The Life Of Prophet Muhammad In Makkah: A Timeline

Early Meccan Period

Muhammad ibn Abd Allah ﷺ was born in the city of Mecca, in the region of the Hijaz (present-day western Saudi Arabia). This year was remembered as the Year of the Elephant, when Abrahah of Yemen attempted to destroy the Ka‘bah with an army that included elephants. The Prophet’s birthday is traditionally observed on the 12th of Rabi‘ al-Awwal, the third month of the Islamic calendar. According to Ibn Ishaq, the day fell on a Monday.

Key reference points in calculating the Prophet’s birth include: his first revelation in 610, the migration to Medina in 622, and his passing in 632. The Qur’an itself (Yunus 10:16) records the Prophet reminding his people that he had lived among them for a lifetime before receiving revelation, traditionally understood as forty years. This aligns with the widespread symbolism of the number forty in Near Eastern traditions, such as the account of Moses on Mount Sinai and Jesus in the desert. Thus, Muhammad’s ﷺ mission began when he was forty, in 610 CE.

The historian al-Tabari confirms his birth in the Year of the Elephant, during the reign of Kisra Anusharwan, at the same time Abrahah marched against the Ka‘bah.

Muhammad ﷺ was born into the noble clan of Banu Hashim, part of the Quraysh tribe. His father, Abd Allah ibn Abd al-Muttalib, had died shortly before his birth. His grandfather, Abd al-Muttalib, gave him the name Muhammad ﷺ, a rare name in Arabia at the time.

The Quraysh, meaning “shark” (similar to the Hebrew karish), were the most powerful tribe in Mecca, revered as guardians of the Ka‘bah. Yet most of them worshipped the traditional Arabian

576 CE (46 BH) - At the age of six, Muhammad ﷺ lost his mother, Aminah bint Wahb of the Banu Zuhrah clan. Left an orphan, he came under the care of his grandfather, Abd al-Muttalib.

578 CE (44 BH) - Two years later, his grandfather Abd al-Muttalib passed away, leaving the young Muhammad ﷺ then eight years old in the guardianship of his uncle Abu Talib, leader of Banu Hashim. Abu Talib inherited the family’s responsibility of serving water and food to pilgrims visiting the Ka‘bah. He would remain Muhammad’s ﷺ protector throughout his youth and into his prophethood.

583 CE (39 BH) - At age twelve, Muhammad ﷺ accompanied Abu Talib on a trade caravan to Syria. In the town of Busra, a Christian monk known as Bahira (Syriac: “the tested and approved”) recognized signs of prophethood in the boy, including the seal of prophecy between his shoulders. According to Ibn Hisham, al-Baladhuri, and al-Tabari, Bahira warned Abu Talib to protect his nephew, for he was destined to be the prophet foretold in earlier scriptures.

In 591 CE (31 BH) - Muhammad ﷺ took part in a noble pact called Hilf al-Fudul (“League of the Virtuous”), formed by Meccan leaders to protect the weak and uphold justice. Because of his honesty, fairness, and compassion, Muhammad ﷺ earned the titles al-Sadiq (the Truthful) and al-Amin (the Trustworthy). This event laid the early foundations of the Islamic tradition of futuwwah (chivalry and noble-heartedness.

594/595 CE (28–27 BH) - Khadija bint Khuwaylid, a wealthy merchant and widow from Quraysh, hired Muhammad ﷺ to lead a caravan to Syria. Impressed by his honesty and skill, she proposed marriage. Despite having received many proposals before, she chose Muhammad ﷺ, then 25 years old, when she was 40. Their marriage was deeply loving and lasted until her death 24 years later. Khadija bore six children: two sons, al-Qasim and Abd Allah, who died young, and four daughters, Zaynab, Ruqayyah, Umm Kulthum, and Fatimah.

605 CE (17 BH) - A fire damaged the Ka‘bah, and the Quraysh decided to rebuild it using both stone and timber from a shipwreck. A Greek craftsman oversaw the reconstruction. Disputes broke out when the clans could not agree on who should restore the sacred Black Stone (al-Hajar al-Aswad). They resolved to let the next man to enter the sanctuary decide, and it was Muhammadﷺ. He placed the stone on a cloth, had each clan leader hold a corner, and then positioned the stone himself. This wise act prevented bloodshed and demonstrated his ability to unite people.

The Beginning of Revelation

610 CE (12 BH) - Troubled by the corruption and injustice of Meccan society, Muhammad ﷺ often retreated to the cave of Hira on Mount Nur to reflect. At the age of forty, during one such retreat, he received the first revelation through the angel Jibril: the opening verses of Surah al-‘Alaq (“The Clot”). The command was clear: “Recite, in the name of your Lord who created…”

Shaken, Muhammad ﷺ returned home. Khadija reassured him and sought the counsel of her cousin, Waraqa ibn Nawfal, a learned Christian who confirmed that Muhammad ﷺ had encountered the same angel who came to Moses. He foretold that Muhammad’s ﷺ people would oppose him but encouraged him to remain steadfast.

The first to accept Islam were Khadija, Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, Zayd ibn Harithah, and Ali ibn Abi Talib.

At this time, Muslims prayed facing Jerusalem (al-Quds). This direction of prayer, or qiblah, remained until 623 CE, when it was changed to the Ka‘bah in Mecca.

613 CE (9 BH) - After three years of private preaching, Muhammad ﷺ was commanded to call his people openly: “Warn your closest relatives” (26:214). He climbed Mount Safa and declared the Oneness of God, but was met with ridicule, especially from his uncle Abu Lahab.

As the number of believers grew, so did opposition from Quraysh leaders, whose authority and economy depended on the Ka‘bah’s idol worship. Persecution of the Muslims became severe.

615 CE (7 BH) - To escape the oppression, a group of about eighty Muslims, including the Prophet’s daughter Ruqayyah and her husband Uthman ibn Affan, migrated to the Christian kingdom of Aksum (Abyssinia). They were granted protection by the Negus (al-Najashi), whom the Prophet praised as a just ruler. This was the first migration in Islamic history.

During this challenging period, the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ endured multiple assassination attempts. One such attack was carried out by Uqba ibn Abu Muʿayṭ, who tried to strangle him with a garment until Abu Bakr al-Ṣiddīq intervened and pulled him away. This incident is preserved in the hadith collection of the Persian scholar al-Bukhārī (810–870). Uqba, despite being Muhammad’s ﷺ neighbor, harassed him both verbally and physically for preaching monotheism. On one occasion, while Muhammad ﷺ was praying in the courtyard of the Kaʿbah, Uqba placed the filth of a slaughtered camel, its entrails, blood, and dung, on his back at the suggestion of other Quraysh leaders. They laughed so hard that they fell over one another. Muhammad ﷺ remained in prostration, unable to lift himself due to the weight, until his young daughter Fāṭimah came and removed it. On another occasion, incited by his ally Ubay ibn Khalaf, Uqba spat in the Prophet’s face.

Another attempt came from Abū Jahl, a Quraysh leader, who plotted to strike Muhammad’s  ﷺ head with a rock. This plot is recorded in Ibn Hishām’s Sīrah.

616 CE (6 BH) – In this year, Ḥamza ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib (c. 566–625), Muhammad’s ﷺ uncle and foster-brother, embraced Islam. They had both been nursed by the same wet nurse, Thuwaybah. Reports differ on their age difference, with some saying Hamza was four years older. Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī (1372–1449) places his birth two to four years before Muhammad’s ﷺ. Hamza’s conversion gave great strength to the Muslim community, as the Quraysh recognized that Muhammad ﷺ now had a strong protector and consequently reduced some of their harassment.

In the same year, ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb also accepted Islam, one year after the Migration to Abyssinia. His conversion followed his recitation of the Qur’ānic verse: “Verily, I am Allah: there is no deity except Me. So worship Me and establish prayer for My remembrance” (Q 20:14). ʿUmar then went to the Prophet and declared his faith in front of him and his companions. At the age of 33, he became one of Islam’s foremost jurists, known for his integrity and justice, earning the epithet al-Fārūq, “the one who distinguishes between right and wrong.”

617 CE (5 BH) – The Quraysh declared a boycott against the Prophet’s clan, Banū Hāshim, in an attempt to force them into abandoning their protection of Muhammad ﷺ. According to Ibn Isḥāq, the terms of the boycott prohibited trade, marriage, or social relations with Banū Hāshim and Banū al-Muṭṭalib. The agreement was written and hung inside the Kaʿbah to ensure compliance. As a result, the Prophet’s clan withdrew with Abū Ṭālib into a valley, where they suffered severe hardship for two to three years. Abū Lahab, however, sided with the Quraysh against his own clan. Relief only came when sympathetic Quraysh secretly supplied aid.

619 CE (3 BH) – The Year of Sorrow. The Prophet endured the loss of two of his most incredible supporters: his beloved wife Khadijah (may Allah be pleased with her) and his protective uncle Abū Ṭālib. Their deaths left Muhammad ﷺ vulnerable in Mecca. Abū Lahab, who succeeded Abū Ṭālib as head of the clan, openly opposed him, spreading insults, throwing dirt and stones, and warning others against listening to him. Seeking support beyond Mecca, the Prophet traveled to the nearby town of Ṭāʾif. Instead of hospitality, he was driven out by mobs of children who hurled stones at him until his feet bled profusely. Later, he remarked, “The day of Ṭāʾif was worse for me than the day of Uḥud; it was the most difficult day of my life.”

620 CE (2 BH) – The Night Journey and Ascension (al-Isrāʾ wa-l-Miʿrāj). In this miraculous event, the Prophet was carried by the angel Jibrīl from the Sacred Mosque in Mecca to al-Masjid al-Aqṣā in Jerusalem, mounted on al-Burāq. From there, he ascended through the heavens, witnessed divine signs, and entered into the presence of Allah. This event is commemorated annually on the 27th of Rajab. The Qur’an alludes to it in Sūrat al-Isrāʾ (17:1) and Sūrat al-Najm (53:17–18). Numerous hadith transmitters, including Anas ibn Mālik, Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī, and Abū Hurayrah, reported details, and Ibn Isḥāq provides a full narrative.

In the same year, Muhammad ﷺ married Sawda bint Zamʿa, a widow who had earlier migrated to Abyssinia for the sake of her faith.

621 CE (1 BH) – The First Pledge of ʿAqabah. Twelve men from the tribes of Aws and Khazraj of Yathrib (later Medina) pledged allegiance to Islam. They swore to abstain from idolatry, theft, adultery, infanticide, false accusations, and to obey the Prophet in all good matters. This laid the groundwork for Islam’s future in Medina.