The Prophet Muhammad is both the final messenger of God and a role-model for the whole of humanity. He was born in Makkah in 571 C.E. in the tribe of Quraish, a highly respected tribe by the Arabs.
He was orphaned and at age six and raised by his uncle Abu Talib, who has helped him a great deal by protecting him and taking care of him until he died. He had married a chaste, widowed woman Khadija when she was 45 years old and he was 25 years old. Many people say that he married her for her wealth, but this is highly unlikely since all of his wives were either widowed or divorced and he did not marry another woman until 3 years after her death. When Muhammad reached the age of 40 years, he had a profound experience that changed his life.Prophet Muhammad used to meditate in the Cave of Hira, where he would seclude himself for days and nights.
One night an angel named Gabriel came to him with divine revelation and told him to recite. He said that he could not recite and this happened a second time. On the third time, he asked “Recite What?”, Gabriel replied “Proclaim! Recite! In the name of your Lord and Cherisher, Who created man, out of a leech-like clot: Proclaim! And your Lord Is Most Bountiful, He who taught (the use of) the Pen, Taught man that which he knew not.”.
Muhammad was frightened and he went back to his home trembling, as he was leaving he heard “Muhammad, you are the Messenger of God, and I am Gabriel”.Muhammad’s wife Khadija is considered to be the first muslim as she believed Muhammad and she knew he was truthful. Khadija took him to her cousin,Waraqah who became a Christian during pre-islamic times (Time of Ignorance). Upon hearing of Muhammad’s incident, Waraqah said “By God! This is the Angel Gabriel who came to Prophet Moses, may God praise him. I wish I would be alive when your people drive you out of Makkah!” The Messenger of God replied “Are they going to drive me out of Makkah?”. Waraqah affirmed positively saying, “Never has a man conveyed a Message similar to what you have been charged with, except that his people waged war against him – If I’m a witness to this, I will support you”.
Unfortunately Waraqah lived only for short period after this incident and passed away.In Islam there is no distinction betweed Allah and God, however the word Allah has no plural or gender (Gods, Godess), therefore the word "Allah" is the perfect description of the "One God" of monotheism for Jews, Christians and Muslims! Muhammad had started to preach the religion of submission to the Almighty God. Not only does Islam call people to the worship the one and only God and forbids the worship of idols, it also prohibits people from worldly things considered pleasurable: consuming interest, intoxicants, fornification, and to be fair with one another. There is no difference between one another (wealth, color, gender) except piety (only Allah has that authority to actually judge someone). The Quraish could not tolerate this equality between them and the poor, they repulsed against the Prophet and his followers, tortured them, told lies about Muhammad and many people even tried to kill him.This did not stop him from preaching.
Muhammad died with an enormous ammount of followers and his followers kept on increasing, even till to today. Islam is the fastest growing religion. Muhammad has been praised by Muslims and Non-Muslims. He was attributed “The Trustworty” and “The Truthful”, even by his enemies. He has been ranked number 1 in “The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History” by Michael H.
Hart”. After Muhammad’s death, he left the Quran and the Sunnah (Teachings and practices of Muhammad). In his final speech he remarked that no man will go astray if they hold on to the Quran and Sunnah.
