Muhammad

Muhammad was the founder of Islam and, in the Muslim tradition, the final prophet of God. Born in Mecca around 570 into the Quraysh tribe, he was orphaned young and raised by his uncle Abu Talib. He worked as a merchant and earned a reputation for honesty — al-Amin, the trustworthy — before beginning to receive what he understood as divine revelations around 610. These revelations, compiled after his death as the Quran, formed the scriptural foundation of the world's second-largest religion. Facing persecution in Mecca for his monotheistic preaching, Muhammad and his followers made the Hijra — the emigration — to Medina in 622, the year from which the Islamic calendar is counted. In Medina he established both a religious community (the umma) and a political entity, negotiating alliances with tribal groups and eventually emerging as the dominant leader of the region. A series of military campaigns against Mecca culminated in the city's largely peaceful surrender in 630. By his death in 632, Muhammad had unified most of the Arabian Peninsula under Islam, creating a political and religious framework that his successors — the caliphs — would use to build one of history's most rapidly expanding empires. His influence on world history, through the religion, law, culture, and civilization of Islam, is immeasurable.

• Lived: 570 CE – 632 CE
• Nationality: arab
• Roles: religious_leader, leader

Related

• The Medieval World
• The Hijra — Muhammad Establishes Islam as a Political Force
• The Arab Conquests — From Arabia to Spain in a Century