How Islam Began: The Life of Prophet Muhammad and the Rise of Islam

In the year 610 CE, a forty-year-old merchant from the Arabian city of Mecca retreated to a cave on Mount Hira for solitary meditation, a practice he had adopted in recent years. According to Islamic tradition, during one of these retreats, the angel Gabriel (Jibril) appeared to him and commanded: "Read!" (or "Recite!", iqra'). The man, Muhammad ibn Abdullah, protested that he could not read. The angel repeated the command twice more, then delivered the first verses of what would become the Quran: "Read in the name of your Lord who created, created man from a clinging substance. Read, and your Lord is the Most Generous" (Quran 96:1–3). [1]

This event, known as the Night of Power (Laylat al-Qadr), marks the beginning of Islam as Muslims understand it. Over the next twenty-three years, Muhammad would receive further revelations, build a community of followers, survive persecution, lead a migration, govern a city-state, wage defensive wars, negotiate alliances, and unite the Arabian Peninsula under a new faith. By the time of his death in 632 CE, Islam was poised to become one of the most transformative forces in world history. [2]

Pre-Islamic Arabia

To understand Muhammad's achievement, one must understand the world he was born into. Sixth-century Arabia was a land of tribal societies, polytheistic religion, and caravan commerce. The Arabian Peninsula was bordered by two great empires, the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire to the north and west, and the Sasanian (Persian) Empire to the northeast, but most of Arabia itself was outside imperial control. [3]

Mecca, Muhammad's birthplace, was a significant commercial and religious center. It housed the Kaaba, a cube-shaped shrine that, according to both pre-Islamic and Islamic tradition, had ancient sacred associations. By Muhammad's time, the Kaaba contained hundreds of idols representing the gods of various Arabian tribes. The Quraysh, the dominant tribe of Mecca, were the custodians of the Kaaba, and the annual pilgrimage to Mecca brought them both prestige and revenue. [4]

Arabian religion was predominantly polytheistic, centered on tribal deities, ancestral spirits, and natural forces. However, the concept of a supreme god, Allah (literally "the God"), was known, and pockets of monotheism existed: Jewish tribes lived in Medina and other settlements, Christian communities were present in Yemen and along the trade routes, and a group known as the hanifs practiced a monotheistic spirituality that they traced to the patriarch Abraham (Ibrahim). [5]

Muhammad's Early Life

Muhammad was born around 570 CE into the Banu Hashim clan of the Quraysh tribe. His father, Abdullah, died before his birth; his mother, Amina, died when he was six. Orphaned at a young age, he was raised first by his grandfather Abd al-Muttalib and then by his uncle Abu Talib. [6]

As a young man, Muhammad gained a reputation for honesty and trustworthiness, earning the nickname al-Amin ("the trustworthy"). He worked in the caravan trade, eventually managing the business affairs of a wealthy widow named Khadijah, who was impressed by his character and proposed marriage. Muhammad was twenty-five; Khadijah was around forty. Their marriage, by all accounts a deeply loving partnership, lasted until Khadijah's death in 619 CE. She was his first follower and most trusted confidant. [7]

The Revelations and Early Persecution

After the initial revelation on Mount Hira, Muhammad experienced a period of doubt and anxiety before further revelations confirmed his mission. Khadijah and her cousin Waraqah ibn Nawfal, a Christian scholar, reassured him that his experience was genuine. Gradually, a small circle of followers gathered: Khadijah, Muhammad's young cousin Ali ibn Abi Talib, his close friend Abu Bakr, and a handful of others, including several enslaved persons and lower-class individuals attracted by Islam's message of spiritual equality. [8]

The early message was direct: there is no god but Allah (la ilaha illa Allah); Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. The revelations condemned the polytheism of the Quraysh, criticized the wealthy for exploiting the poor, and warned of a Day of Judgment when all would be held accountable. The Quran proclaimed the unity and sovereignty of God, demanded social justice, and called for compassion toward orphans, widows, and the destitute. [9]

This message threatened the Quraysh establishment on multiple fronts. Religiously, it challenged the polytheistic system that underpinned Meccan commerce and pilgrimage. Economically, it threatened the income generated by the Kaaba's role as a center of idol worship. Socially, it disrupted tribal hierarchies by asserting the equality of all believers before God. [10]

The Quraysh responded with increasing hostility. They mocked Muhammad, boycotted his clan, and persecuted his followers, particularly those without tribal protection. Some early Muslims, including Bilal ibn Rabah, an enslaved Abyssinian who became one of Islam's most honored figures, endured torture for their faith. [11]

The Hijra: Migration to Medina

By 622 CE, Muhammad's position in Mecca had become untenable. His uncle and protector Abu Talib had died in 619, followed shortly by Khadijah. The Quraysh were plotting to assassinate him. Meanwhile, representatives from the city of Yathrib (later renamed Medina, "the City of the Prophet"), roughly 200 miles to the north, invited Muhammad to come and serve as an arbiter of their tribal disputes. [12]

Muhammad and his followers made the migration, the Hijra, from Mecca to Medina. This event was so significant that the Islamic calendar begins with it: year 1 AH (Anno Hegirae) corresponds to 622 CE. The Hijra marks the transition of Islam from a persecuted preaching movement to a functioning community with political authority. [13]

In Medina, Muhammad established the first Muslim polity. The Constitution of Medina (Sahifat al-Madinah), a document of uncertain but early date, established a framework of governance that included Muslims, Jewish tribes, and other groups in a single political community (ummah). Muhammad served simultaneously as prophet, legislator, judge, and military commander. [14]

Conflict, Consolidation, and the Return to Mecca

The Medinan period (622–632 CE) was marked by military conflict, political alliance-building, and the progressive revelation of Quranic verses addressing the practical needs of a growing community, laws on marriage, inheritance, commerce, criminal justice, and warfare. [15]

Several key battles shaped the early Muslim community. The Battle of Badr (624 CE), in which a small Muslim force defeated a much larger Meccan army, was seen as divine vindication. The Battle of Uhud (625 CE), a tactical setback, tested the community's resolve. The Battle of the Trench (627 CE), in which Medina successfully defended itself against a Meccan-led coalition, secured the community's survival. [16]

In 628 CE, Muhammad negotiated the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah with the Quraysh, a ten-year truce that, despite initial disappointment among his followers, proved strategically brilliant. It gave the Muslims time to consolidate and attract new converts. When the Quraysh violated the treaty in 630 CE, Muhammad marched on Mecca with an army of 10,000, and took the city virtually without bloodshed. [17]

Upon entering Mecca, Muhammad went directly to the Kaaba, destroyed the idols within it, and rededicated the shrine to the worship of the one God. He granted a general amnesty to the Quraysh, including many who had persecuted him for years. This act of magnanimity is celebrated in Islamic tradition as a model of mercy in victory. [18]

The Final Years and Death

By 632 CE, most of the Arabian Peninsula had accepted Islam, through conversion, alliance, or conquest. Muhammad performed his final pilgrimage to Mecca (the Hajj al-Wada', or Farewell Pilgrimage), during which he delivered his Farewell Sermon to over 100,000 followers. In the sermon, he emphasized the equality of all Muslims regardless of race, the rights of women, the sanctity of life and property, and the finality of his prophetic mission. [19]

Shortly after returning to Medina, Muhammad fell ill. He died on June 8, 632 CE, in the arms of his wife Aisha. He was buried in his apartment adjacent to the mosque in Medina, a site now enclosed within the Prophet's Mosque (al-Masjid al-Nabawi) and visited by millions of pilgrims annually. [20]

The Aftermath

Muhammad's death triggered the succession crisis that would eventually produce the Sunni-Shia divide. But his legacy was already secure. In the span of a single generation, he had transformed the religious, political, and social landscape of Arabia. Within a century of his death, his followers would conquer an empire stretching from Spain to Central Asia, creating a civilization that would make foundational contributions to science, mathematics, philosophy, medicine, literature, and art. [21]

Today, Islam is the world's second-largest religion, with approximately 1.9 billion adherents, roughly one-quarter of the global population. The Quran that Muhammad recited is memorized in its entirety by millions of Muslims. The prayer he taught is performed five times daily by hundreds of millions. The civilization he catalyzed continues to shape the modern world in ways both visible and profound. [22]