The Early Life of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ

Prophet Muhammad ﷺ was born in Mecca around the year 570 CE, into the tribe of Quraysh, the custodians of the Kaaba. His father, Abdullah, died before he was born, and his mother, Amina, died when he was six, leaving him an orphan raised first by his grandfather, Abdul-Muttalib, and after his grandfather's death, by his uncle, Abu Talib. As a young man, he became known among the people of Mecca for his honesty and trustworthiness, earning the title al-Amin, 'the trustworthy one,' well before he received any revelation. He worked as a merchant, and it was through this trade that he came to work for Khadijah bint Khuwaylid, a respected businesswoman, who was impressed by his character and later proposed marriage to him. He was twenty-five; she was forty. In the years before revelation began, he was known to retreat periodically to the Cave of Hira, on a mountain outside Mecca, for quiet reflection away from the idol worship and social conditions of the city. It was during one of these retreats, when he was around forty years old, that he received the first revelation of the Quran — the moment that marked the beginning of his prophethood.