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; d. June 8, 632 C.E., Medina) was a member of the powerful Quraysh (Koresh) tribe, custodians of the Ka’ba, the sacred shrine at Mecca. In fact, at the time of Muhammad’s birth, his grandfather was the head of the tribe. But Muhammad’s father, who was relatively poor despite his powerful connections, died while on a trading trip, leaving his widow and child very little property.

As an infant Muhammad was sent to a wet nurse from a Bedouin tribe, as was common for the children of noble families. Although a child normally spent only two years with a wet nurse, Muhammad’s nurse asked to keep him for a longer period, and Muhammed’s mother agreed. Thus, until he was about five, the future prophet was raised away from the vice and corruption that characterized the city of Mecca at that time.

After Muhammad’s mother died, when he was about six, his grandfather, Abd al-Muttalib, assumed responsibility for him. But when Abd al-Muttalib also died about two years later, Muhammad’s uncle Abu Talib became his new guardian.

At the age of about twelve, Muhammad accompanied Abu Talib on a trading trip to Syria, which may have given him the opportunity to observe directly the effects of monotheism in various societies, and to contrast the materialism of his compatriots with the discipline that seemed to derive from the monotheistic religious faith of the Christians and Jews.

When Muhammad was fifteen, he became a shepherd, in order to earn his own living. This occupation provided a solitude that encouraged his already notable tendency toward serenity, contemplation, and spiritual questioning. Already he had begun to recoil from the worship of idols, for it seemed illogical to him that men should worship material things.

In order to improve Muhammad’s economic situation, Abu Talib arranged for him to become a sort of junior partner to a wealthy widow named Khadija, who needed a trustworthy man to run her business for her. Muhammad was such an honest and effective partner that Khadija grew to admire and respect him. Eventually, though Khadija was forty and Muhammad only twenty-five, they married. All the evidence indicates that theirs was a loving and happy marriage. Khadija bore him seven children. The four daughters survived into adulthood, but the three sons died in infancy.

During his trading trips to the north, Muhammad learned more about Christianity and Judaism. He had never been comfortable with idolatrous practices, and the idea of monotheism held a powerful attraction for him. Always thoughtful and meditative, as an adult he developed the habit of withdrawing periodically to a mountain cave outside of Mecca. There in 610 C.E., when he was about forty, Muhammad received his first revelation. The substance of this revelation was that Allah had chosen him as His prophet, or messenger, and that his task was to convey to all of mankind the same message that had been taught by Allah’s previous prophets. The revelation came in the form of verses of what was to become the Qu’ran (Koran), spoken to him by the angel Gabriel. Over the next thirteen years Muhammad continued to receive verses of the Qu’ran in the form of such revelations.

At first Muhammad was deeply troubled by his experience, but his wife Khadija and several of his relatives and close friends were convinced that the revelation was authentic. Thus his first converts were his close friends and family. They set about discreetly to invite others to join the new religion, knowing the religious authorities in Mecca would inevitably be hostile to the new faith.

In 613 a new revelation commanded Muhammad to speak publicly about the new religion. The Qurayshites felt threatened by the new religion, particularly since much of the Qurayshites’ power and wealth derived from their control over the sacred Ka’ba and their monopoly of the priestly functions of the current religion.

Because Muhammad’s uncle Abu Talib was the head of an important Qurayshite tribe, his protection prevented other Qurayshites from directly harming Muhammad. But the followers of the new religion of Islam were cruelly persecuted, and Muhammad himself was publicly mocked and