Book on Prophet as Social Reformer by Sarah Conover
From Sarah Conover, co-author of the acclaimed Ayat Jamilah, Beautiful Signs: A Treasury of Islamic Wisdom for Children and Parents, comes a beautiful new book about Muhammad, revered by Muslims as the Messenger of God.

In the pages of Muhammad: The Story of a Prophet and Reformer, young readers will encounter a man very different from the figure often presented in Western popular cultur...

Lesley Hazleton on What You Might Not Know About the Prophet
Everyone knows his name. He was, and still is, one of the most influential figures of all time, yet most of us have little real sense of the man himself. A favorite question of those asking about my new book, "The First Muslim," is thus what surprised me most in my research. Or rather, what might surprise them. Here's a shortlist: 1. He was born an orphan. His father died without kn...

1 - Makka before Islam
Prophet Muhammad, God’s Messenger and the last prophet, was born in the city of Makka. Makka is in the west of the Arabian Peninsula, lying between Asia, Europe and Africa, within the Hejaz region. It is important to be aware of the history of Makka, the Ka’ba and the Quraysh tribe in order to understand the life of the Prophet.

The known history of Makka dates back to the time of Prophet Abraham,...

2 - Lineage of the Prophet
The lineage of Prophet Muhammad can be traced back to Prophet Ishmael, the son of Abraham, through Adnan, a descendent twenty-one generations removed. Thus, the northern Arabs, of which the Prophet’s family was a part, were called Ishmaelites or Adnanis. (The other branch of Arabs was the Kahtanis, who resided in southern Arabia.)

The Prophet Muhammad himself traces his lineage back to Adnan. It i...

3 - The Birth of Prophet Muhammad
Prophet Muhammad was born in the city of Makka, which is located in the Hijaz region on the western part of the Arabian Peninsula. His exact date of birth is not known. The reason for this is that no particular calendar was used among the Arabs at that time. According to common opinion, he was born 50 to 55 days after the Incident of the Elephant in the month of Rabi' al-awwal on a Monday. Differe...

4 - The Prophet's Childhood and Adolescence
After his birth, Prophet Muhammad stayed with his mother Amina for a while and then, as per tradition, was handed over to his wet-nurse. The purpose of entrusting children to a wet nurse was so that they could be raised in the desert --a healthier environment in which to grow up when compared to the city-- and so that they could learn fluent Arabic. In accordance with this tradition, Prophet Muham...

5 - Marriage to Khadija
Khadija was the daughter of Khuwaylid ibn Asad, a prominent member of the Quraysh. Her grandfather Qusayy was related to ancestors of Prophet Muhammad. Khadija, who was married twice before marrying the Prophet, was a noble, beautiful and rich woman. She received several marriage proposals from leading figures of the Quraysh after the death of her second husband, but she refused all of them. Khadi...

6 - The Ka'ba Arbitration
The Prophet Muhammad’s arbitration between the major clans of the Quraysh tribe during the renovation of the Ka’ba, when he was thirty-five years old carries great importance. The Quraysh wanted to rebuild the Ka’ba in 605 AD as it had been damaged by fire and flooding. During that time, news of a Byzantine ship running aground at the port of Shuaiba near Jeddah reached Makka. According to reports...

7 - The First Revelation
Prophet Muhammad was appointed as a Messenger by God when he was forty years old. After the repairs of the Ka’ba and his inserting the Black Stone back in its place, people began to notice that Muhammad tended towards thinking about God and seeking the ways of belief in and worship of Him. Not once showing any interest in the idols of the Makkans or those of the many other Arab tribes, he reached ...

8 - Interruption in the Course of Revelation
A break in revelation occurred for some time following the first revelation. The interruption that Divine revelation underwent when the gravity and difficulty of the first revelation had scarcely passed, caused Prophet Muhammad great anxiety. He would frequently go to the cave of Hira and await the Archangel Gabriel, yet the angel would not appear, despite the many days that had passed. These days...

9 - The First Muslims
With the Divine command to convey God’s message to the people, Prophet Muhammad now started to invite those around him to the religion of Islam. This invitation continued for up to three years in secret. After Khadija, his close friend Abu Bakr, ‘Ali ibn Abu Talib and Zayd ibn Harith, his daughters Zaynab, Ruqayya and Umm Kulthum all became Muslims. In addition to these, Abu Bakr's close friends ‘...

10 - Open Invitation
The Beginning of the Public Invitation

The public invitation to Islam started in Makka after the fourth year of Prophethood. The Prophet Muhammad’s first and most important addressees were the Quraysh. Placing their idols in and around the Ka’ba, the Quraysh had managed both the major and minor pilgrimages (hajj and ‘umra) since the time of Abraham and Ishmael, and for this reason held a position ...