The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), the Man Supreme, who uprooted tribal pride, eradicated caste feeling and abolished oppression, was born in the tribe of Quraish, considered to be a noble tribe, in Makkah, in what is now called Saudi Arabia in 571 Christian era.
The greatest man of Elect to be the solace to the entire mankind for the rest of the broad stream of human history, lost his father Abdullah while he was still clinging to his mothers womb, and at the innocent age of six he lost his mother Aamina He was absolutely orphaned at the very early stage of his life.
When he was eight, his grand father, Abdul Muthalib, who was dearly taking care of him died leaving the honest, frank and innocent young lad to the care of a leading Quraishi merchant, Abu Thalib, the uncle of the Prophet (peace be upon him).
Orphaned at the very start of life, going through sorrows and sufferings, the young lad facing his life with undaunted heart and courage opted to tend herd of sheep under the blitz of the scorching sun in the vast expanse of the Arabian desert for a meagre wage. Thats how Gods test of time preceded his glorious events.
The young and immature lad travelled with his Uncle Abu Talib in a caravan of merchants to Syria. A wealthy noble lady Khadijah (May God be pleased with her deeds) was attracted by his trustworthiness, intelligence and undeterred steadfastness. She wanted to marry him. The Prophet (peace be upon him) married Khadijah who was already three times widow and many years senior to him.
The Prophet (peace be upon him) at the age of twenty-five was capable of efficient business transaction. He rose to the rank among notables of Makkah after the noble marriage. He transacted his business excellently, and remained a faithful husband to his lady, Khadijah, who was the understanding helpmate to Muhammad (peace be upon him). He led a simple life like any other ordinary man; only he will do with more grace and distinction than other men. The beautiful relations in the society and marriage may themselves be a preparation for the highest spiritual destiny that awaited the Messenger of God. Until his age of forty he did not preach, teach, nor did he initiate any movement. After his fortieth year of life, he was designated with the holy mission to preach and establish the True Universal Religion of God.
We will glance at his missionary life, which is divided into two parts. One the Makkah life, and the other, the Madinah life.
Having been one among the ordinary men in Makkah for four decades, the Prophet (peace be upon him) declared to his people that he was the Messenger of God to convey the Message from One True God. He said, Worship only One True God. None other and nothing else is worthy of worship. The Only True God is the Creator and all other things in the universe are His creations. We should never worship any creation.
In Makkah the Prophet (peace be upon him) proclaimed and declared the Holy Message as and when it was revealed from God and addressed it to the entire mankind through pagan Arabs of whom the Qureish were the noblest tribe to which belonged the Holy Prophet himself. The tribe of Qureish commanding over all other tribes, was the keeper of Kaba, the central shrine of Arabia and commanded trade and commerce with neighbouring countries on all sides- Syria, Persia, Yemen, and Abyssinia (now part of Ehiopia). They were seasoned travellers across both warm zones in Yemen and cold zone in Syria. They were skillful merchants and knowledgeable of the worldly affairs. They had perfected their language as a fine medium of literary expression. Yet their established order of things and social system and their perception of spiritual world were superstitious, autocratic and tribal conscious. They had reached to the extreme folly of polytheism that they had installed 360 idols around Kaba, praying to one god a day.
They held their established orders of things and tribal conventions dear to them. Just imagine the impact of this holy Message on such people.
The concept of One True God and self-surrender to the Only One God shattered all their follies which they held dear to themselves. They considered Islam as interference to their business habits, their licentiousness and their perception about the tribal form of worship. The Prophet (peace be upon him) preached against the oppression of the weak by the strong. He propounded that men and women are equal before God and that a woman is a person in her own right as much as a man is. He stood up against the traditional exploitation of man by man, usury, and gambling. He denied any moral legitimacy to tribal feelings and considerations. He brought religion into politics, while the pagans considered religion as a personal matter. He advocated that social practice and institution came very much within the orbit of religion. All these were so bitter to the pagan in Makkah that they began to persecute the Prophet and his followers as enemies to the cult of Makkah.
They were driven to a pass skirting the town of Makkah where they were compelled to feed on leaves and grass, by the boycotting attitude of the hard-hearted pagan Arabs.
His preaching and teaching brought the first opposition from none other than his own family and tribe. His preaching opened the pages of the true civilisation, which harboured a self-contained political community, which rooted out the conventional divisions of tribe and race, and ruled out nationalism and vested interests. In it there was no room for church, priesthood and no space for hereditary nobility. Human bodily urges were given legitimacy and not suppressed, realising the sexual behaviour of man and woman through proper marriage institution. This eradicated prostitution and sexual perversion in any form, treating fornication and adultery and all form of perversion as greatest sins. He warned the people to keep off from these sins.
The Prophets teachings of Truth liberated man from all the evil frets linked by man himself and unearthed the ruthless fallacy from the convention-bound evil men. The pagan Qureish persecuted the Prophet (peace be upon him) and his followers and massacred some of them. They even instigated youths to pelt the Prophet and his followers. As a result of the severity of persecution the followers of the Prophet with his permission had to migrate towards Abyssinia or Madinah. Or they went underground. The Prophet learned that the Pagan Arabs, wanting to get rid of him once for all, had plotted to kill him. Tolerate this too? No more! The Prophet at the Command of God commenced his holy journey to Madinah, with his associate, Abu Bakr, forsaking all his immovable assets and belongings. He took but some gold coins and silver that he could carry easily.
Ending 13 years of his missionary life at Makkah he headed towards Madinah where, indeed, a warm welcome was awaiting the Prophet (peace be upon him).
Some people from Madinah who had heard about the teachings of the Prophet at Makkah, had visited him in Makkah and accepted Islam and had left a humane message of great gesture to him, Gentle Prophet! If you ever have to face any difficulty to live in Makkah you can come down to Madinah anytime you prefer. We will protect you even at the cost of our lives. When they returned to Madinah they also preached what the Prophet taught them on monotheism. They did succeed in making some people embrace Islam.
This hospitality and large-heartedness of the visiting people of Madinah encouraged the Prophet in executing the command of God to migrate to Madinah in particular.
There was a great welcome at Madinah as he expected.
They listened to his teaching and reverted to Islam en masse. They also selected him as their leader to guide and administer in all aspects. The foundation stone was laid to build the Universal Brotherhood, which had been one of the themes of the Islamic ideals and also the constant dream of the Prophet. People from the surrounding villages heard about the teachings and ideals of the Prophet and wasted no time in reverting to Islam en masse. There was a bond of brotherhood between the inhabitants of Madinah and the Muslims who had migrated from Makkah.
