Influence of Prophet Muhammad in the Lives of Muslims

             Prophet Muhammad (s) was born in 570 CE in Mecca. His father, Abdullah, died several weeks before his birth in Yathrib (Medinah) where he went to visit his father's maternal relatives. His mother, Aminah, died while on the return journey from Medina at a place called 'Abwa" when Muhammad (s) was six years old. After the death of his mother, Muhammad (s), was raised by his paternal grandfather Abd al Muttalib. His grandfather loved him and cared for him very much. Before his death, he asked Muhammad (s) uncle, Abu Talib, and family servant Umm-Ayman to look after him. His uncle treated him the same as his grandfather had. .

             During his childhood, he was a Shepard, just as all the Prophets of God once were. He became a merchant in his young adulthood. He was known as the 'Amin". The word Amin means honest, reliable, and trustworthy. It signified the highest standard of moral and public life. Abu Daud writes that a merchant promised to meet him at a place to discuss something concerning trade. The merchant forgot to keep his promise and could not reach the place at the time agreed upon. When three days later the merchant passed from the place of their meeting he found the Prophet (s) standing there to fulfill his part of the promise. .

             When Muhammad (s) was twenty-five years old, a rich merchant widow asked him to take a caravan of merchandise for trade to Syria. Soon after this trip, she proposed to Muhammad (s) through a relative for marriage. Muhammad (s) accepted after he had thought about the situation. .

             Some western writers who are not familiar with the social set-up of the pre-Islamic Arabs write that after marrying Khadijah r.a., Muhammad (s) living standards changed. This is not true as till his last day there was not a bit of wealth in his life and after him the Caliphs followed a simple and content lives.

             The Holy Kabah was filled with three hundred and sixty idols.

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