World Religions › Classical faiths › Islam
Muhammad
c. 570–632· Founder, prophet or teacher· Judaism, Christianity & Islam
Historical recordConfirmed by archaeology, outside sources or contemporary records.
The prophet of Islam, born in Mecca about 570, who Muslims believe received God's final revelation, the Quran.
See it on the World Religions map →What it is
Orphaned young, Muhammad worked as a caravan merchant and married Khadija, a businesswoman. Muslims believe that from about 610 the angel Gabriel brought him God's words, later collected as the Quran. He preached one God in polytheist Mecca, met hostility, and in 622 moved with his followers to Medina, where he led the community and fought several battles with Mecca. In 630 Mecca surrendered. When he died in 632, much of Arabia had accepted Islam.
Why it matters
He built both a religious community and a state. About 2 billion Muslims, a quarter of humanity, see him as God's final messenger and the model of a godly life.
Life, legacy and sources
The Quran, plus biographies (sira) written over a century later, notably Ibn Ishaq's as edited by Ibn Hisham. A Christian text from about 634 already mentions a prophet among the Arabs.
Questions and debates
Historians debate how much the later biographies reflect his actual life; a few revisionist scholars question the traditional account of Islam's origins altogether.
Connections (4)
▸Muhammad is revered as the final prophet of IslamHistorical record
The connection
Muslims believe Muhammad is the 'Seal of the Prophets', the last in a line from Adam through Abraham, Moses and Jesus, and that through him God's message was completed. His words and example, the Sunna, are, after the Quran, the main guide to Muslim belief and practice.
When and where
Mecca and Medina, 610–632; the Quran (33:40) calls him 'the Messenger of God and the seal of the prophets'.
Historical evidence
The Quran, the shahada recited daily, and the hadith collections show this belief from Islam's earliest records; Sunni and Shia Muslims both hold it.
Questions and debates
Some scholars note 'seal' could mean confirmation rather than last; the Ahmadiyya movement reads it differently, and Pakistan declared Ahmadis non-Muslim in 1974.
▸Muhammad led The Hijra to MedinaHistorical record
The connection
Facing a plot on his life, Muhammad sent his followers ahead to Yathrib in small groups and left last, with his friend Abu Bakr. Tradition says they hid three days in a cave on Mount Thawr while Meccan pursuers searched, then took a back route north, reaching Quba, near Medina, in September 622.
When and where
From Mecca to Yathrib (Medina), about 340 km north, in 622, with Abu Bakr; by tradition his cousin Ali slept in Muhammad's bed as a decoy.
Historical evidence
Early biographies by Ibn Ishaq and others, and the Quran's reference (9:40) to the Prophet as 'the second of two' in the cave.
Questions and debates
Exact dates and vivid details, like the spider web said to have hidden the cave's entrance, come from later tradition and cannot be independently confirmed.
▸Muhammad received, Muslims believe, The QuranFaith & scripture
The connection
Muslims believe the angel Gabriel first came to Muhammad in 610 in the cave of Hira near Mecca, commanding 'Recite!', and brought God's words to him in portions over 23 years. Muhammad recited them to followers, who memorized them and wrote them on parchment, bones and palm stalks.
When and where
Mount Hira, near Mecca, in 610 by tradition, then Mecca and Medina until 632; the first verses revealed are believed to be sura 96:1–5.
How do we know?
A matter of faith: history confirms Muhammad recited the Quran, and early manuscripts support its early date, but history cannot test its divine origin.
Questions and debates
Muslims hold that Muhammad could not read or write, for them a sign of the Quran's miraculous origin; secular scholars debate what the Quran's term ummi meant.
▸Muhammad was born in Mecca and the KaabaHistorical record
The connection
Muhammad was born into Mecca's leading tribe, the Quraysh, in the Banu Hashim clan. His father died before his birth and his mother when he was six. Raised by his grandfather and then his uncle, he grew up amid Mecca's caravan trade and pagan pilgrimage to the Kaaba, the setting his preaching later challenged.
When and where
Mecca, about 570, which tradition calls the 'Year of the Elephant', when an army from Yemen with war elephants is said to have attacked the city.
Historical evidence
Muslim biographies agree on Mecca and his clan; the year is less certain, and some historians place the elephant attack earlier, around 550.
Questions and debates
His exact birth year is unknown; a library now stands on his traditional birthplace, and many early sites were demolished in modern expansions, limiting archaeology.