Lesson 2: Prophet Muhammad “pbuh”
Please play this video and listen to the story of our prophet Muhammad
Muhammad (pbuh) was born in Mecca (Makkah), Arabia, on Monday, 12 Rabi’ Al-Awal (2 August A.D. 570). His mother, Aminah, was the daughter of Wahb Ibn Abdu Manaf. His father, ‘Abdullah, was the son of Abdul Muttalib. His genealogy has been traced to the noble house of Ishmael, the son of Prophet Abraham in about the fortieth descend. Muhammad’s father died before his birth. Before he was six years old his mother died, and the doubly orphaned Muhammad was put under the charge of his grandfather Abdul Muttalib who took the tenderest care of him. But the old chief died two years afterwards. On his deathbed he confided to his son Abu Talib the charge of the little orphan.
When Muhammad was twelve years old, he accompanied his uncle Abu Talib on a mercantile journey to Syria, and they proceeded as far as Busra. The journey lasted for some months. Through this time Mohammad gained a great experience in commercial field. After this journey, the youth of Muhammad seems to have been passed uneventfully, but all authorities agree in ascribing to him such correctness of manners and purity of morals as were rare among the people of Mecca. The fair character and the honorable bearing of the unobtrusive youth won the approbation of the citizens of Mecca, and by common consent he received the title of “Al Ameen,” The Faithful.
When Muhammad was twenty five years old, he traveled once more to Syria as a factor of a noble and rich Quraishi widow named Khadijah; and, having proved himself faithful in the commercial interests of that lady, he was soon rewarded with her hand in marriage. Khadijah was much the senior of her husband, but in spite of the disparity of age between them, the tenderest devotion on both sides existed. She bore Muhammad three sons and four daughters. All the males died in childhood, but in loving ‘Ali his young cousin found much consolation.
About this time, Muhammad set a good example of kindness, which created a salutary effect upon his people. His wife Khadijah had made him a present of young slave named Zaid Ibn Haritha, who had been brought as a captive to Mecca and sold to Khadijah. When Haritha heard that Muhammad possessed Zaid, he came to Mecca and offered a large sum for his ransom. But Zaid refused to return back with Haritha and declared that he would stay with his master, who treated him as if he was his only son. Shortly Muhammad took Zaid to the black stone of Ka’ba, where he publicly adopted him as his son, to which the father acquiesced and returned home well satisfied. Henceforward Zaid was called the son of Muhammad.
For years after his marriage, Muhammad had been accustomed to isolate himself in a cave in Mount Hira’a, a few miles from Mecca. To this cave he used to go for prayer and meditation, sometimes alone and sometime with his family. There, he often spent the whole nights in deep thought of the Unseen yet All-Knowing Allah of the Universe. It was during one of those nights, when an angel came to him to tell him that he was the Messenger of Allah sent to reclaim a fallen people to the knowledge and service of their Lord.
Muhammad would seclude himself in the cave of Mount Hira and worship three days and nights. Until one day the revelation came down to him and the Angel Gabriel (Jibreel) appeared to him and said: “Read!” But as Muhammad was illiterate, having never received any instruction in reading or writing, he said to the angel: “I am not a reader.” The angel took a hold of him and ” The Angel again seized the Prophet and squeezed him and said: “Read! In the Name of Your Lord”. Then the Prophet repeated the words with a trembling heart. He returned to Khadijah from Mount Hira and told her what he had seen. Khadijah said: “Rejoice, O dear husband and be cheerful, you will be the prophet to this people.” 
At the beginning of his mission, Muhammad – hereinafter called the Prophet – opened his soul only to those who were attached to him. After Khadijah, his cousin’ Ali was the next companion. Once they were surprised by Zaid, the adapted son, then he was followed by Abu Bakr, the close friend of Muhammad who was but two years younger than the Prophet. Soon after, five notables presented themselves before the Prophet and accepted Islam. Several converts also came from lower classes of the Arabs to adopt the new religion.
After three years of constant but quiet struggle, only thirty followers were secured. An important change now occurred in the relations of the Prophet with the citizens of Mecca. His compatriots had begun to doubt his sanity, thinking him crazy or possessed by an evil spirit. At the same time, He decided to appeal publicly to the Meccans, requesting them to abandon their idolatry. He warned them of the fate that had overtaken past races who had not heeded the preaching of former prophets. But the gathering departed without listening to the warning given them by the Prophet.
His fellow citizens refuse to listen to him; he turned his attention to the strangers arriving in the city on commerce or pilgrimage. But the Quraish made attempts to frustrate his efforts. Now the Prophet and his followers became subject to some persecution and indignity. The hostile Quraish prevented the Prophet from offering his prayers at the Sacred House of the Ka’ba; they pursued him, insulted him, they covered him and his disciples with dirt and filth when engaged in their devotions; in spite of all these trials the Prophet was full of confidence in his mission, even when on several occasions he was put in imminent danger of losing his life.
Persecution by the Quraish grew fiercer every day and the sufferings of the Prophet’s disciples became unbearable. He had heard of the righteousness, tolerance, and hospitality of the neighboring Christian king of Abyssinia. He recommended such of his companions who were without protection to seek refuge in the kingdom of that pious king, Al Najashi (Negus). Some fifteen of the unprotected adherents of Islam promptly availed themselves of the advice and sailed to Abyssinia. Here they met with a very kind reception from the Negus. This is called the first hijrah (migration) in the history of Islam and occurred in the fifth year of the Prophet Muhammad’s mission, A.D. 615. These emigrants were soon followed by many of their fellow sufferers, until the number reached eighty-three men and eighteen women.
The hostile Quraish, furious at the escape of their victims, sent deputes to the king of Abyssinia to request him to deliver up the refugees, but the hospitable king ordered the deputies to return to their people in safety and not to interfere with their fugitives. Thus the emigrants passed the period of exile in peace and comfort.
While the followers of the Prophet sought safety in foreign lands against the persecution of their people, he continued his warnings to the Quraish more strenuously than ever. The Meccans, however, were more than ever anger at the Prophet’s increasing preaching against their religion. They asked his uncle Abu Talib to stop him, but he could not do anything. They warned Abu Talib that if he would not do that, he would be excluded from the communion of his people and driven to side with Muhammad; the matter would then be settled by fight until one of the two parties were exterminated.
Abu Talib neither wished to separate himself from his people, nor forsake his nephew. He spoke to the Prophet very softly and begged him to forsake his affair. To this suggestion the Prophet firmly replied: “O my uncle, if they placed the sun in my right hand and the moon in my left hand to cause me to renounce my task, verily I would not desist there from until Allah made manifest His cause or I perished in the attempt.”
During this period, Abu Talib declared his intention to protect his nephew against any menace or violence, besides ‘Umar Al-Khattab adopted Islam. To him the new faith gained an important factor in the future development and propagation of Islam. Thus the party of the Prophet had been strengthened by the conversation by his uncle Hamza, a man of great valor and merit; and of Abu Bakr and ‘Umar, both men of great energy and reputation. The Muslims now ventured to perform their devotions in public.
“Adapted from The stories of the prophets. www.islamways.com “
