Seerah

Muhammad (PBUH) opened his eyes to the world on the 17th of Rabi' al-awwal of the 53rd year before the Hijrah (A.D. 570).

His father, 'Abdullah, was from the family of Hazrat Isma'il, and had died before he could see his son. His mother was one of the most pious women of that time.

Muhammad (PBUH) was entrusted to a virtuous woman called Halimah, who suckled him and nursed him.

One day, Muhammad (PBUH), who had not yet reached the age of four years, asked Halimah if he could go into the desert with the other boys... Halimah said: "I bathed Muhammad and anointed his hair with oil. I put collyrium on his eyes and hung a Yemenite stone on a string and put it round his neck so that no harm could come to him from the spirits of the desert. But Muhammad tore the stone from his neck and said, 'don't worry about me. My God is taking care of me!"

So we see that from childhood he was the object of God's favour and grace, and was always guided by Divine power and help in works that were in their right time and place.

Muhammad's behaviour and speech in childhood were such that everyone's attention was attracted. In his youth, also, he was far from that which tainted those people in his environment. He took no part in their riotous poetry gatherings. He drank no wine, was an enemy of the idols; he was perfect in speech and act. Years before he became a prophet, the people called him 'al-Amin' (the trustworthy one). He had a pure mind and radiant intellect, and a godly and heavenly character. Every year for one month he went to the cave of Hira and was with God in His mysteries and in prayer. At the end of the month, before returning to his home, he went to the Kaba and made seven or more circumambulations.

At the age of forty, while busy in worship in the cave of Hira elevated to the station of messenger ship.

For three years the Prophet of Islam (PBUH) received no command to call people openly to Islam, and during that time only a few people had faith in Muhammad (PBUH).

Then after three years he received the command to invite people openly to Islam, and he called his close family to be his guests; about forty of these people assembled together. The food, which the Prophet (PBUH) had prepared, was no more than enough to satisfy the appetite of one man, but by the power of God that little food filled everyone, and this was the cause of much amazement. Abu Lahab, without thinking what he was saying, cried out: "Muhammad is a magician!" That day the relatives dispersed before the Prophet could speak, so he called them again the next day. After they had partaken of the food and hospitality, he spoke: "0 Sons of Abdul-Muttalib! No youth has brought to his people better than what I bring to you. I have brought you the best of this world and of the world of the resurrection. I have been cannonaded by Allah to call you to Him. Which of you will extend his help to me and become my brother, executor and successor?" Apart from Ali (A.S), no one answered.

One day the Prophet (PBUH) went up on Mount Safa and called the people around him. He said: "If I told you that an enemy was going to fall on you this morning or this evening, would you trust me?" All together they replied: "Yes!" He said: "I warn you of a severe torment that is soon to fall on you." Out of fear that the speech of Muhammad (PBUH) would take effect in the hearts of those present, Abu Lahab broke the silence and said to him: "Did we assemble here just to listen to this nonsense?"

The Prophet of Islam (PBUH) started his call with the slogan of tawhid and the worship of one God, and established tawhid as the basis of all other beliefs. He made known to men Allah, who is nearer to man than man himself; he abolished religion. Meanwhile, the Quraysh (the most powerful tribe in Mecca, to which Muhammad (PBUH) belonged were becoming ill at ease with the progress he was making and tried hard to stop his preaching, even once trying to kill him; but with the help and protection of Allah and with His care and intercession all their tortures, persecutions and schemes were without effect and came to nothing. Day by day the call to Islam, and also the acceptance by people, spread, even to those who came from outside Mecca. People rose up with their souls in answer to this Divine invitation.

In the eleventh year of the prophet hood, some people from Medina belonging to the Khazraj tribe accepted, with this promise that when they went back to Medina they would call the people to Muhammad's religion. They went to Medina and spread around the invitation of the Prophet (PBUH). The next year twelve Medinese accepted the faith of the Prophet of Islam (PBUH) at 'Aqaba and resolved: not to associate any with Allah, not to steal, not to fornicate, not to indulge in infanticide, not to bring malicious accusations against anyone, not to disobey the Prophet in any thing which he indicated. Then the Prophet sent a man by the name of Mus'ab along with them to teach the Qur’an, and thus a large group in Medina pledged their faith in the Prophet.