101 moments in five chapters. The 46 key moments are shown first; open any of them for the full page, with a map and the people who were there.
Abraham – 571 CE
How Makkah, the Ka’bah and the Prophet’s family came to be where the story begins.
Abraham leaves Hagar and the infant Ishmael in the barren valley of Makkah, where the spring of Zamzam gushes out. Years later, father and son raise the Ka’bah together, and Abraham calls people to pilgrimage.
Qusai bin Kilab, an ancestor of the Prophet ﷺ, wins rule over Makkah and custody of the Ka’bah for Quraish. He founds the assembly house, Dar an-Nadwah, where Quraish meet to decide their affairs.
‘Amr bin Luhai, a chief of Khuza’ah, brings the idol Hubal from Syria and sets it up in the Ka’bah. Idol worship spreads across the Hijaz; by the conquest of Makkah there are 360 idols around the Ka’bah.
Told in a dream where to dig, the Prophet’s grandfather ‘Abdul-Muttalib uncovers the well of Zamzam, filled in long before by the tribe of Jurhum, and the custom of giving its water to pilgrims is established.
‘Abdul-Muttalib had vowed to sacrifice one of his sons. The lot falls on ‘Abdullah, the Prophet’s future father, but he is ransomed with one hundred camels instead.
Background
Abraha, the Abyssinian ruler of Yemen, marches on Makkah with an army and elephants to destroy the Ka’bah. At the valley of Muhassar the elephant kneels and will not advance, and birds pelt the army with stones. Quraish, who had fled to the hills, return safely.
‘Abdullah, married to Aminah, dies in Madinah (Yathrib) aged twenty-five. The book gives two reports: his father had sent him there to buy dates, or he died there on his way back from a trade journey to Syria. Most historians place his death before his son is born.
571 – 610 CEBirth to 40
An orphan raised by his grandfather and uncle, known to all of Makkah as al-Amin, the trustworthy.
Turning point
Muhammad is born in Makkah, in the quarter of Banu Hashim. His grandfather ‘Abdul-Muttalib carries him to the Ka’bah, thanks Allah, and names him Muhammad, a name not common among the Arabs.
As was the custom, the baby is given to a Bedouin wet nurse, Haleemah of Banu Sa’d. Her household finds unexpected blessings while he is with them, and she keeps him in the desert until he is four or five.
While he is playing with other boys, Gabriel comes to him, opens his chest and washes his heart with Zamzam water. Worried, Haleemah returns him to his mother.
Aminah takes her son to Madinah to visit his father’s grave. On the way home she falls ill and dies at al-Abwa’. His grandfather brings the orphaned boy back to Makkah.
‘Abdul-Muttalib, who loved him more than his own children, dies. His uncle Abu Talib takes charge of him and protects him for the next forty years.
On a trade journey to Syria with Abu Talib, the boy meets the monk Bahira at Busra. Bahira recognises signs of prophethood in him and urges Abu Talib to take him back to Makkah.
War breaks out between Quraish and Kinanah on one side and Qais ‘Ailan on the other, even in the sacred months. The young Muhammad attends one battle, only gathering arrows for his uncles.
Clans of Quraish pledge to stand with anyone wronged in Makkah, after a merchant of the Zubaid clan is cheated of his payment. Years later the Prophet ﷺ says he would still answer such a call in Islam.
It was more appealing to me than herds of cattle.
Khadijah, a respected businesswoman, hears of his honesty and hires him to take her goods to Syria, with her servant Maisarah. The journey brings her more profit than ever.
Family
Khadijah proposes marriage through her friend Nafisah, and they marry. She is his only wife for as long as she lives, and bears all his children except Ibrahim.
Early life
After a flood damages the Ka’bah, Quraish rebuild it. The clans nearly come to blows over who will set the Black Stone in place, until they agree to let the next man to enter decide. It is Muhammad, “al-Amin”, the trustworthy: he places the stone on a cloak, has every clan lift it together, and sets it with his own hands.
610 – 622 CEAge 40 to 53
Thirteen years of calling people to worship Allah alone, met with mockery, boycott and persecution.
Approaching forty, he spends long stretches alone in the small cave of Hira’ on Mount an-Nur, two miles from Makkah, especially in Ramadan, reflecting on creation and troubled by the idol worship around him.
Revelation
The angel who had first come to him in the cave of Hira’ appears again, seated between earth and sky. Shaken, he hurries home asking to be covered, and the opening verses of Surah al-Muddaththir are revealed: “Arise and warn.” After this, revelation comes regularly.
Arise and warn! And your Lord magnify!
Turning point
Khadijah is the first to believe, followed on the same day by Zaid bin Harithah, ‘Ali bin Abi Talib and Abu Bakr. Through Abu Bakr, ‘Uthman, az-Zubair, ‘Abdur-Rahman bin ‘Awf, Sa’d bin Abi Waqqas and Talhah join. For three years the call spreads quietly, person to person.
Turning point
Commanded to warn his clan, he gathers Banu Hashim; Abu Talib promises protection while keeping his old religion. Then from Mount as-Safa he calls all Quraish: would they believe him if he said horsemen in the valley were about to raid them? “We have never experienced any lie from you,” they answer. Abu Lahab curses him, and Surah al-Masad is revealed.
Hardship
Quraish set up a council under Abu Lahab to crush the new faith. Believers without powerful clans are tortured: Bilal is laid on burning sand under rocks until Abu Bakr frees him, and Yasir and Sumayyah, the parents of ‘Ammar, are killed, Sumayyah becoming the first woman martyr of Islam.
To protect the believers, the Prophet ﷺ makes the house of al-Arqam, on as-Safa, a secret meeting place where he teaches them the Qur’an.
Journey
Twelve men and four women, among them ‘Uthman and his wife Ruqayyah, the Prophet’s daughter, slip out of Makkah by night and sail from the port of Shu’aibah to Abyssinia, where the just king, the Negus, gives them refuge.
Journey
A larger group of 83 men and 18 or 19 women leaves for Abyssinia. Quraish send two envoys, ‘Amr bin al-‘As and ‘Abdullah bin Abi Rabi’ah, to have them handed back, but Ja’far bin Abi Talib explains Islam and recites from Surah Maryam, and the Negus, moved to tears, refuses to surrender them.
Quraish press Abu Talib to stop his nephew. When his uncle asks him to spare them both, the Prophet ﷺ says he would not give up his mission even if they put the sun in his right hand and the moon in his left. Abu Talib replies: go and preach what you please, I will never forsake you.
O my uncle! by Allah if they put the sun in my right hand and the moon in my left on condition that I abandon this course … I would not abandon it.
When Abu Jahl strikes the Prophet ﷺ on as-Safa, his uncle Hamzah, returning from the hunt, confronts Abu Jahl at the Ka’bah and declares that he too follows Muhammad’s religion.
Turning point
Setting out to kill the Prophet ﷺ, ‘Umar learns that his own sister has become Muslim. Reading the opening of Surah Ta-Ha at her house, he is won over, goes to the Prophet at as-Safa and accepts Islam. After this the Muslims pray openly at the Ka’bah for the first time.
Quraish send ‘Utbah bin Rabi’ah to offer the Prophet ﷺ riches, leadership or kingship if he will stop. He answers by reciting Surah Fussilat, and ‘Utbah returns telling Quraish he has never heard words like them.
Hardship
Quraish sign a pact, hung inside the Ka’bah, refusing all trade and marriage with Banu Hashim and Banu al-Muttalib until they hand the Prophet ﷺ over. The clan withdraws to the narrow valley (shi’b) of Abu Talib, where for three years they are driven to eat leaves and skins, and the cries of hungry children can be heard.
Five Makkans moved by family ties campaign to tear up the pact. Abu Talib tells Quraish that, according to his nephew, ants have eaten the document except for the name of Allah. They check, find it so, and the boycott is lifted.
Abu Talib, who had protected him for forty years, dies; the book’s main report places this six months after the boycott ended. At his bedside the Prophet ﷺ urges him to declare that there is no god but Allah, but Abu Jahl and another chief press him to keep the religion of ‘Abdul-Muttalib, and he dies on it.
Family
Khadijah dies, about two months after Abu Talib by the book’s main report (another report says three days). “She believed in me when none else did,” he would later say. With both his protector and his wife gone, the persecution grows, and he calls this the year of grief.
She believed in me when none else did.
He marries Sawdah, an early Muslim widowed on the return from Abyssinia, the first woman he marries after Khadijah.
Hardship
With Zaid bin Harithah he sets out for Ta’if, about 60 km away, to seek support. The chiefs of Thaqif mock him, and after ten days a mob stones him out of town until blood runs down his legs. Resting in an orchard he makes his famous prayer of complaint to Allah; a Christian servant, ‘Addas, brings him grapes and kisses his hands. On the way back, offered by the angel of the mountains to bury Makkah between its two mountains, he answers that he hopes for descendants of theirs who will worship Allah alone.
O Allah! To You alone I make complaint of my helplessness, the paucity of my resources and my insignificance before mankind.
Resting in the valley of Nakhlah, he recites the Qur’an and a company of jinn listen and believe, as the Qur’an later relates in Surah al-Ahqaf and Surah al-Jinn.
Unable to enter Makkah safely, he asks several chiefs for protection. Al-Mut’im bin ‘Adi, though not a Muslim, has his people take up arms and escorts him into the Sacred Mosque; the Prophet ﷺ never forgets the favour.
At each pilgrimage season he visits the tribes camped around Makkah, asking for their support. None agrees, but individuals such as Suwaid bin Samit, Abu Dharr al-Ghifari and at-Tufail bin ‘Amr ad-Dawsi accept Islam.
Turning point
At ‘Aqabah near Mina he meets six men from Yathrib (Madinah); the book calls them Khazraj, though it also says two of them were from Aws. Having heard their Jewish neighbours speak of a coming prophet, they accept Islam and return home to spread it; soon hardly a house in Madinah is not talking about him.
The marriage contract with ‘Aishah, daughter of Abu Bakr, is concluded in Makkah; the book records that she joined his household in Madinah in the first year after the Hijrah.
Revelation
In one night he is carried on al-Buraq with Gabriel from the Sacred Mosque in Makkah to the Farthest Mosque in Jerusalem, where he leads the prophets in prayer, then taken up through the heavens, meeting Adam, Jesus, Joseph, Moses, Abraham and others. Fifty daily prayers are ordained and, at Moses’ urging, reduced to five.
Turning point
Twelve men from Madinah meet him at ‘Aqabah and pledge to worship Allah alone and not to steal, commit adultery, kill their children, slander, or disobey him in what is right.
Turning point
The Prophet ﷺ sends Mus’ab bin ‘Umair to teach Islam in Madinah. Staying with As’ad bin Zurarah, he wins over the clan chiefs Usaid bin Hudair and Sa’d bin Mu’adh; by that evening all of Sa’d‘s clan but one man have accepted Islam. Within a year there are Muslims in nearly every house of the Ansar.
Turning point
At night on a hillock at ‘Aqabah, 73 men and 2 women from Madinah pledge to protect the Prophet ﷺ as they protect their own families, and he promises: “your blood will be my blood”. Twelve deputies are chosen to take responsibility for their people.
Nay, it would never be; your blood will be my blood.
Given leave after the Second Pledge, the believers slip away to Madinah in groups, often losing everything: Suhaib gives up all his wealth to be allowed to go. Earlier, Abu Salamah had gone ahead, and his wife Umm Salamah was kept from him and their son for a year. Soon only the Prophet ﷺ, Abu Bakr, ‘Ali and those held back remain in Makkah.
The chiefs of Quraish meet in their assembly house. Rejecting exile and imprisonment, they adopt Abu Jahl’s plan: a young man from every clan will strike the Prophet ﷺ at once, so that no single clan can be held to account for his blood.
622 CEAge 53
The migration from Makkah to Madinah: a secret night escape, three days in a cave, and a long ride north.
Journey
Warned by Gabriel, the Prophet ﷺ has ‘Ali sleep in his bed under his green cloak. He walks out past the assassins at his door, goes to Abu Bakr’s house, and the two head south, away from the Madinah road, to the cave of Mount Thawr.
Journey
For three nights they hide in the cave while Quraish offer 100 camels for each of them. ‘Abdullah bin Abi Bakr brings news each night and ‘Amir bin Fuhairah brings milk. When the searchers reach the cave’s mouth, the Prophet ﷺ calms Abu Bakr: what do you think of two when Allah is the third?
What do you think of those two with whom the Third is Allah.
Guided by ‘Abdullah bin Uraiqit along the little-used coastal route, they set off with food Asma’ ties up with her waistband. Suraqah bin Malik chases them for the reward, but his horse keeps stumbling and he asks for pardon. At the tent of Umm Ma’bad, a dry goat gives milk.
Journey
After days of the Madinans waiting in the heat, a Jewish man on a hillock spots the travellers and the town rushes out. The Prophet ﷺ stays four days at Quba’ and lays the foundation of its mosque; ‘Ali, having returned the trusts left with the Prophet, catches up with him there.
622 – 632 CEAge 53 to 63
Ten years that build a community, see it through war and treaty, and end with Makkah opened and a farewell.
Journey
He prays the Friday prayer on the way, in the vale of Banu Salim, then rides into the city as every family begs him to stay with them. “This camel is commanded by Allah,” he says; it kneels in the quarter of Banu an-Najjar, and he lodges with Abu Ayyub al-Ansari. His family and Abu Bakr’s follow soon after.
Turning point
On the spot where his camel knelt, land bought from two orphans becomes the Prophet’s Mosque. He carries bricks himself. It serves as place of prayer, school and meeting house, with a shelter for the homeless and rooms for his family beside it. The call to prayer (adhan) begins at this time.
Turning point
At the house of Anas bin Malik he pairs 90 men, half Emigrants from Makkah and half Helpers of Madinah, as brothers in faith. Sa’d bin ar-Rabi’ offers half his wealth to ‘Abdur-Rahman bin ‘Awf, who thanks him and asks only to be shown the market.
Kindly direct me to the market so that I may make my fortune with my own hands.
Treaty
A written covenant binds the Emigrants and the Helpers as one community, and a treaty with the Jewish tribes of Madinah guarantees each side its religion and property, with mutual defence of the city and disputes referred to Allah and His Messenger.
‘Abdullah bin Salam, a leading rabbi of Madinah, questions the Prophet ﷺ on his arrival and accepts Islam.
As Quraish threaten the Muslims in Madinah, the verse is revealed permitting those who have been wronged to fight back. Guards are posted by the Prophet’s house until the verse “Allah will protect you from mankind” is revealed.
Small patrols ride out to watch the Quraish trade routes and make pacts with nearby tribes. The first, under Hamzah in Ramadan 1 A.H., ends without fighting; the Prophet ﷺ himself leads out to al-Abwa’ (Waddan), Buwat and Dhul-‘Ushairah, making non-aggression pacts with Banu Damrah and Banu Mudlij.
‘Abdullah bin Jahsh leads twelve men to watch a Quraish caravan at Nakhlah. They attack it in the sacred month of Rajab, killing one man. The Prophet ﷺ disapproves and holds back the spoils until a verse answers the uproar, saying that driving people from Allah’s way and from the Sacred Mosque is graver still.
Revelation
Muslims had prayed towards Jerusalem. Now the command comes to face the Sacred Mosque in Makkah, a change the book says separated the sincere from the wavering and hinted at a return to Makkah.
Battle
Setting out to intercept Abu Sufyan’s rich caravan with 300–317 poorly equipped men, the Muslims find that the caravan has escaped and an army of 1,000 from Makkah has come instead. The Helpers pledge to follow the Prophet ﷺ even into the sea. After a night of rain and prayer, the Muslims win a decisive victory: 14 Muslims are killed; 70 of Quraish are killed, among them Abu Jahl, and 70 taken prisoner.
O Allah! Should this group (of Muslims) be defeated today, You will no longer be worshipped.
News of the defeat stuns Makkah; Abu Lahab dies days later. In Madinah the victory is announced just as Ruqayyah, the Prophet’s daughter and wife of ‘Uthman, is buried.
Turning point
The Prophet ﷺ tells the Muslims to treat the captives well, and takes Abu Bakr’s advice to ransom them rather than ‘Umar’s to execute them. Prisoners who cannot pay are freed once they have taught ten children of Madinah to read and write. His daughter Zainab sends her necklace to ransom her husband.
In the same year the fast of Ramadan becomes obligatory, Zakat is prescribed, and the Muslims celebrate the first ‘Eid al-Fitr, just after the victory at Badr.
After Badr, relations with Banu Qaynuqa’, a Jewish clan inside Madinah, break down. The book reports that a Muslim woman was humiliated in their market and a man was killed on each side. The Muslims besiege their fortresses for fifteen days; they surrender, and at ‘Abdullah bin Ubayy’s plea their lives are spared and they leave Arabia for Syria.
Abu Sufyan, vowing revenge for Badr, slips into the outskirts of Madinah by night with 200 men, burns palm trees and kills two Muslims, then flees, dropping his sacks of barley meal (sawiq) as the Muslims give chase.
The book reports that Ka’b bin al-Ashraf, a wealthy poet, wrote verses against the Prophet ﷺ after Badr, went to Makkah to urge Quraish to war, and on his return composed verses about Muslim women. The Prophet called for volunteers, and a group including Muhammad bin Maslamah and Abu Na’ilah drew him out of his fort at night and killed him.
Trying a new route to Iraq through Najd, a Quraish caravan led by Safwan bin Umayyah is intercepted by Zaid bin Harithah with 100 riders; its guide, Furat bin Haiyan, later accepts Islam. The economic pressure on Makkah tightens.
Battle
Quraish march on Madinah with 3,000 men to avenge Badr. The Prophet ﷺ goes out with 1,000, but ‘Abdullah bin Ubayy turns back with a third of them, leaving 700. Fifty archers under ‘Abdullah bin Jubair are ordered not to leave their hill until he sends for them. Hamzah is killed by Wahshi’s spear while the Muslims are still winning; then most of the archers leave their posts for the spoils, and Khalid bin al-Walid’s cavalry sweeps round behind them. A false cry that Muhammad has been killed spreads; the Prophet is wounded, a few companions shielding him with their own bodies. About seventy Muslims are martyred.
Hardship
Hamzah, the Prophet’s uncle, fights with great courage until Wahshi, a slave promised his freedom, spears him from hiding. His body is mutilated, and Ibn Mas’ud says he never saw the Prophet ﷺ weep as he wept for Hamzah.
The morning after Uhud, wounded and exhausted, the Muslims who fought there march out after the Makkan army and camp at Hamra’ al-Asad for three days. Abu Sufyan, hearing of it, heads home to Makkah.
Two groups sent at the request of Arab tribes to teach Islam are betrayed. At ar-Raji’ a party of six (ten in another report) is attacked; Khubaib and Zaid bin ad-Dathinah are sold to Quraish and killed in Makkah. At the well of Ma’unah a party of reciters, forty by Ibn Ishaq’s count or seventy by the Sahih’s, is surrounded and killed; the book calls them seventy of the best believers.
Visiting Banu an-Nadir to ask for help with a blood-money payment, the Prophet ﷺ learns, according to the book, of a plan to drop a rock on him, and leaves. They are given ten days to leave Madinah; relying on ‘Abdullah bin Ubayy’s promises of help, they refuse, and after a siege of six nights (or fifteen) they depart, many to Khaibar. Surah al-Hashr describes these events.
Abu Sufyan had promised to meet the Muslims at Badr again a year after Uhud. The Prophet ﷺ arrives with 1,500 men and waits; Quraish set out and turn back. The Muslims regain their standing across Arabia.
Battle
A confederacy of some 10,000 fighters — Quraish, Ghatafan and their allies, drawn together by leaders of Banu an-Nadir — marches on Madinah. On Salman al-Farisi’s advice the Muslims dig a trench across the open northern side, the Prophet ﷺ at their head encouraging and helping them through severe hunger. The siege lasts over a month. Nu’aim bin Mas’ud sows distrust among the allies, and a freezing wind tears down their camp until they leave. From now on, the Prophet says, the Muslims will not wait to be invaded.
The book reports that during the siege of Madinah, Banu Qurayzah, whose pact obliged them to help defend the city, broke it and sided with the Confederates. On the day the Confederates leave, the Muslims besiege their forts for 25 days. The tribe accepts the judgement of their former ally Sa’d bin Mu’adh, and the book reports that their men — between 600 and 700 — were executed and the women and children taken captive. Sa’d dies of his wound from the Trench soon after.
Hearing that al-Harith bin Dirar is gathering men to attack Madinah, the Prophet ﷺ marches to the well of al-Muraisi’ and defeats Banu al-Mustaliq. Among the captives is Juwairiyah, the chief’s daughter. On the march, the hypocrites under ‘Abdullah bin Ubayy try to set the Emigrants and Helpers against each other.
Hardship
Searching for a borrowed necklace, ‘Aishah is left behind by the army and brought back by a companion, Safwan. The hypocrites spread a malicious rumour. For a month she is ill and unaware of it; then Qur’anic verses (24:11 onward) are revealed declaring her innocence.
Treaty
After a dream of entering the Sacred Mosque, the Prophet ﷺ sets out with about 1,400–1,500 Muslims to perform ‘Umrah, unarmed but for sheathed swords. Quraish block the way at al-Hudaibiyah. When ‘Uthman, their envoy, is long delayed and feared killed, the Muslims pledge under a tree to stand firm (Bay’at ar-Ridwan). Quraish then agree a ten-year truce: the Muslims return this year and come back next year for three days. The terms seem one-sided, and Abu Jandal is sent back in chains, but the Qur’an calls the treaty “a manifest victory”.
Verily, We have given you a manifest victory.
Three prominent Makkans — ‘Amr bin al-‘As, Khalid bin al-Walid and ‘Uthman bin Talhah — come to Madinah and accept Islam. “Quraish has given us its own blood,” the Prophet ﷺ says.
Quraish has given us its own blood.
Turning point
On his return from al-Hudaibiyah the Prophet ﷺ has a silver seal made reading “Muhammad the Messenger of Allah”, and in Muharram 7 A.H. envoys carry letters inviting rulers to Islam: al-Muqawqis of Egypt, Chosroes of Persia (who tears the letter up), Heraclius of Byzantium, and the rulers of Bahrain, al-Yamamah and Damascus. A letter to the Negus is also recorded, though the book doubts it dates from this time, and the letter to Oman was most likely sent after the conquest of Makkah.
Battle
The Prophet ﷺ marches on Khaibar, a fertile oasis of fortresses 60–80 miles north of Madinah that the book describes as a centre of the alliance against the Muslims. After ‘Ali defeats the champion Marhab, the forts fall one after another. The people of Khaibar are allowed to stay and farm the land in return for half the harvest. Safiyyah, daughter of Huyayy bin Akhtab, taken captive at Khaibar, accepts Islam and the Prophet frees and marries her; Ja’far and the last emigrants return from Abyssinia.
On a campaign against Bedouin tribes, the Prophet ﷺ rests under a tree with his sword hanging on it. A man takes the sword and asks who will save him now. “Allah,” he answers.
Turning point
As agreed at al-Hudaibiyah, the Muslims return a year later and enter Makkah for three days to perform ‘Umrah, the Prophet ﷺ at their head on his camel al-Qaswa’, their swords sheathed.
Battle
An army of 3,000 is sent towards Syria, where it meets a Byzantine force the book puts at 200,000. Its three appointed commanders — Zaid bin Harithah, Ja’far bin Abi Talib and ‘Abdullah bin Rawahah — are killed one after another. Khalid bin al-Walid takes command and brings the army home.
Banu Bakr, allies of Quraish, attack Banu Khuza’ah, allies of the Muslims, at night — with Quraish supplying men and weapons — and pursue them even into the Sanctuary. Khuza’ah ride to Madinah for help. Abu Sufyan comes to renew the treaty but returns empty-handed.
Turning point
The Prophet ﷺ marches on Makkah with 10,000 men, keeping the plan secret. Abu Sufyan accepts Islam at Marr az-Zahran, and those who stay in their homes, in the Sacred Mosque or in Abu Sufyan’s house are promised safety. The army enters with little resistance, apart from a clash on Khalid’s flank. The Prophet knocks down the 360 idols at the Ka’bah, reciting “Truth has come and falsehood has vanished”, Bilal gives the call to prayer from its roof, and he tells Quraish, in the words of Joseph to his brothers: “No reproach on you this day.”
No reproach on you this day.
After the conquest, detachments go out to pull down the great idols of the area: Khalid bin al-Walid to al-‘Uzza and ‘Amr bin al-‘As to Suwa’. Hind bint ‘Utbah, who had mutilated Hamzah’s body at Uhud, comes to pledge allegiance and breaks her household idol.
Battle
Hawazin and Thaqif gather at Awtas under Malik bin ‘Awf, bringing their families and herds. The Prophet ﷺ marches with 12,000 men, and some Muslims boast of their numbers. Ambushed at dawn in the valley of Hunain, the army breaks and runs; the Prophet holds his ground and al-‘Abbas calls the Companions back, then the Helpers, and they return and win the day. The Qur’an recalls how their great number “availed you naught”.
Survivors of Hunain shut themselves in the fortress of Ta’if. The Muslims besiege it for 10 to 20 days (the book notes the length is disputed), and the twenty-three men who come down from it are declared free. Asked to invoke Allah against Thaqif, the Prophet ﷺ prays instead: “O Allah, guide Thaqif and bring them to us as Muslims.”
Turning point
The Prophet ﷺ gives large shares of the spoils to chiefs of Quraish and other tribes who had recently accepted Islam. Some Helpers feel overlooked. He gathers them and asks: are you not content that others go home with sheep and camels, while you go home with the Messenger of Allah? They weep and say they are content. When a Hawazin delegation comes as Muslims, he gives back his own share of the captives and asks the others to do the same, and the women and children are returned.
Are you not satisfied, O group of Helpers that the people go with ewes and camels while you go along with the Messenger of Allah to your dwellings.
Expedition
News comes that Heraclius is massing a large army. In great heat and drought the Prophet ﷺ openly calls for a campaign; ‘Uthman gives nine hundred camels, a hundred horses and money, and 30,000 march north — the largest Muslim army yet. At Tabuk no enemy appears; nearby towns make terms, and the army returns after fifty days. It is the last campaign the Prophet leads.
Turning point
Ka’b bin Malik, Murarah bin ar-Rabi’ and Hilal bin Umayyah stayed home from Tabuk with no excuse, and refuse to invent one. For fifty days no one speaks to them, until verses of Surah at-Tawbah announce that Allah has accepted their repentance.
The Negus of Abyssinia, who sheltered the first emigrants, dies, and the Prophet ﷺ prays the funeral prayer for him in his absence. The Prophet’s daughter Umm Kulthum, wife of ‘Uthman, also dies, as does ‘Abdullah bin Ubayy, the leader of the hypocrites.
The Prophet ﷺ sends Abu Bakr to lead the pilgrimage. The opening of Surah Bara’ah (at-Tawbah) is then revealed, and ‘Ali follows to proclaim it, ending the covenants with the idolaters after a four-month respite. Abu Bakr has it announced that from now on no idolater may perform the pilgrimage and no one may circle the Ka’bah naked.
Turning point
More than seventy delegations come to Madinah from across Arabia to accept Islam or make terms — among them Thaqif of Ta’if, Tayy, Hamdan, the Christians of Najran and many tribes of Yemen. People enter the religion of Allah in crowds.
Turning point
The Prophet ﷺ leads the pilgrimage with a crowd the book puts at 124,000 or 144,000. At ‘Arafah he tells them their blood and property are sacred to one another, abolishes blood feuds and usury from the days of ignorance, tells them to fear Allah in their treatment of women, and says he leaves them the Book of Allah and his Sunnah. The verse “This day I have perfected your religion for you” is revealed.
O people! Listen to what I say. I do not know whether I will ever meet you at this place once again after this current year.
The Prophet ﷺ prepares an army for the Byzantine frontier under the young Usamah bin Zaid. When some question his youth, the Prophet answers that they had questioned his father Zaid’s command too, and that both father and son were fit to lead and dear to him.
Early in Safar he visits the martyrs of Uhud to pray for them. Returning from a funeral at al-Baqi’, he falls ill with headache and fever and moves to ‘Aishah’s room. He leads the prayers for eleven days while ill; four days before his death he asks Abu Bakr to lead them instead.
Turning point
On his last morning he lifts the curtain of his room and smiles to see the Muslims in rows behind Abu Bakr. Resting against ‘Aishah, his last words are a prayer for “the most exalted Companionship on high”. Madinah is stunned; ‘Umar refuses to believe it until Abu Bakr reminds the people: whoever worshipped Muhammad, Muhammad has died, but whoever worships Allah, Allah is Ever-Living and never dies.
O Allah, forgive me and have mercy upon me and join me to the Companionship on high.
The Emigrants and Helpers meet in the portico of Banu Sa’idah and choose Abu Bakr as caliph. The Prophet ﷺ is buried in ‘Aishah’s room, where he died, following his saying that a prophet is buried where he dies.
No key moments of this type.