandfather Abd al-Muttalib, then his uncle Abu Talib, brought him up. He traded for Khadija, a respected merchant woman, and married her at twenty-five. Makkah called him al-Amin, the trustworthy. The Qur'an later reminded him that God (﷾) had found him an orphan and sheltered him.
Records that Muhammad (ﷺ) was born in Makkah in the Year of the Elephant, which Muslim tradition places at about 570 CE; that his father Abdullah died before he was born and his mother Amina when he was six; that he was raised by his grandfather Abd al-Muttalib and then by his uncle Abu Talib; that he traded for Khadija, a respected merchant woman of Makkah, and married her when he was twenty-five.
Reports that before his mission Muhammad (ﷺ) was known among Quraysh as al-Amin, the trustworthy. When the clans quarrelled over who should set the Black Stone back in place during the rebuilding of the Ka'ba, they agreed to accept the judgement of the first man to enter, and it was he. People of Makkah left their valuables in his keeping, and at the Hijra he had Ali stay behind to return them to their owners.
“Did He not find thee an orphan and give thee shelter (and care)? And He found thee wandering, and He gave thee guidance. And He found thee in need, and made thee independent.”
The first revelation
At about forty the Prophet (ﷺ) used to go alone to the cave of Hira, near Makkah, to worship. There the angel Gabriel came and told him to read. Three times he answered that he could not read. Then the first verses of the Qur'an were given to him. Revelation continued for twenty-three years.
Aisha describes the first revelation. In the cave of Hira the angel told the Prophet (ﷺ) to read, and three times he answered that he could not read, before the first verses of Surat al-Alaq were given to him. Khadija took him to her cousin Waraqa ibn Nawfal, an old, blind man who had become a Christian and wrote out parts of the Gospel in Hebrew letters. Waraqa said this was the angel God had sent to Moses, and a few days later he died.
“Proclaim! (or read!) in the name of thy Lord and Cherisher, Who created- Created man, out of a (mere) clot of congealed blood: Proclaim! And thy Lord is Most Bountiful,- He Who taught (the use of) the pen,- Taught man that which he knew not.”
Persecution, emigration and return
For most of the thirteen years he preached in Makkah, the Prophet (ﷺ) and his followers were persecuted. In 622 he emigrated to Madinah, where the people took him as their leader. The Muslim calendar counts its years from this Hijra (emigration). Eight years later he returned to Makkah with ten thousand men. The city was taken with little fighting. He pardoned all but a few of the people who had fought him for years. He cleared the 360 idols from around the Ka'ba, the house of worship at the heart of Makkah. As he did so, he recited that truth had come and falsehood had perished.
Records the persecution of the Muslims in Makkah: Quraysh's boycott of the Prophet's (ﷺ) clan, the deaths of his wife Khadija and his uncle and protector Abu Talib close together, and his journey to Ta'if, where the chiefs rejected him and set the town's rabble on him as he left.
Records the emigration (Hijra) to Madinah after Quraysh plotted to kill the Prophet (ﷺ), and his leadership of the community there. It also records his return to Makkah in 630 at the head of a large army, which entered with little fighting, and his pardon of the Quraysh who had fought him for years, with only a few named exceptions.
Ibn Abbas reports that the Prophet (ﷺ) set out from Madinah for Makkah in Ramadan with ten thousand men, eight and a half years after his emigration to Madinah.
Abdullah (ibn Mas'ud) reports that when the Prophet (ﷺ) entered Mecca on the day of the conquest, 360 idols stood around the Ka'ba. He struck them with a stick in his hand, saying that truth had come and falsehood would neither begin again nor return.
“And say: "Truth has (now) arrived, and Falsehood perished: for Falsehood is (by its nature) bound to perish."”
His last year
At the Farewell Pilgrimage, his last pilgrimage, the Prophet (ﷺ) stood at Arafat on a Friday. There he received the verse that declared the religion perfected. In the year he died, Gabriel went over the whole Qur'an with him twice instead of once. He died in Madinah in 632, at the age of sixty-three.
“This day have I perfected your religion for you, completed My favour upon you, and have chosen for you Islam as your religion.”
A Jewish man told Umar ibn al-Khattab that if the verse "This day have I perfected your religion" had been revealed to the Jews, they would have kept that day as a festival. Umar answered that Muslims know exactly when and where it came down: on a Friday, while the Prophet (ﷺ) was standing at Arafat during the pilgrimage.
Abu Hurayra reports that Gabriel went over the Qur'an with the Prophet (ﷺ) once every year, and twice in the year he died.
Aisha reports that the Prophet (ﷺ) died at the age of sixty-three.
- About 570
Born an orphan
Muhammad (ﷺ) is born in Makkah. His father Abdullah dies before his birth, and his mother Amina when he is six. His grandfather, then his uncle Abu Talib, bring him up.
- Age 25
Marries Khadija
He marries Khadija, a respected merchant woman he had traded for. Makkah calls him al-Amin, the trustworthy.
- About age 40
The first revelation
In the cave of Hira, near Makkah, the angel Gabriel brings him the first verses of the Qur'an. Revelation continues for twenty-three years.
- 622
The Hijra
After thirteen years of preaching in Makkah, much of it under persecution, he emigrates to Madinah. The Muslim calendar counts its years from this Hijra (emigration).
- Eight years later
Return to Makkah
He returns to Makkah and pardons almost all the people who had opposed him for years.
- 632
The religion complete
At the Farewell Pilgrimage a verse declares the religion perfected. He dies in Madinah, aged sixty-three, with most of Arabia Muslim.
His age is counted in years of the Islamic calendar. It follows the moon, so each year is about 11 days shorter.
How he lived
The Prophet (ﷺ) ruled Arabia, yet his household could go two months without lighting a fire to cook. He never even saw bread of fine white flour after his mission began. His family never ate their fill of barley bread two days running. He slept on a leather mattress stuffed with palm fibre. He served his family at home, and he carried earth with his companions when they dug the trench around Madinah. When he led the prayer sitting, he would not let people stand behind him as the Persians and Romans stood before their kings. When he died his armour was in pledge for barley, and he left no money. Early on, the leaders of Makkah offered him money, leadership and kingship if he would stop. He answered by reciting the Qur'an. After Ta'if turned him away, he was offered the destruction of those who had rejected him. He hoped instead that their descendants would worship Allah (﷾) alone. This is not how a man lives who claims prophethood to win wealth or power.
Aisha told her nephew Urwa that three new moons could pass, two months, without a fire being lit to cook in the Prophet's (ﷺ) houses. They lived on dates and water, and some milk that Ansari neighbours sent them.
Sahl ibn Sa'd reports that from the time Allah sent the Prophet (ﷺ) as a messenger until He took him, the Prophet never saw bread of fine white flour, or even a sieve; they ate barley, blowing away the husks.
Aisha reports that the family of Muhammad (ﷺ) never ate their fill of barley bread two days running until the Prophet died.
Aisha reports that the Prophet's (ﷺ) mattress was a leather case stuffed with palm fibre.
Al-Aswad asked Aisha what the Prophet (ﷺ) used to do at home. She said he busied himself serving his family, and when the time for prayer came he went out to pray.
Al-Bara reports that on the day of the Confederates he saw the Prophet (ﷺ) carrying earth, the dust covering his belly, as the trench was dug.
Jabir reports that the Prophet (ﷺ), when ill, led the prayer sitting, and the people behind him stood. He signalled them to sit, and afterwards told them they had nearly done what the Persians and Romans do, who stand before their kings while the kings sit, and that they must not do it.
Aisha reports that when the Prophet (ﷺ) died, his armour was held by a Jewish man as security for thirty measures of barley.
Amr ibn al-Harith reports that when the Prophet (ﷺ) died he left no money, no slave and nothing else, except his white mule, his weapons and a piece of land he had given in charity.
Reports that the Quraysh sent Utba ibn Rabi'a to the Prophet (ﷺ) with an offer: if he wanted money, they would make him the richest of them; if he wanted honour, they would make him their chief; if he wanted kingship, they would make him their king; if he was afflicted by a spirit, they would pay for a cure. The Prophet heard him out, then recited the opening of Surat Fussilat. Utba went back and told the Quraysh he had heard words unlike poetry, sorcery or soothsaying, and advised them to leave him alone.
Aisha asked the Prophet (ﷺ) whether he had known a day harder than Uhud. He named the day he presented his call to Ibn Abd Yalil, a chief of Ta'if, and was turned away. As he left in sorrow, Gabriel came with the Angel of the Mountains, who offered to let the two great mountains fall on those who had rejected him. The Prophet refused and said he hoped that their descendants would worship Allah alone.
His mission
The Qur'an sends the Prophet (ﷺ) to all mankind as a mercy to the worlds. He called people back to the worship of the One God (﷾), the way of Abraham. The Qur'an praises his character and sets him as the example for believers. He called himself only a man to whom revelation came. He told his followers to call him the servant of Allah (﷾) and His Messenger. The Qur'an names him the Seal of the Prophets, the last of them.
“We have not sent thee but as a universal (Messenger) to men, giving them glad tidings, and warning them (against sin), but most men understand not.”
“We sent thee not, but as a Mercy for all creatures.”
“So We have taught thee the inspired (Message), "Follow the ways of Abraham the True in Faith, and he joined not gods with Allah."”
“And thou (standest) on an exalted standard of character.”
“Ye have indeed in the Messenger of Allah a beautiful pattern (of conduct) for any one whose hope is in Allah and the Final Day, and who engages much in the Praise of Allah.”
“Say: "I am but a man like yourselves, (but) the inspiration has come to me, that your Allah is one Allah: whoever expects to meet his Lord, let him work righteousness, and, in the worship of his Lord, admit no one as partner.”
Umar reports that he heard the Prophet (ﷺ) say: do not over-praise me as the Christians over-praised the son of Mary; I am only a servant, so call me the servant of Allah and His Messenger.
“Muhammad is not the father of any of your men, but (he is) the Messenger of Allah, and the Seal of the Prophets: and Allah has full knowledge of all things.”
His place in history
Within a century of the Prophet's (ﷺ) death, Muslim rule reached from Spain to Central Asia and the Indus valley. W. Montgomery Watt, a Christian historian of Islam, concluded that his life argues for his integrity.
A narrative history of the early Muslim conquests. It follows them west across North Africa into Spain, from 711, and east into Central Asia and Sind, so that within a century of the Prophet's (ﷺ) death Muslim rule reached from Spain to Central Asia and the Indus valley.
A biography by a Christian historian of Islam at the University of Edinburgh. Watt argues that Muhammad's (ﷺ) readiness to suffer persecution for his beliefs, the high moral character of the men who believed in him, and the greatness of what he achieved all argue for his fundamental integrity.
Perspectives
Historians
Historians record the scale of what followed from the Prophet's (ﷺ) life. A leading Western historian of Islam concluded that his life argues for his integrity.
Within a century of his death, Muslim rule stretched from Spain to Central Asia and the Indus valley.
W. Montgomery Watt argued that his readiness to suffer for his beliefs, his followers' character and the scale of his achievement argue for his integrity.
The Islamic perspective
Muhammad (ﷺ) was God's (﷾) final messenger to all mankind. He restored the worship of the One God (﷾) taught by Abraham and all the prophets. He left the Qur'an and his example as guidance for every generation.
He was born in Makkah about 570 and received the first revelation at forty. He emigrated to Madinah in 622 and died in 632 at sixty-three.
He lived simply even when he ruled Arabia, and left no wealth.
His poverty while ruling Arabia argues against any worldly motive.
He turned down the wealth and kingship the leaders of Makkah offered him. At Ta'if he refused the destruction of those who had rejected him.
Umar, one of his close companions, wept to see the marks of a palm-leaf mat on his side. Caesar and Khosrau (the rulers of Rome and Persia) lived in luxury. The Prophet (ﷺ) asked whether Umar was not content that they should have this world and the believers the Hereafter.
He pardoned the people of Makkah, all but a few named men, when he returned as victor.
He claimed to be only a man and a messenger, and forbade exaggerated praise of himself.
He is the Messenger of Allah (﷾) to all mankind and the Seal of the Prophets.