Muhammad

Muhammad (c.570–632) Arab prophet and inspirational religious leader who was the last and chief prophet of Islam. He was born in Mecca. At the age of 25, he began working as a trading agent for Khadijah, a wealthy widow of 40, whom he married. For 25 years, she was his closest companion and gave birth to several children. Only one brought him descendants – his daughter Fatima, who married his cousin, Ali. In c.610, Muhammad had a vision while meditating alone in a cave on Mount Hira. A voice three times commanded him to ‘recite’, and he felt his body compressed until he could hardly breathe. Then he heard the words of the first of many revelations that came to him in several similar visions over the next two decades. The revelations came from Allah, or God, and Muhammad's followers believe that they were passed to Muhammad through the angel Gabriel. At the core of his new religion was the doctrine that there is no God but Allah and His followers must submit to Him – the word islam means ‘submission’. Muhammad gained followers but also many enemies in Mecca. In 622 he fled to Yathrib (Medina). Muslims, later took this Hejira as initiating the first year in their calendar. Muhammad won more followers and organized rules for the proper worship of Allah and for Islam. Muhammad made war against his enemies and conquered Mecca in 630. Most of the Arab tribes allied with him. In Medina, he married Aishah, the daughter of Abu Bakr, one of his strongest supporters. Muhammad is considered an ideal man, but he never claimed supernatural powers, and is not held to be divine. His tomb is in the Holy Mosque of the Prophet, Medina.