The Life Of Muhammad

By: Israel La Fleur

As told by a census conducted in around 2012, Islam is the second-largest religion worldwide. Around 24.1% of the world practices Islam. In Islam, they worship the god, Allah. They have a monotheistic message, and are based on the Judeo-Christian religions. The founder of this religion was a man named Muhamad. In this article, we’re going to dive into the life of Muhammad and see how he impacted Islam.

To start in Muhammad’s early life, he was born in Mecca (Saudi Arabia) in 570. His mother died seven years after he was born, and his father died around two months before Muhammad was born. He was raised by his grandfather at first, and then his uncle. He was in a poor, but respectable family of the Quraysh Tribe, and they were very active in Mecca politics. One thing that he was well known for, was his honesty. He never lied, even while telling jokes. He earned himself the nickname “The Truthful One.”

Moving on to his teenage years, Muhammad worked in a camel caravan. While doing this work, he gained experience traveling to Syria, and soon from the Mediterranean Sea to the Indian Ocean. This event allowed him to be stronger, accomplish more, and learn more of the area. Once he got in his 20s, he began working for a woman named Khadijah, who was wealthy. She was 15 years older than him, however. She saw how he worked and how he was as a person, and became attracted to him. She then proposed marriage to him. He said yes, and as their lives went on, they gave birth to several children. One lived to adulthood, and her name was Fatima. She grew up to marry Muhammad’s cousin, Ali ibn Abi Talib.

Muhammad was a religious person. Now that he is an adult, he can start devoting himself to religion. He would occasionally go on journeys to sacred parts of Mecca for devotional purposes, On one of his journeys, he was meditating in a cave on Mount Jabal aI-Nour, in 610. The Angel Gabriel appeared and told Muhammad 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 Qur'an.

Islamic practices say that the first people to believe were his wife, Khadija, and one of his close friends. Many people just ignored him and believed he was just another prophet of Mecca. There was a lot of attention brought to him as soon as the message condemned polytheism and idol worship. He was offered many incentives to get him to stop his preaching, but he refused to accept any. He continued to preach his religion and more and more people began to believe. Eventually, they got so big that they had to migrate from Mecca to Medina, a city 260 miles north.

After many conflicts between Mecca and Muslims, Muhammad took his first real pilgrimage (journey) into Mecca. In March 632, he delivered his final sermon on Mount Arafat. He became ill when he returned home. He then died on June 8, 632, at the age of 62. He was buried at al-Masjid an-Nabawi, the first mosque built by Muhammad in Medina.

Sources

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