Before Prophethood — birth, childhood and character

Muhammad ﷺ was born in Makkah around 570 CE, into the clan of Hashim of the tribe of Quraysh. The year is remembered as the Year of the Elephant, after a failed expedition against Makkah described in Surah al-Fil. His father, Abdullah, had died before his birth, so he was born an orphan in his father’s line.

Following Makkan custom, the infant was given to a wet-nurse from the desert, Halimah of the Banu Sa’d, in whose care he spent his early years. When he was about six, his mother Aminah took him to visit relatives in Yathrib; she died on the return journey at al-Abwa. His grandfather, Abd al-Muttalib, then took him in, and on the old man’s death two years later his uncle Abu Talib became his guardian. Abu Talib was not wealthy, and the boy worked, tending sheep — a task the Prophet ﷺ later noted that the prophets before him had also done.

As a young man he travelled with Abu Talib’s trading caravans to Syria. The classical seerah works also place here the story of a Christian monk, Bahira, who is said to have recognised in the boy the description of a coming prophet and to have warned Abu Talib to guard him. This account should be treated with real caution: Ibn Ishaq gives it only on unnamed authorities (“they allege”), and although al-Albani accepted the core of the version in Sunan at-Tirmidhi (no. 3620), he judged its mention of Bilal munkar — denounced — and other hadith scholars have questioned further details in it. A number of scholars reject the whole story. It is mentioned here only because readers will meet it in older biographies, not because it is established.

What is not in doubt is his reputation. Long before any claim to prophethood, the people of Makkah called him al-Amin — “the trustworthy” — and as-Sadiq, “the truthful”. They left their valuables in his safekeeping. When the Ka’bah was rebuilt and the clans nearly came to blows over who would set the Black Stone in place, they agreed to accept the judgement of the next man to enter; it was Muhammad ﷺ, and his solution — laying the stone on a cloak carried by all the clans together — satisfied everyone.

He also stood apart from the worst of Makkan life. He never worshipped idols, took part as a youth in a pact (the Hilf al-Fudul) to defend the wronged, and was known for keeping ties of kinship and helping the poor. When revelation finally came and he feared for himself, it was Khadijah رضي الله عنها who reassured him by pointing to exactly this record: “Allah will never disgrace you — you keep good relations, carry the weak, and help the afflicted.”