Biography of Hazarat Muhammad

Hazrat  Muhammad (SWA) is  the prophet and founder of Islam.

Who Was Hazrat Muhammad (SWA)?:

Hazrat  Muhammad (SWA) is the prophet  and founder  of Islam. Born in Mecca in  570, most of his early  life was   spent      as a merchant. At age      40,     he began   to    have revelations  from Allah that became the basis for the Quran and the foundation of Islam. By 630 he had unified most   of  Arabia  under  a  single religion. As  of 2015, there  are over 1.8 billion Muslims in the world who profess, “There is no God but Allah, and        Hazrat        Muhammad           (SWA)          is     his prophet.”

The Life of Hazrat Muhammad (SWA):

Hazrat   Muhammad   (SWA)  was   born around 570, AD  in     Mecca (now in Saudi  Arabia).  His father  died  before he   was  born  and   he     was raised    first   by   his   grandfather   and  then   his uncle. He  belonged  to a poor but  respectable family of    the Quraysh tribe.   The      family  was active  in   Meccan politics  and  trade. Many  of the tribes living in the Arabian Peninsula at the time   were  nomadic,    trading     goods  as     they crisscrossed the         desert.    Most   tribes    were polytheistic,     worshipping      their   own     set    of gods.  The town     of Mecca  was  an  important trading    and      religious   center, home to   many temples  and worship sites where the devoted prayed  to    the idols   of these   gods.  The most famous site was the Kaaba (meaning   cube in Arabic).  It is    believed  to     have    been built   by Abraham (Ibrahim   to  Muslims)      and   his  son Ismail. Gradually the people   of   Mecca turned to     polytheism     and   idolatry. Of  all   the    gods worshipped,   it       is     believed    that   Allah       was considered the                  greatest and the only    one without   an idol.   In      his      early   teens,      Hazrat Muhammad  (SWA)           worked      in           a      camel caravan,  following   in the    footsteps   of   many people        his  age,    born     of    meager           wealth. Working for his uncle, he gained experience in commercial           trade         traveling   to  Syria      and eventually  from the  Mediterranean Sea to  the Indian    Ocean.          In time,  Hazrat    Muhammad (SWA)     earned    a  reputation         as honest   and sincere,         acquiring      the    nickname  “al-Amin” meaning   faithful      or  trustworthy. In his    early 20s,  Hazrat          Muhammad       (SWA)                began working      for a            wealthy    merchant      woman named     Khadihah,    15   years  his     senior.   She soon                  became   attracted      to       this     young, accomplished  man  and  proposed     marriage. He  accepted   and     over  the      years the   happy union brought several children. Not all lived to adulthood,   but    one,  Fatima, would                 marry Hazrat Muhammad (SWA)’s cousin, Ali ibn Abi Talib,      whom          Shi’ite         Muslims          regard as Muhammed’s successor.

The Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (SWA):

Hazrat          Muhammad   (SWA)     was    also   very religious,       occasionally       taking     journeys     of devotion to sacred   sites near Mecca.  On  one of  his   pilgrimages in   610, he was  meditating in a cave  on   Mount  Jabal  aI-Nour.  The Angel Gabriel       appeared   and    relayed      the word  of God:    “Recite    in  the name   of your   Lord     Who creates, creates  man       from a clot!  Recite  for your  lord  is  most    generous….”     These words became the opening verses of sūrah (chapter) 96       of  the        Quran.     Most Islamic     historians believe Hazrat Muhammad (SWA) was initially disturbed by the revelations and that he didn’t reveal                 them             publicly  for   several  years. However, Shi’a  tradition states    he   welcomed the  message from the Angel Gabriel  and was deeply inspired  to       share his experience  with other             potential  believers.   Islamic   tradition holds that the first persons to believe were his wife,  Khadija    , and  his  close     friend Abu   Bakr (regarded    as       the   successor               to         Hazrat Muhammad  (SWA)  by Sunni Muslims).  Soon, Hazrat Muhammad (SWA) began   to  gather  a small       following,     initially         encountering     no opposition.     Most  people     in        Mecca       either ignored him   or     mocked   him as  just   another prophet.   However,      when his                           message condemned           idol      worship    and polytheism, many of     Mecca’s tribal   leaders began  to see Hazrat Muhammad   (SWA)   and    his message as     a threat.      Besides        going    against         long-standing  beliefs,    the     condemnation     of    idol worship     had            economic consequences   for merchants   who catered to     the thousands  of pilgrims who came to  Mecca every  year. This was especially  true        for members   of   Hazrat Muhammad (SWA)’s   own    tribe,  the  Quraysh, who       were    the   guardians               of   the     Kaaba. Sensing     a   threat,        Mecca’s   merchants    and leaders  offered Hazrat    Muhammad           (SWA) incentives to  abandon his preaching, but         he refused.        Increasingly,         the   resistance            to Muhammed and  his  followers  grew  and  they were    eventually           forced  to   emigrate        from Mecca to Medina, a city 260 miles to the north in 622.  This  event marks  the beginning of the Muslim       calendar.   There  Hazrat Muhammad (SWA)  was instrumental in bringing  an end to a civil war raging amongst several of the city’s tribes.      Hazrat  Muhammad  (SWA)   settled   in Medina, building  his  Muslim    community  and gradually   gathering       acceptance       and   more followers. Between 624 and 628, the Muslims were involved  in   a  series   of    battles  for  their survival. In   the final   major confrontation, The Battle   of the        Trench    and    Siege   of  Medina, Hazrat Muhammad  (SWA)  , and  his    followers prevailed  and a  treaty  was signed. The treaty was broken   by the  Meccan allies a  year later. By  now, Hazrat Muhammad (SWA) had plenty of forces and      the     balance      of          power    had shifted away from the Meccan leaders to him. In 630, the Muslim army marched into Mecca, taking    the       city      with     minimum     casualties. Hazrat   Muhammad  (SWA)  gave amnesty      to many      of         the        Meccan      leaders        who  had opposed           him     and pardoned   many   others. Most  of  the Meccan   population  converted to Islam.   Hazrat   Muhammad           (SWA)      and his followers  then proceeded to destroy all of the statues  of    pagan    gods   in      and   around      the Kaaba.

The Death of Hazrat Muhammad (SWA):

After    the     conflict        with     Mecca   was    finally settled, Hazrat    Muhammad   (SWA) took        his first true Islamic pilgrimage  to that city, and in March,     632,  he   delivered  his last   sermon  at Mount Arafat.     Upon  his    return  to  Medina  to his wife’s home, he  fell ill  for  several days. He died on June 8, 632, at the age of 62, and was buried at al-Masjid an-Nabawi (the Mosque of the Prophet) one  of the first mosques built by Hazrat Muhammad (SWA) in Medina.