Born in 570 CE in the Arabian city of Mecca,[11] he was orphaned at a young age and brought up under the care of his uncle. He later worked mostly as a merchant, as well as a shepherd, and was first married by age 25. Discontented with life in Mecca, he retreated to a cave in the surrounding mountains for meditation and reflection. According to Islamic beliefs it was here, at age 40, in the month of Ramadan, where he received his first revelation from God. Three years after this event Muhammad started preaching these revelations publicly, proclaiming that "God is One", that complete "surrender" to Him (lit. islām) is the only way (dīn)[12] acceptable to God, and that he himself was a prophet and messenger of God, in the same vein as other Islamic prophets.[13][14][9]
Muhammad gained few followers early on, and was met with hostility from some Meccan tribes; he and his followers were treated harshly. To escape persecution Muhammad and his followers migrated to Medina (then known as Yathrib) in the year 622 CE. This event, the Hijra, marks the beginning of the Islamic calendar. In Medina, Muhammad united the conflicting tribes, and after eight years of fighting with the Meccan tribes, his followers, who by then had grown to ten thousand, conquered Mecca without bloodshed. In 632 a few months after returning to Medina from his Farewell pilgrimage, Muhammad fell ill and died. By the time of his death most of the Arabian Peninsula had converted to Islam and he united the tribes of Arabia into a single Muslim religious polity.[15][16]
The revelations (or Ayat, lit. "Signs of God") which Muhammad reported receiving until his death form the verses of the Qur'an, regarded by Muslims as the “word of God” and around which the religion is based. Besides the Qur'an, Muhammad’s life (sira) and traditions (sunnah) are also upheld by Muslims. They discuss Muhammad and other prophets of Islam with reverence, adding the phrase peace be upon him whenever their names are mentioned.[17] While conceptions of Muhammad in medieval Christendom and premodern times were largely negative, appraisals in modern times have been far less so.[14][18] Besides this, his life and deeds have been debated by followers and opponents over the centuries.[19]
The name Muhammad means "Praiseworthy" and occurs four times in the Qur'an.[20] The Qur'an addresses Muhammad in second person not by his name but by the appellations prophet, messenger, servant of God (‘abd), announcer (bashir), warner (nathir), reminder (mudhakkir), witness (shahid), bearer of good tidings (mubashshir), one who calls [unto God] (dā‘ī) and the light-giving lamp (siraj munir). Muhammad is sometimes addressed by designations deriving from his state at the time of the address: thus he is referred to as the enwrapped (al-muzzammil) in Qur'an 73:1 and the shrouded (al-muddaththir) in Qur'an 74:1. [21] In the Qur'an, believers are not to distinguish between the messengers of God and are to believe in all of them (Surah 2:285). God has caused some messengers to excel above others 2:253 and in Surah 33:40 He singles out Muhammad as the "Seal of the Prophets".[22] The Qur'an also refers to Muhammad as Aḥmad "more praiseworthy" (Arabic: أحمد, Surah 61:6).
Muhammad's life is well documented within numerous records in historical texts, although like other premodern historical figures not every detail of his life is known. Because Muhammad is a highly influential historical figure, his life, deeds, and thoughts have been debated by followers and opponents over the centuries, which makes a biography of him difficult to write.[14]
The most trustworthy source for the historical Muhammad is the Qur'an.[14] The Qur'an has a few allusions to Muhammad's life,[23] revealing the salient aspects associated with him.[19] The Qur'an responds "constantly and often candidly to Muhammad's changing historical circumstances and contains a wealth of hidden data."[14] In its actual form, the Qur'an is generally considered by academic scholars to record the words spoken by Muhammad because the search for variants in Western academia has not yielded any differences of great significance.[24]
Next in importance are the historical works by writers of the third and fourth century of the Muslim era.[25] These include the traditional Muslim biographies of Muhammad and quotes attributed to him (the sira and hadith literature), which provide further information on Muhammad's life.[26] The earliest surviving written sira (biographies of Muhammad and quotes attributed to him) is Ibn Ishaq's Life of God's Messenger written some 120 to 130 years after Muhammad's death. Although the original work is lost, portions of it survive in the recensions of Ibn Hisham and Al-Tabari.[27][23] Another early source is the history of Muhammad's campaigns by al-Waqidi (death 207 of Muslim era), and the work of his secretary Ibn Sa'd al-Baghdadi (death 230 of Muslim era).[25] Many scholars accept the accuracy of the earliest biographies, though their accuracy is unascertainable.[23] Recent studies have led scholars to distinguish between the traditions touching legal matters and the purely historical ones. In the former sphere, traditions could have been subject to invention while in the latter sphere, aside from exceptional cases, the material may have been only subject to "tendential shaping".[28]
In addition, the hadith collections are accounts of the verbal and physical traditions of Muhammad that date from several generations after his death.[29] Hadith compilations are records of the traditions or sayings of Muhammad. They might be defined as the biography of Muhammad perpetuated by the long memory of his community for their exemplification and obedience.[30] Western academics view the hadith collections with caution as accurate historical sources.[31] Scholars such as Madelung do not reject the narrations which have been complied in later periods, but judge them in the context of history and on the basis of their compatibility with the events and figures.[32] Finally, there are oral traditions. Although usually discounted by positivist historians, oral tradition plays a major role in the Islamic understanding of Muhammad.[19]
There are also a few non-Muslim sources that, according to S. A. Nigosian, confirm the existence of Muhammad and are valuable for corroboration of traditional Muslim statements.[23]
Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad
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