Muhammad 

In 570, Abdullah [Muhammad’s father] died while Amina [Muhammad’s mother] was still pregnant. He left her in straitened circumstances with only five camels and a young slave girl named Bahira. Muhammad was born fatherless in Mecca about 570 into the tribe of Quraysh, into the clan of Hashim, which had declined in power. Children were often given out to foster parents in the desert, because it was believed to be healthier for them than in the city. Bedouin women were willing to take a Quraysh babe to foster because they could expect presents and help from the family, but because Amina was so poor, nobody was very interested in Muhammad.

The tribe of Bani Sa’d were desperate and Halima, a member of one of the poorest families, decided to take Muhammad anyway. But Halima was so hungry herself that she had no milk to give her own baby, the milk of her camel had dried up and even the donkey on which she had ridden to Mecca was on its last legs. But this is what happened as soon as she took the baby Muhammad:

I took him to my baggage, and as soon as I put him to my bosom, my breasts overflowed with milk, which he drank until he was finished, as also did his foster brother. Then both of them slept. My husband got up and went to the old she-camel and lo, her udders were full; he milked it and he and I drank of her milk until we were completely satisfied, and we passed a happy night. In the morning my husband said: “Do you know, Halima, that you have taken a blessed creature!” Then we set out and I was riding my she-ass and carrying him with me, and she went at such a pace that the other donkeys cold not keep up.

Amina died when he was six years old. He went to live in the house of his grandfather, who made quite a favorite of him. He died when Muhammad was about eight, so the boy went to live in the household of his uncle Abu Talib, who had become the chief of Hashim, and had the companionship of his cousins Talib and Aqil.

Young Manhood

He grew up to be a very able young man. He had a decisive and wholehearted character and gave his full attention to whatever he was doing. In Mecca he was known as al-Amin, the reliable one: able to inspire confidence in others. He was good-looking, with a compact, solid body of about average height. His hair and beard were thick and curly and he had a luminous expression, which was particularly striking and is mentioned in all the sources.

His uncles made sure that he had good military training. He became a skilled archer, competent swordsman, and wrestler. His uncle Abbas was a banker, and Muhammad became a merchant whose job was to lead caravans to Syria and Mesopotamia. Despite his ability, his orphaned status held him back.

Muhammad the Merchant

Like all Meccans, Muhammad, now an Arab merchant, was very proud of his city, a center of finance and the most powerful settlement in Arabia. The Meccan merchants had become wealthier than any other Arabs and enjoyed a security that was inconceivable two generations earlier, living the grim nomadic life of the Arabian steppes. The Meccans were fiercely proud of the Kaaba, the ancient cube-shaped shrine in the center of the city, the Temple of Allah, the High God of the Arabs.

People acquired a wider perspective and an entirely new view of the world, which made the local gods seem petty and inadequate. The Arabs believed that Allah, whose name simply meant ‘the God’, was a deity who was also worshipped by the Jews and the Christians. But unlike the ‘people of the scriptures’, as the Arabs called these two venerable faiths, the Arabs were painfully aware that He had never sent them a revelation or a scripture of their own, even though they had had His shrine in their midst from time immemorial.