Sirah
The Life of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ
Sixty-three years that changed the world: from an orphan of Mecca to the final messenger. Scroll — the timeline will lead through the key milestones, and the scenes will show them.
Timeline
A journey of sixty-three years
Each milestone is a year on the golden line of time. This is an educational retelling of the classical sirah; for depth, turn to the biographies and scholars.
≈570 · Mecca
An orphan is born
In the Year of the Elephant, Muhammad ﷺ is born in Mecca. His father Abdullah died before his birth; his mother Aminah — when he was six. He is raised by his grandfather Abd al-Muttalib and then his uncle Abu Talib. From childhood the future messenger learns what it means to be weak in a world of the strong.
≈595 · Youth
Al-Amin — “the Trustworthy”
Long before prophethood the Meccans call him al-Amin — “the trustworthy”: they entrust him with goods and disputes. He leads the trade caravans of the widow Khadijah; struck by his honesty, she proposes marriage. Khadijah will be the first to believe in his mission, and his support for life.
610 · Cave of Hira
“Read!” — the first revelation
In the solitude of the cave of Hira, the angel Jibril appears to the forty-year-old Muhammad ﷺ with the word “Iqra!” — “Read!” (96:1). Thus begins the revelation of the Quran that will continue for 23 years. That night has its own page — “The Story of the Quran”.
613–619 · The Meccan call
Preaching and persecution
The open call to the One God meets mockery, boycott and torture: the weak among the Muslims are tormented, some seek refuge in Abyssinia. The Prophet ﷺ answers with patience — no revenge for himself. The verses of those years speak of sabr, trust in Allah, and dignity under persecution.
619–620 · The year of sorrow
Losses — and the Night Journey
In a single year the Prophet ﷺ loses both his protectors: his wife Khadijah and his uncle Abu Talib. In the darkest moment comes solace — the Isra and Mi'raj: the night journey to Jerusalem (17:1) and the ascension through the heavens, recounted in the hadith, — where the five daily prayers are given to the community.
622 · The Hijrah
Migration to Medina
When Mecca plots his murder, the Prophet ﷺ and Abu Bakr secretly leave the city — first heading south to the cave of Thawr to throw the pursuit off their trail (9:40 — “do not grieve, Allah is with us”). Tradition tells that a spider spun its web across the cave entrance, so the pursuers standing a step away passed on. Only then do the two turn north. Yathrib, which received them, becomes Medina — “the city of the Prophet” — and the year of migration, year one of the Muslim calendar.
622–627 · Medina
The first community and its trials
In Medina the first mosque is raised, the muhajirun and ansar are made brothers, a charter is concluded with the Jewish tribes. But Mecca does not relent: Badr (313 against a thousand), the wound of Uhud, the siege of the Trench. The community learns to stand together — and the verses now build a society: justice, covenants, family.
628–630 · Peace and return
Hudaybiyyah — and Mecca without battle
The peace of Hudaybiyyah, which seemed a defeat, the Quran calls “a clear victory” (48:1): in two peaceful years more people accept Islam than in the twenty before. When Mecca breaks the peace, the Prophet ﷺ enters the city without battle — and forgives those who persecuted him for decades. The Kaaba is cleansed of idols.
632 · Arafat
The farewell sermon
During the Prophet's ﷺ only Hajj, at Arafat before tens of thousands, the farewell sermon is delivered: the sanctity of life and property, the equality of people (“no Arab is superior to a non-Arab except in piety”), the rights of women. Then is revealed: “This day I have perfected for you your religion” (5:3).
632 · The legacy
“I leave you two things”
Three months after the Hajj the Prophet ﷺ passes away in Medina, in Aisha's room, his head resting in her lap. He left neither wealth nor throne — only the Quran and the sunnah, and a community that carried them on. “Muhammad is but a messenger; messengers came before him” (3:144).
Sources
What these words rest on
“In the Messenger of Allah you have an excellent example…”
the farewell sermon — Ahmad; “I leave you two things” — Malik (al-Muwatta), al-Hakim; conveyed by meaning
retold per the recognized biographies (Ibn Hisham and others) and the hadith collections
This is a brief educational retelling; early dates are approximate, and the Quran quotes are rendered by meaning (not the Quranic text itself). For completeness — the books of sirah and the scholars.