Sirah Nabi Muhammad

Muhammad was born around 570 AD in Mecca. He is the son of Abdullah bin Abdul Muthalib and Aminah bint Wahab. Muhammad's father, Abdullah, was the son of the leader of the Quraysh tribal confederation, Abdul Muthalib bin Hasyim. Abdullah died a few months before Muhammad's birth, while his mother, Aminah died when he was six, leaving Muhammad an orphan. He was brought up under his grandfather, Abdul Muttalib, and after his grandfather died, he was raised by his uncle, Abu Talib. In the following years, he periodically retired to the Hira cave for several nights to pray. When he was 40 years old, around AD 610, Muhammad reported having been visited by Gabriel in the cave and receiving his first revelations from God. In 613, Muhammad began preaching openly, declaring that "God is One", then brought that the true way of life was to "surrender" (islām) to God, and that he was now a prophet and messenger of God, similar to the prophets in Abrahamic religions.

Muhammad's followers were initially few in number, and even endured 13 years of persecution. Muhammad then decided to send some of his followers to Abyssinia in 615, before he and his followers migrated from Mecca to Yathrib (later known as Medina) in 622. This event, known as the Hijra, marked the beginning of the Islamic calendar, also known as as Hijri Calendar. In Medina, Muhammad united the tribes under the Constitution of Medina. In December 629, after eight years of mutual war with the Meccan tribes, Muhammad raised an army of 10,000 Muslims and conquered Mecca. The conquest encountered almost no resistance and Muhammad captured the city with little bloodshed. In 632, a few months after returning from the Farewell Pilgrimage, he fell ill and died. By the time of his death, most of the Arabian Peninsula had converted to Islam.

Muhammad received revelations until his death, all of these revelations forming the verses in the Koran, which are considered by Muslims to be "the Word of God" and have become the basis of the Islamic religion. In addition to the Qur'an, Muhammad's teachings and practices (sunnah) can be found in Hadith literature and sirah (Muhammad's biography) and are also major sources of Islamic law.