The classical narrative — birth to revelation
Muhammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh was born in Mecca around AD 570 to the powerful tribe of Quraysh. His father died before his birth; his mother died when he was six. He was raised by his grandfather and then his uncle Abū Ṭālib. He worked as a trader, married the wealthy widow Khadīja around age 25, and acquired a reputation in Mecca as al-Amīn — the trustworthy one. Around AD 610 (age forty), during a retreat at the cave of Ḥirāʼ above Mecca, he received what he and his community came to understand as the first revelation of the Qurʼān: iqraʼ — recite (Q 96:1-5; Bukhārī 3). Khadīja became his first follower; her elderly Christian cousin Waraqa identified the angel as al-Nāmūs, the same who came to Moses.
The Meccan period — preaching, persecution, exile
From AD 610 to 622 Muhammad preached in Mecca. The early sūras (typically the short late ones at the back of the Qurʼān) emphasize tawḥīd, the resurrection, and warnings against idolatry. Mecca's polytheistic Quraysh resisted; the small community endured social and economic persecution. In AD 622 Muhammad and his followers migrated to Medina (then called Yathrib) — the hijra, the event that begins the Islamic calendar. The Medinan period (622-632) shifted the community's posture from persecuted minority to governing majority. The Constitution of Medina, military engagements (Badr, Uḥud, the Trench), the cleansing of the Kaʿba in 630, and the farewell pilgrimage in 632 mark the shape of those ten years. Muhammad died in Medina in AD 632, in ʿĀʾisha's quarters.
What Muhammad means to Muslims today
Three things to know. First, Muslims do not worship Muhammad. He is a created human being, a messenger (rasūl), not divine. Second, Muhammad is held up as the eternal pattern for Muslim life: Q 33:21 — there has indeed been for you in the Messenger of Allah a beautiful pattern (uswa ḥasana). Imitating his example (sunna) — in prayer, eating, marriage, judgment — is much of what daily Islamic practice consists of. Third, the customary blessing ṣallā Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam (often abbreviated PBUH, peace be upon him) follows his name in Muslim speech and writing. A Christian engager need not adopt the blessing; he should not mock it. The reverence is real.
Worked example
The moment
A Muslim friend mentions Muhammad and adds peace be upon him with sincere reverence. You don't share that reverence. What do you say?
What you might say
"I notice you say peace be upon him with real respect. I want to honor that — and I want to be honest that I am still working out what I think about Muhammad. Would it be okay if I asked you a question about him sometime, when we know each other better?"
Why this works
The answer treats your friend's reverence as the serious thing it is, names your honest position without contempt, and opens the door to a longer conversation later when trust is built.
Watch out for
- Insulting Muhammad casually. Even I just don't believe he was a prophet spoken with the wrong tone closes a friendship that had not yet started.
- Overstating what the canonical biographies say. Some popular Christian apologetic exaggerates the worst events; honest engagement requires accurate primary sources.
- Forgetting that for many Muslims, the Prophet is the deepest personal touchpoint with Allah's mercy. To attack him casually is, in a Muslim friend's heart, to attack the source of his peace.