Description of 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 of the
Zahrah family. 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 most tender 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.
Journey to Busra – Christian Monk merits Muhammad
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. It was at Busra that the Christian monk Bahira met Muhammad. He is related to have said to Abu Talib:
‘Return with this boy and guard him against the hatred of the Jews, for a great career awaits your
nephew.”
Muhammad’s honest and honorable character
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 b y common consent he received the title of “Al Ameen,” The Faithful.
In his early years, Muhammad was not free from the cares of life. He had to watch the flocks of
his uncle, who, like the rest of the Bani Hashim, had lost the greater part of his wealth.
Solitary lifestyle of Muhammad’s youth
From youth to manhood he led an almost solitary life.
The lawlessness rife among the Meccans, the sudden outbursts of causeless and bloody quarrels among the tribes frequenting the Fair of Okadh (The Arabian Olympia), and the immorality and skepticism of the Quraish, naturally caused feelings of pity and sorrow in the heart of the sensitive youth.
Such scenes of social misery and religious degradation were characteristic of a depraved age.
Muhammad’s marriage to Khadijah
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.
This marriage proved fortunate and singularly happy. Khadijah was much the senior of her husband, but in spite of the disparity of age between them, the most tender devotion on both sides existed.
This marriage gave him the loving heart of a woman who was ever ready to console him in his despair and to keep alive within him the feeble, flickering flame of hope when no man believed in him and the world appeared gloomy in his eyes.
Troubled, lawless times for the Makka
Until he reached thirty years of age, Muhammad was almost a stranger to the outside world. Since
the death of his grandfather, authority in Mecca was divided among the ten senators who
constituted the governing body of the Arabian Commonwealth.
There was no such accord among them as to ensure the safety of individual rights and property. Though family relations afforded some degree of protection to citizens, yet strangers were frequently exposed to persecution and oppression.
In many cases they were robbed, not only of their goods, but even of their wives and daughters.
At the instigation of the faithful Muhammad, an old league called the Federation of Fudul, i.e., favors was revived with the object of repressing lawlessness and defending every weak individual – whether Meccan or stranger, free or slave – against any wrong or oppression to which he might be the victim within the territories of Mecca.
When Muhammad reached thirty-five years, he settled by his judgment a grave dispute, which
threatened to plunge the whole of Arabia into a fresh series of her oft-recurring wars.
In rebuilding the Sacred House of the Ka’ba in A.D. 605, the question arose as to who should have
the honor of raising the black stone, the most holy relic of that House, into its proper place.
Each tribe claimed that honor. The senior citizen advised the disputants to accept for their arbitrator the
first man to enter from a certain gate.
The proposal was agreed upon, and the first man who entered the gate was Muhammad “Al-Ameen.” His advice satisfied all the contending parties.
He ordered the stone to be placed on a piece of cloth and each tribe to share the honor of lifting it up
by taking hold of a part of the cloth.
The stone was thus deposited in its place, and the rebuilding of the House was completed without further interruption.
Muhammad thwarts intention of the Romans to control Makka
It is related that, about this time, a certain Usman, Ibn Huwairith, supported by Byzantine gold,
made an attempt to convert the territory of Hijaz into a Roman dependency, but the attempt
failed, chiefly through the instrumentality of Muhammad.
Kindness and generosity shown to the people
These are nearly all the public acts related by historians in which Muhammad took part in the first
fifteen years of his marriage to Khadijah.
As for his private life he is described to have been ever helpful to the needy and the helpless.
His uncle Abu Talib had fallen into distress through his endeavors to maintain the old position of his family.
Muhammad, being rather rich at this time by his alliance with Khadijah, tried to discharge part of the debt of gratitude and obligation which he owed to his uncle by undertaking the bringing up and education of his son ‘Ali. A year later he adopted ‘Akil, another of his uncle’s sons.
Khadijah bore Muhammad three sons and four daughters. All the males died in childhood, but in
loving ‘Ali he 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.
Whereupon Muhammd said: “Let Zaid come here, and if he chooses to go with you, take him
without ransom; but if it be his choice to stay with me, why should I not keep him?’
Zaid, being brought into Muhammad’s presence, declared that he would stay with his master, who treated him as if he was his only son.
Muhammad no sooner heard this than he took Zaid by the hand and led him 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.
Muhammd was now approaching his fortieth year, and his mind was ever-engaged in profound
contemplation and reflection.
Before him lay his country, bleeding and torn by fratricidal wars and intolerable dissension’s; his people, sunk in barbarism, addicted to the observation of rites and superstitions, were, with all their desert virtues, lawless and cruel.
His two visits to Syria had opened to him a scene of unutterable moral and social desolation, rival creeds and sects tearing each other to pieces, carrying their hatred to the valleys and deserts of Hijaz, and rending the townships of Arabia with their quarrels and bitterness
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