Muhammad ﷺ

In the city of Makkah home of the Ka'bah built by Ibrahim and Ismail ﷺ a man was known throughout the city by a special name: Al-Amin. The Trustworthy.

Muhammad ibn Abdullah ﷺ had never told a lie. He had never broken a promise. Even the people who disagreed with him even his enemies trusted him completely. They kept their valuables with him for safe-keeping.

He was known for his gentleness, his generosity, and his love of truth. He spent long periods in thought and prayer, searching for the truth that the people around him had lost.

He was 40 years old when everything changed.

Muhammad ﷺ loved to go to a small cave on a mountain outside Makkah called Hira to worship Allah, reflect, and be away from the noise of a city that had forgotten its Creator.

One night, in the month of Ramadan, something extraordinary happened. The angel Jibreel (as) came to him.

Muhammad ﷺ was gripped tightly and heard the command: "Iqra!" Read!

He said: "I cannot read."

Again: "Iqra!"

Again: "I cannot read."

A third time and then the first words of the Quran descended:

"Read in the name of your Lord who created created man from a clinging substance. Read and your Lord is the Most Generous who taught by the pen taught man that which he knew not." (96:1-5)

Muhammad ﷺ came home from the cave trembling covered himself with a cloak. His wife Khadijah (ra) wrapped him, comforted him, and listened as he told her what had happened.

She said immediately: "By Allah, He will never disgrace you. You uphold ties of kinship. You carry the burdens of the weak. You give to those who have nothing. You honour your guests. You help those struck by hardship." (Sahih al-Bukhari 3)

She was the first person to believe in him. The first Muslim.

Over the next 23 years, the Quran would be revealed piece by piece, ayah by ayah guiding the Prophet ﷺ and his growing community through every situation they faced.

The people of Makkah mostly rejected the Prophet's message. They mocked him, called him a liar, a magician, and a madman. They tortured his companions. They boycotted the Muslims and left them hungry.

But the Prophet ﷺ never stopped. He called his people to Allah with wisdom, with patience, with beautiful speech for 13 years in Makkah.

In the most painful year the Year of Sorrow both his beloved wife Khadijah (ra) and his protecting uncle Abu Talib died within weeks of each other.

Yet Allah consoled him and honoured him with the Night Journey (Isra' and Mi'raj) carried in a single night from Makkah to Jerusalem, then up through the seven heavens where he met the prophets and received the gift of five daily prayers. (Quran 17:1)

When the enemies of Islam plotted to assassinate the Prophet ﷺ surrounding his house, planning to strike him together so no single tribe would be blamed Allah commanded him to migrate.

He left Makkah at night with his closest companion, Abu Bakr (ra). They hid in the Cave of Thawr for three days. The search party came so close they could hear their breathing but Allah protected them.

The Prophet ﷺ told Abu Bakr: "Do not grieve Allah is with us." (9:40)

After three days, they completed their journey to Madinah. The city welcomed them with song and celebration. This migration the Hijra became the beginning of the Islamic calendar. It was the turning point of history.

In Madinah, the Prophet ﷺ built a community unlike anything the world had seen. He established brotherhood between the Muhajirun (those who migrated) and the Ansar (those who welcomed them) pairs of men sharing homes and wealth as brothers. (Sahih al-Bukhari 3781)

He built the first mosque with his own hands, carrying bricks alongside his companions.

He established justice, settled disputes, and welded together Muslims of every tribe and background into one ummah.

The Quran says: "There has certainly been for you in the Messenger of Allah an excellent example." (33:21)

He was the example in prayer, in family, in trade, in leadership, in mercy, in justice.

Eight years after the Hijra, the Prophet ﷺ marched toward Makkah with ten thousand Muslims. The city which had persecuted his companions, tortured them, and killed some of them was about to be entered.

There was no battle. The city surrendered without bloodshed.

And then came the most extraordinary moment: the Prophet ﷺ entered the Ka'bah, bowing his head so low in gratitude that his beard almost touched the saddle. He then turned to the people of Makkah the very people who had spent years trying to destroy Islam and said:

"What do you think I will do with you?"

They said: "Good you are a generous brother."

He said: "Go you are all free."

No revenge. No punishment. Complete forgiveness. It was the most powerful moment in history.

In the tenth year after the Hijra, the Prophet ﷺ performed his only Hajj the Farewell Hajj. Over a hundred thousand companions stood with him on the plain of Arafah.

He delivered his Farewell Sermon words of justice, equality, and faith that still echo today:

"O people your Lord is one. Your father is one. No Arab has superiority over a non-Arab, nor does a non-Arab have superiority over an Arab, nor does a white person have superiority over a black person, nor does a black person have superiority over a white person except through taqwa." (Musnad Ahmad)

He asked: "Have I delivered the message?"

They said: "Yes!"

He said: "O Allah, bear witness."

Three months later, the greatest of all creation the Mercy to all the Worlds returned to his Lord. He was 63 years old.