Prophet. The Life of Muhammad

It was somewhere in the year 610 A.D. when he was forty years old, the Prophet of Islam had an experience that shattered his peaceful existence and set him on the path that transformed the lives of millions of people, first in Arabia and then all over the world. On the eventful day when the Prophet had gone to a cave in Mecca called Hira for his meditations and supplications to God, a voice thundered in the air and asked him to: ‘Read in the name of thy Lord, who created, created Man of a blood-clot. Read: And thy Lord is the Most Generous who taught Man, that he knew not’.

Then the voice rang again, saying: ‘O Muhammad, you are the apostle of God and I am Gabriel’.
But Muhammad did not assume his role all at once because for a long time he received no further message. But then came another revelation which asked him ‘to rise and warn’ the people. It was then, in 613 A.D., that the Prophet assumed the mantle and began preaching publicly in Mecca.

He preached that Allah was not one God among many but that he was the solitary and eternal sovereign of the universe. He preached that all men were equal in the eyes of God and that the rich should share their wealth with the poor. He time and again affirmed the unity of God and enjoined prayer five times a day, fasting in the month of Ramadan, alms-giving and pilgrimage to Mecca once in life-time. Such indeed was the message of the Quran and such indeed was the message of the Prophet.

The first convert to Islam was the Prophet’s own wife, Khadija, who was soon followed by three others, namely, Ali, the cousin, the Zaid, the Prophet’s freedman and then Abubakr who become the first caliph of Islam after the death of the Prophet.

Although the author has drawn upon numerous extant books (vide bibliography) his main sources were the Quran itself and the biography of the Prophet by no less a person than the celebrated Ibn Hisham, although the first ever biographer of the prophet was Ibn Ishaque who was born in Medina in the year 704 A.D. This Ibn Ishaque traveled extensively over the Arab world and finally settled in Baghdad.

The biography written by Ibn Ishaque is unavailable now to the modern world but he biography by Ibn Hisham has fortunately survived to this day. Yet the former biography by Iban Ishaque has now become a part of the later biography by Ibn Hisham. This author has relied more and more in his research on the Quran itself, first and foremost, and then on the original biographers mentioned. This book is thus unique in that sense. The historical accounts of the western authors are largely colored and smack of prejudice and veiled hostility to the great, magnificent personality of the Prophet.

About the Author:
Wazir Muhammad Shaikh graduated with Honors in Economics from the University of Bombay in the Year 1944. He belonged to the Provincial Civil Service of Maharashtra and retired as Joint Secretary in that cadre, having served in important positions under the Government. His other import book, titled Concise Dictionary of Islam is also under print.