Timeline

Abdullah ibn Abdul-Muttalib, the Prophet's father, marries Aminah bint Wahb of the Banu Zuhrah clan. This union brings together two noble lineages of the Quraysh.

Abdullah falls ill on his return from a trading caravan to Syria and stops in Yathrib with his maternal uncles (Banu Najjar). He passes away there before the birth of his son.

Abraha al-Ashram, the Abyssinian viceroy of Yemen, marches on Mecca with an army including elephants to destroy the Ka'bah. Allah sends flocks of birds (Ababil) dropping stones of baked clay to destroy the army.

Following the custom of Meccan nobility, the infant Muhammad is entrusted to a Bedouin wet nurse, Halimah al-Sa'diyah, to be raised in the pure air and language of the desert. Her household is blessed with abundance upon his arrival.

Muhammad ﷺ is born to Aminah bint Wahb in Mecca. His grandfather Abdul-Muttalib takes him to the Ka'bah and names him Muhammad, a name uncommon among the Arabs.

Two angels (Jibril) approach the young Muhammad, open his chest, remove his heart, cleanse it of a black clot (portion of Satan), wash it with Zamzam water in a golden basin, and return it. Halimah becomes worried and decides to return him to Mecca.

Aminah takes the 6-year-old Muhammad to Yathrib to visit his father's grave and meet his maternal relatives. On the return journey to Mecca, she falls ill and dies at Al-Abwa. Umm Ayman brings Muhammad back to Mecca.

Abdul-Muttalib loves his grandson dearly, often seating him on his own cushion near the Ka'bah, a privilege denied to his own sons.

Abdul-Muttalib dies at an old age. Before his death, he entrusts the care of Muhammad to his son Abu Talib, the full brother of Abdullah.

Abu Talib, though not wealthy, takes Muhammad into his care, treating him with great love and favoring him over his own children.

Muhammad accompanies Abu Talib on a trade caravan to Syria. At Busra, a Christian monk named Bahira notices a cloud shading the caravan and trees bowing. He invites them to a feast, examines the boy, finds the Seal of Prophethood between his shoulders, and advises Abu Talib to protect him from the Jews/Romans.

A war between Quraysh/Kinana and Qays Aylan during the sacred months (hence 'Fijar' or Sacrilegious). The Prophet participated by gathering arrows for his uncles but did not fight directly.

Tribes of Mecca gather to pledge that they would stand with the oppressed against the oppressor until justice is served. The Prophet witnessed this pact and later praised it in Islam.

After successfully managing Khadijah's trade caravan to Syria, she proposes marriage to him through her friend Nafisa. He accepts, and they are married. She was 40 (according to some reports) and he was 25.

Quraysh rebuild the Ka'bah after flood damage. A dispute arises over who should have the honor of placing the Black Stone. They agree to let the next person to enter the sanctuary decide. Muhammad enters, and they say 'Al-Amin' (The Trustworthy). He places the stone on a cloak and has all clan leaders lift it together, then places it himself.

While meditating in Cave Hira, the Angel Jibril appears and commands him to 'Read' (Iqra). The first verses of Surah Al-Alaq are revealed.

After 3 years of secret preaching, the command comes to warn his kinsmen. He climbs Mount Safa and calls the clans of Quraysh to Islam. Abu Lahab condemns him.

As the Muslim community grew to approximately 20-30 members, the Prophet chose the house of al-Arqam ibn Abi al-Arqam, a young Makhzumi from a rival clan, whose Islam was still secret, as the first private meeting place. Located behind Mount Safa in downtown Mecca, the house served as classroom, gathering place, and the site of some of the most significant early conversions, including Umar ibn al-Khattab's.

Abu Jahl operated a three-tier persecution system: verbal humiliation for nobles, economic boycott for merchants, and physical torture for slaves and clients who had no tribal protection. Of the seven first Muslims named by Ibn Masud, five had no protection and were tortured. Bilal was pinned under a boulder in the midday desert heat. Sumayyah was killed by Abu Jahl's own spear, the first martyr in Islam. The family of Yasir was tortured together. Khabbab was burned with hot iron on his back. The Prophet himself was choked by Uqbah ibn Abi Mu'ayt, had camel entrails dumped on him in Sajdah (Sahih Bukhari), and survived an assassination attempt.

Due to persecution, the Prophet advises a group of Muslims to migrate to Abyssinia, ruled by a just Christian king, the Negus (Najashi).

Quraysh sent their elder statesman Utbah ibn Rabi'ah to negotiate with the Prophet, offering him wealth, kingship, or marriage to any woman he desired, in exchange for stopping the Dawah. The Prophet responded by reciting Surah Fussilat. Utbah listened in silence, then returned to the Quraysh pale and shaken, saying he had never heard anything like it and warning them to leave the man alone. His advice was rejected.

The fifteen Abyssinian emigrants returned to Makkah after just three months on a rumor that Quraysh had accepted Islam. The rumor's basis: the Prophet had recited Surah An-Najm in the Haram, building to its climactic command 'Prostrate to Allah and worship Him', and even the Quraysh, overwhelmed by the Surah's power, fell into Sajdah with the Muslims. The sole exception was al-Walid ibn al-Mughirah, who pressed sand to his forehead instead. By the time this reached Abyssinia, it had become 'Quraysh have accepted Islam.' The emigrants returned to discover this was false. Some were forced to re-enter Makkah under protection arrangements. The wider controversy around this incident, known in Islamic sources as Qissat al-Gharaniq and in the West as the 'Satanic Verses', involves disputed accounts of additional verses attributed to Shaytan. The Sahih Bukhari account (the only authenticated version) requires no such additions.

Quraysh imposes a total social and economic boycott on Banu Hashim and Banu Muttalib. They are confined to the valley of Abu Talib (Shi'b Abi Talib) and suffer from severe hunger.

Quraysh sent delegations to the Jewish community in Yathrib for quiz questions only a true prophet could answer. The first quiz asked about the family of Yaqub, Allah revealed all of Surah Yusuf in response. The second gave three questions: who were the young men in the cave, who was the traveler of East and West, and what is the Ruh? The Prophet said 'come back tomorrow' without saying insha'Allah. Revelation was delayed two weeks while Quraysh mocked him. Then Allah revealed Surah Al-Kahf answering the first two questions, and Al-Isra 17:85 answering the third, along with the correction never to say 'I will do this tomorrow' without saying insha'Allah.

After the first batch of seventeen emigrants returned to Mecca on a false rumor, their eyewitness accounts of safety, dignity, and hospitality in Abyssinia convinced a far larger group to emigrate. Over eighty Muslims, more than four times the first group, set out for Abyssinia in the second Hijra, led by Ja'far ibn Abi Talib. This represented 10-15% of Mecca's total population. Quraysh, humiliated by the public exodus, immediately dispatched Amr ibn al-As to the Abyssinian court to demand extradition.

Quraysh sent Amr ibn al-As, their most politically astute figure, to the court of the Najashi (Ashamah) with precious Meccan gifts to secure the extradition of the Muslim emigrants. He first bribed every minister, then accused the Muslims of being renegades who had invented a new religion. The Najashi refused to decide without hearing the Muslims. Ja'far ibn Abi Talib walked in without prostrating, delivered the most celebrated speech in early Islamic history describing the transformation from Jahiliyyah to Islam, then recited the opening of Surah Maryam. The Najashi and all the Patriarchs wept. On the second day Amr accused the Muslims of blasphemy against Jesus; Ja'far declared Jesus to be 'Abd Allah, Rasul Allah, Ruh Allah, and Kalimat Allah, born of the Virgin Mary. The Najashi agreed. He returned all gifts, including those distributed to bribed ministers, and expelled the emissaries.

Two of the most feared enemies of Islam, Hamza ibn Abd al-Muttalib (the Prophet's uncle) and Umar ibn al-Khattab, converted within three days of each other. Hamza's conversion arose from tribal honor: he struck Abu Jahl for publicly insulting the Prophet and then blurted out his acceptance of Islam; after a night of anxious dua, he went to the Prophet and sincerely accepted. Umar's conversion was multi-staged: a late-night encounter hearing Surah Al-Haqqah at the Ka'bah was the first softening; then redirected away from killing the Prophet by the secret Muslim Nu'aym ibn Abdullah, he arrived at his sister Fatima's house, struck her (the blow landing on her instead of Sa'id), saw her blood and their defiant declaration, took Ghusl, read Surah Taha, and went to Dar al-Arqam. After the Prophet grabbed his collar and challenged him, he declared Islam, prompting the first public congregational prayer at the Ka'bah.

Within approximately 35–40 days of each other in Year 10 of Prophethood (619 CE), the Prophet ﷺ lost both people who were closest to him. Abū Ṭālib (أَبُو طَالِب), chieftain of Banū Hāshim, died in Shawwāl upon the religion of ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib, despite the Prophet's desperate plea at his deathbed and the subsequent Quranic revelations of Surah al-Tawbah 9:113 and Surah al-Qaṣaṣ 28:56. Khadijah (رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهَا) passed away on the 10th of Ramaḍān; the Ṣalāh had not yet been prescribed so no Ṣalāt al-Janāzah was performed; the Prophet entered her grave himself. He did not smile for months. Abū Ṭālib was the external protector, his tribal prestige was the Prophet's visa to preach in Mecca; Khadijah was the internal supporter, first believer, financial backer, emotional anchor. Losing both within 40 days was the lowest point of the Meccan period. Abū Lahab then briefly assumed tribal leadership and offered the same protection, but Abū Jahl engineered a trap question about ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib's fate that caused Abū Lahab to withdraw his protection in rage, leaving the Prophet entirely without tribal cover.

In Shawwāl, Year 10 of Prophethood (the same month as Khadijah's death), the Prophet ﷺ secretly walked to Ṭāʾif with Zayd ibn Ḥārithah, no mount, no announcement, to seek support from the Thaqīf tribe. He presented Islam to the three ruling brothers (ʿAbd Yālīl, Masʿūd, and Ḥabīb, sons of ʿAmr) who rejected him with maximum mockery. He stayed approximately one week preaching in the souq to commoners; when some showed interest, the leaders incited a mob that stoned him and Zayd for miles out of the city. The Prophet ﷺ told ʿĀʾishah this was the worst day he ever experienced, worse even than Uḥud, because the psychological trauma was more devastating. He walked in a state of shock until Qarn al-Thaʿālib (7–8 km from the city), where he made the famous Duʿāʾ of Ṭāʾif. ʿAddās the Christian slave brought grapes; the Prophet's BismiLlāh led to his conversion. Jibrīl then appeared with the Angel of the Mountains, offering to crush Ṭāʾif, the Prophet refused, making duʿāʾ for future generations. On the return, the Prophet ﷺ prayed Tahajjud in Nakhlah valley and recited Quran, a group of Jewish Jinn passed by, heard the Quran, accepted Islam, and returned to their people as warners (Laylat al-Jinn; Surah Al-Aḥqāf 46:29–31; Surah Al-Jinn 72). Re-entering Makkah required new tribal protection: Al-Akhnas ibn Shurayq and Suhayl ibn ʿAmr politely declined; Muṭʿim ibn ʿAdī sent his armed sons to escort the Prophet through Makkah and publicly declared protection at the Kaaba. The Prophet remained under Muṭʿim's protection until the Hijrah. At the Battle of Badr, the Prophet ﷺ said: 'If Muṭʿim had been alive and asked for all 73 prisoners, I would have released every one of them for his sake.'

The boycott was broken by a combination of: (1) the Prophet's dua for a famine on Mecca, which devastated Quraysh's food supply; (2) a coordinated public challenge at the Meccan assembly (Nadi) organized by Hisham ibn Amr, where coalition members rose one by one to challenge Abu Jahl's authority; and (3) the pivotal miracle: the Prophet informed Abu Talib that Allah had told him termites had consumed the entire boycott treaty, except 'Bismika Allahumma'. When Abu Talib staked his guarantee on this claim and Quraysh opened the sealed document, they found exactly that. Quraysh was furious but their promise bound them. The Banu Hashim and Banu al-Muttalib returned to Mecca after approximately 2-3 years of near-starvation in the valley. The return was immediately followed by the year's greatest tragedies: the deaths of Abu Talib and Khadijah.

After the Year of Sorrow and the failure at Ṭāʾif, the Prophet ﷺ, under the external protection of Muṭʿim ibn ʿAdī, began approaching the Arab tribes that gathered in Mina during Hajj. He employed the known practice of *yaʿriḍu nafsahu* (presenting himself for tribal adoption), seeking both da'wah acceptance and political asylum. Abu Bakr accompanied him as expert on Arab genealogy. Abu Lahab shadowed him from tent to tent to undo his da'wah after every encounter. Major tribes approached: Banū Kindah (rejected, demanded political succession; Prophet responded 'Inna al-arḍa lillāh'); Banū Ḥanīfah (rejected); Banū ʿĀmir ibn Ṣaʿṣaʿah (rejected); Banū Shayban ibn Thaʿlabah (engaged seriously, elder Hānī ibn Qays asked for time; military chief Muthannā ibn Ḥāritha raised the Sassanid treaty condition; Prophet refused half-membership; then issued the prophecy: 'Would you believe me if Allah gave you victory over Kisra?'). All major tribes rejected the message. Then, unexpectedly, a small group of six from the Khazraj of Yathrib accepted Islam at Aqabah.

Approx. 1 year before the Hijrah, after the Year of Sorrow and Journey to Ṭāʾif, Allah granted the Prophet ﷺ the greatest personal miracle: Al-Isrāʾ wal-Miʿrāj. Jibrīl came to him in the Ḥaṭīm (or his house), opened his chest and filled his heart with Imān/Zamzam, then brought Al-Burāq, a white physical creature smaller than a mule and larger than a donkey, whose hoof covers the full visible horizon per stride. The Prophet ﷺ rode Al-Burāq to Baitul Maqdis (the Isrāʾ), where he saw the original spiritual structure, invisible to men, since Rome had converted the site to a rubbish dump. He tied Al-Burāq to the prophets' post, prayed two rakʿāt inside, and found Mūsā, ʿĪsā, and Ibrāhīm standing and praying. He led all 120,000+ Prophets and Messengers in Ṣalāh as their Imām. Jibrīl offered two vessels: wine and milk; the Prophet ﷺ chose milk, 'You have chosen the Fiṭrah.' The seven heavens were ascended: Adam (1st), Yaḥyā and ʿĪsā (2nd), Yūsuf (3rd), Idrīs (4th), Hārūn (5th), Mūsā (6th, wept), Ibrāhīm (7th, Al-Bayt al-Maʿmūr). Beyond: Sidrat al-Muntahā, divine proximity, 50 then 5 daily prayers. On this night the Prophet ﷺ also smelled the fragrance of the hairdresser of Fir'aun's daughter (Musnad Aḥmad), a martyr who declared 'Rabbī wa Rabbuka Allāh' to Fir'aun's face, and whose infant spoke from the cradle to strengthen her. He also witnessed five categories of Jahannam punishment and saw Al-Dajjāl (A'war, left eye like a rotten grape). Returning to Mecca, the Prophet ﷺ announced the journey; the Quraysh challenged him to describe Jerusalem (Allah showed him the image of Baitul Maqdis to answer every question) and pointed to arriving caravans as corroboration. Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه, informed by a Qurayshi, immediately affirmed it: 'Uṣaddiquhu fīmā huwa aʿjabu min dhālik, I believe him in something more amazing: that waḥy comes to him from above the seven heavens.' Fa-summiya bi-dhālika aṣ-Ṣiddīq, from this moment Abu Bakr was called Al-Ṣiddīq.

Twelve people from Yathrib, ten from the Khazraj and two from the Aws, arrived for Ḥajj in the eleventh year of the Daʿwah and met with the Prophet ﷺ at the Aqabah area in Mina. This was the first time the Aws and Khazraj had come together for any common purpose, and the largest single group to embrace Islam from outside Makkah. The pledge, called the Bayʿat al-Nisāʾ (Women's Oath) by ʿUbādah ibn al-Ṣāmit in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, contained no military or political connotations, only an oath to worship Allāh alone, live righteously, and obey the Prophet ﷺ in all good matters. The meeting was public, no need for secrecy. Afterward, the Prophet ﷺ chose Muṣʿab ibn ʿUmayr to return with them as teacher of the Quran and Ṣalāh.

After the First Pledge, the Prophet ﷺ chose Muṣʿab ibn ʿUmayr from among 250+ converts and sent him to Yathrib. Hosted by Asʿad ibn Zurārah, Muṣʿab taught Quran and led Ṣalāh. Within weeks, forty people had converted and the Prophet ﷺ authorized Jumuʿah, the very first Friday prayer in history, led by Muṣʿab in Asʿad's home. When Usayd ibn Ḥuḍayr came armed to expel him, Muṣʿab's calm invitation to simply listen converted Usayd on the spot. Usayd then brought Saʿd ibn Muʿādh, the foremost leader of the Banū ʿAbd al-Ashhal. Saʿd came armed, heard the recitation of Sūrat al-Zukhruf, and converted, causing the entire Banū ʿAbd al-Ashhal to follow, the largest mass conversion of the Makkī period. By year's end, every sub-tribe of Yathrib had Muslim households, and 75 Muslims returned with Muṣʿab for the Second Ḥajj.

In the last third of the night, on the final night of Ḥajj, 72 men and 2 women from Yathrib slipped secretly out of their tents to meet the Prophet ﷺ in the valley behind the Aqabah. Jābir ibn ʿAbdullāh and Kaʿb ibn Mālik are eyewitness narrators. Al-ʿAbbās spoke first, a pagan uncle, warning the Khazraj not to take his nephew unless they could truly protect him. The Anṣār replied: let the Prophet ﷺ speak. He stated his conditions: obedience, spending in Allāh's way, commanding good, speaking truth, and protecting him as one's own family. Al-Barāʾ ibn Maʿrūr stood first: 'We are people of war, easy conditions.' Abū al-Haytham ibn al-Tayyihān asked: 'Once Allāh gives you victory over Quraysh, will you leave us?' The Prophet replied: 'Al-dam al-dam wal-hadm al-hadm, my blood is your blood.' A voice: 'What do we get in return?' The Prophet: 'Al-Jannah.' Asʿad ibn Zurārah held the Prophet's hand at the last moment for one final warning: 'You are inviting war. The best of you will be killed.' The Anṣār said: 'Enough Asʿad, let us place our hands.' 72 men pledged by hand; the 2 women pledged verbally.

After the Second Pledge of Aqabah, the Prophet ﷺ formally announced to the Muslims that Allah had shown him the land of their emigration in a dream: a land 'bayna labbatayn', between two volcanic plains of hardened lava rock, with date palms. He said he first thought it might be Khaybar or Yemen, both known for dates, but neither has both features. Yathrib alone sits between two such volcanic plains (visible to this day). With this announcement, the Muslims received permission to emigrate, and began departing secretly in ones and twos.

Following the Prophet's announcement, Muslims emigrated secretly from Makkah to Yathrib in the weeks and months before the Prophet's own Hijrah. The departures were difficult and dangerous: Abu Salamah was separated from Umm Salamah and their son for sixteen months. Ṣuhayb ar-Rūmī gave up all his accumulated wealth to secure his freedom to leave, prompting the revelation of Quran 2:207. ʿUmar emigrated with ʿAyyāsh ibn Abī Rabīʿah, but ʿAyyāsh was tricked by his half-brother Abū Jahl and captured; Hishām ibn al-ʿĀṣ was caught before even beginning. The Prophet ﷺ made Duʿāʾ Qunūt for them until al-Walīd ibn al-Walīd rescued both in a daring night raid on their Makkan dungeon.

Representatives of every Quraysh tribe except Banū Hāshim gathered secretly in Dār al-Nadwah, their tribal parliament, on the night before the Hijrah. A stranger claiming to be a chief from Najd joined them, identified by Ibn ʿAbbās as Shayṭān in human form. Three proposals were debated: imprison him (*li-yuthbitūka*), exile him (*aw yukhrijūka*), or kill him (*aw yaqtulūka*), the exact three options Allah named in Sūrat al-Anfāl 8:30. The first two were rejected. Abū Jahl proposed collective assassination: every tribe sends one young man to strike simultaneously, so Banū Hāshim cannot take revenge on any single clan and must accept *diyah* (blood money) from the collective. The 'Najdi stranger' approved it as the only sound decision. Warriors were dispatched to surround the Prophet's house that same night. Jibrīl warned the Prophet immediately.

On a Monday, the 26th of Ṣafar, the Prophet ﷺ came to Abū Bakr's house at noon in disguise. He announced that Allah had given permission to emigrate. Abū Bakr wept tears of joy. Asmāʾ prepared food and earned the title Dhāt an-Niṭāqayn by tearing her belt. ʿAlī was placed in the Prophet ﷺ's bed. The Prophet ﷺ walked out past his would-be assassins reciting Sūrat Yāsīn, scattering dust on their heads. He turned at the city's edge and bid farewell to Makkah: 'You are the most beloved land to me; were it not that my people expelled me, I would never have left.' Heading south (opposite Madinah) to Ghār Thawr, they hid for three nights using three helpers: ʿAbdullāh ibn Abī Bakr (intelligence), ʿĀmir ibn Fuhayrah (track-erasing), ʿAbdullāh ibn Urayqiṭ (guide). The Quraysh hired a scout who traced footsteps to the cave base; Abū Jahl and Umayyah ibn Khalaf climbed the mountain. The Prophet's words to a panicked Abū Bakr: 'What do you think of two people, when Allāh is their third?' On the coastal route, Surāqah ibn Mālik's horse was miraculously stopped three times; he received a written amān and the prophecy: 'How will you be when you wear the bracelets of Kisrā?'

The Prophet ﷺ and Abū Bakr arrived in the vicinity of Madinah after the Hijrah journey. The Anṣār had been going out daily to the outskirts to wait for them but had returned home when the sun got too hot. A Jewish man on a date palm tree in the orchards outside the city was the first to spot them and cried out: 'O Arabs, your king has arrived!' The Anṣār poured out in their hundreds, over 500 men, armed and in their finest clothes. Women climbed onto rooftops. Children thronged the streets. The Prophet ﷺ entered surrounded by joy and celebration. He stayed with Abū Ayyūb al-Anṣārī of Banū ʿAdī ibn al-Najjār, his closest relative among the Anṣār. Date: 2nd or 12th of Rabīʿ al-Awwal, a Monday, Year 1 AH.

After waiting for ʿAlī to arrive from Makkah (~Wednesday/Thursday), the Prophet ﷺ began building the first purpose-built masjid in Islamic history at the settlement of Qubāʾ. The first stone was placed by the Prophet ﷺ, followed by ʿAlī and Abū Bakr, then the Anṣār completed the construction. The Prophet ﷺ prayed two rakʿāt there and taught that doing so earns the reward of a complete ʿUmrah. He would visit weekly (usually Mondays) to pray there for the rest of his life.

The Prophet ﷺ had never prayed Ṣalāt al-Jumuʿah in his life, persecution in Makkah had prevented public gathering. He had sent word to Muṣʿab ibn ʿUmayr in Madinah to begin Jumuʿah, and it had been established there for approximately a year. On his way from Qubāʾ into Madinah, the time for Jumuʿah came in the territory of Banū Sālim. He stopped and prayed there, giving the first two-part khutbah of his life.

Within 2–3 weeks of arriving in Madinah, the Prophet ﷺ completed Masjid al-Nabawī, before building his own house. He participated personally in carrying stones. Ṣaḥābah including ʿAmmār ibn Yāsir worked alongside him. Two houses were built adjacent to the masjid: one for Sawdah bint Zamʿah and one for ʿĀʾishah bint Abī Bakr. All other wives' houses were on a separate block. The Prophet ﷺ said: 'al-masjidu baytu kulli taqiyy', the masjid is the home of every God-conscious person.

The Prophet ﷺ gathered the Companions to decide how to call people to prayer. A bell (Christian practice) and a shofar/horn (Jewish practice) were both rejected. That night ʿAbdullāh ibn Zayd and ʿUmar independently dreamed the same thing: a man reciting the words of the Adhān. ʿAbdullāh rushed to the Prophet ﷺ in the morning; the Prophet approved the dream as true and directed Bilāl, the Companion with the loudest voice, to climb the mosque roof and proclaim it, with ʿAbdullāh dictating each phrase from below.

Shortly after arriving in Madinah, before even building Masjid al-Nabawī, the Prophet ﷺ convened the formal brotherhood pairings (*Muʾākhah*) between the Muhājirūn and the Anṣār. He personally sat and called pairs one by one, choosing each match with deliberate wisdom. Over 100 pairs were created. In the initial stage, the two brothers would even inherit from each other, a ruling later abrogated by Qurʾān 8:75 after the Battle of Badr. The practice continued throughout the Madani period: Salmān al-Fārsī was paired upon his later conversion, Jaʿfar ibn Abī Ṭālib upon his return from Abyssinia in 7 AH, and Muʿāwiyah ibn Abī Sufyān after the Conquest of Makkah in 8 AH.

Shortly after instituting the Muʾākhah (brotherhood pairings), the Prophet ﷺ formalised the political constitution of Madinah in a document known as the Ṣaḥīfat al-Madīnah (صَحِيفَةُ الْمَدِينَة). The treaty addressed four communities: (1) the Muslims from Quraysh and Yathrib, declared one Ummah to the exclusion of all mankind; (2) the Jewish tribes of Madinah, declared 'an Ummah alongside the believers' with full internal autonomy; (3) the pagan (mushrik) members of the Aws and Khazraj still in Madinah, permitted to remain in practice of their religion but required to remain neutral in the Muslim-Quraysh conflict; and (4) general clauses for all, declaring the interior of Yathrib a Ḥaram, referring all inter-communal disputes to the Prophet ﷺ, and protecting the free movement of all inhabitants. The document uses the pre-Islamic name 'Yathrib' rather than 'Madinah,' considered by scholars to be one of the strongest signs of its authentic early origin.

The Prophet ﷺ personally led the first military expedition of the Islamic state toward al-Abwāʾ to intercept a Quraish caravan. No battle occurred, the caravan was not encountered. However, the expedition achieved its strategic purpose: the first formal non-aggression treaty was concluded with the Banū Ḍamrah tribe of the Kinānah confederation, expanding the Islamic political sphere by approximately one hundred miles from Madīnah.

The Prophet ﷺ led 150–200 Companions to intercept the annual Quraish Syrian trade caravan, the 'mother of all caravans' carrying 70–80% of Makkah's collective wealth, commanded by Abū Sufyān ibn Ḥarb. A stray scout from the caravan spotted the approaching Muslims and warned Abū Sufyān, who immediately diverted to an alternate route. The Muslims arrived at the intended interception point to find nothing. No battle occurred. Allāh's Qadr was at work: the caravan's escape set the stage for the Battle of Badr on the return journey.

Approximately 15–16 months after the Hijra, Allah revealed Q 2:144 commanding the Prophet ﷺ to turn his face from Jerusalem (Bayt al-Maqdis) toward al-Masjid al-Ḥarām in Makkah. The ruling had been established through the Sunnah in the early years of Islam; Allah now abrogated it through the Quran. The Prophet ﷺ had privately and earnestly supplicated for this change, looking up toward the sky in desperation, after Jibreel told him he had no power to change it unilaterally. Allah revealed: 'We have seen the turning of your face toward the heaven. We will turn you to a qiblah with which you will be pleased' (Q 2:144). The change was announced after Fajr; the Prophet ﷺ prayed Ẓuhr facing Makkah in his own Masjid. A companion who heard the news reached the Masjid of Banū Salama mid-prayer and announced it aloud, the Imam and congregation turned in place, completing their prayer in the new direction. That mosque is now called Masjid Qiblatayn (the Mosque of the Two Qiblas).

The Prophet ﷺ handpicked eight Muhājirūn and placed them under his cousin ʿAbdullāh ibn Jaḥsh, giving him a sealed letter not to be opened until two days into the march. The letter directed them to Wādī Nakhlah to monitor Quraish movements. On arrival at Nakhlah on the last day of Rajab, they encountered a small Quraish commercial caravan (spices, raisins, light guard). Faced with the dilemma of fighting in the sacred month or losing the caravan entirely, they chose to attack. One man was killed, two were taken prisoner (the first POWs in Islamic history), and the goods were captured. The Prophet ﷺ initially refused to accept the booty, distressed that they had shed blood in the sacred month without his command. The Quraish and Jewish tribes of Madīnah used the incident for propaganda. Allāh then revealed Q 2:217, confirming the sin while exposing the Quraish's far greater crimes (expulsion of Muslims, preventing access to the Sacred Mosque, shirk). After the revelation, the Prophet ﷺ accepted the booty; one prisoner (al-Ḥakam ibn Kaysān) accepted Islam and became the first of many prisoners to do so.

The Muslim army departed Madīnah in Ramaḍān 2 AH, intending to intercept Abū Sufyān's massive returning Syrian trade caravan (1,000 camels, 40 guards, ~50,000 Dīnārs). The Prophet ﷺ used maximum secrecy, not announcing the destination publicly in the Masjid to avoid tipping off Munāfiqūn or pagan residents still in Madīnah. He called for immediate departure: 'whoever has their animal ready, come now.' The army numbered approximately 313–317 men (83 Muhājirūn, 62 Aws, 170 Khazraj), with only 2 horses and fewer than 100 camels (3 men per camel). The Prophet ﷺ himself walked, sharing a camel with ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib and Abū Lubābah, insisting on taking his turn. Two young volunteers, al-Barāʾ ibn ʿĀzib and ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿUmar, were turned back for being under 14. Ḥudhayfah ibn al-Yamān and his father al-Yamān were forbidden from participating due to a promise they had given to the Quraish. The expedition was intended as an easy caravan seizure, not a battle, the army was under-armed and under-mounted for a military engagement. Allāh willed otherwise.

Following the alarm call of Ḍamḍam ibn ʿAmr (Abū Sufyān's crier warning of the Muslim army targeting the Syrian caravan), the Quraysh mobilized with unprecedented speed, the largest army ever assembled in Makkah's history (~1,300 men). Abū Jahl was the undisputed commander. Among those who hesitated were Abū Lahab (who sent a debtor as his substitute), ʿUtbah ibn Rabīʿah (persuaded by his brother Shaybah), ʿUqbah ibn Abī Muʿayṭ (who feared the Prophet's ﷺ prediction of his execution), and Umayyah ibn Khalaf (publicly humiliated by Abū Jahl and ʿUqbah into joining). The army marched with over 100 horses, 600+ suits of armor, and singing girls for morale. Shaitan (Iblīs) appeared in the form of Surāqah ibn Mālik to reassure a panicking faction about the Banū Bakr blood feud, preventing them from returning to Makkah. When Abū Sufyān's second envoy arrived telling them the caravan was safe and to return, ʿUtbah ibn Rabīʿah urged retreat but Abū Jahl insisted on proceeding to Badr for a three-day Jāhilī celebration of Qurashī might. The Banū Zuhrah and some others (~300–350 men) left; the army continued at ~950–1,000 strong.

The Battle of Badr (Ghazwat Badr al-Kubrā) took place on 17 Ramaḍān 2 AH (~March 17, 624 CE) on the plains of Badr, approximately 160 miles southwest of Madīnah. A Muslim army of approximately 313–317 men, 83 Muhājirūn, 62 Aws, 170 Khazraj, faced a Qurashī army of approximately 950–1,000 with superior numbers, weapons, and armor. The battle was not planned as such by either side: the Muslims intended a caravan raid; the Quraysh intended to protect their caravan. Allāh's Qadar brought them to the same plain. The Prophet ﷺ had secured the wells, divided the army into flanks (ʿAlī commanding the Muhājirūn, Saʿd ibn Muʿādh the Anṣār, Muṣʿab ibn ʿUmayr as flag-bearer), spent the entire night in vigil and duʿāʾ, and received waḥy that 1,000 angels had descended. He introduced the ṣaff (row formation) tactic unknown to Arabs. The battle opened with the Mubārazah (pre-battle duels): Ḥamzah and ʿAlī each dispatched their opponents in seconds; ʿUbaydah ibn al-Ḥārith lost his leg to ʿUtbah before Ḥamzah and ʿAlī came to his rescue. ʿUtbah, Shaybah, and al-Walīd all died. The Prophet ﷺ threw a handful of pebbles toward the Quraysh ('Shāhat al-wujūh!') and every man in the army was blinded, referenced in Q 8:17. The battle resulted in a decisive Muslim victory.

In Dhū al-Qaʿdah of 6 AH the Prophet ﷺ set out from Madinah with roughly 1,400 Companions in iḥrām, intending ʿUmrah, not war. Barred by a Quraysh determined that the Arabs never say the Muslims had forced their way in, he rerouted around Khālid ibn al-Walīd's cavalry and camped at al-Ḥudaybiyyah. After a long exchange of emissaries and the rumor that his envoy ʿUthmān had been killed, the Companions gave the Pledge of al-Riḍwān, to fight to the death, under a tree, an oath Allah praises in Sūrat al-Fatḥ. Quraysh, alarmed, sent Suhayl ibn ʿAmr, who negotiated a ten-year truce on terms that struck the Muslims as one-sided, including the return of Qurashi defectors, a clause tested at once by the arrival of Suhayl's own son Abū Jandal in chains.

Two weeks after returning from al-Hudaybiyyah, the Prophet ﷺ marched on Khaybar, the last hostile power in central Arabia and refuge of the exiled Banū Naḍīr leadership. Its eight-plus fortresses fell one by one over roughly a month, ending in a negotiated sharecropping treaty that left the inhabitants on the land for half its produce.

Roughly 3,000 Muslims marched north to confront the Ghassanids over the killing of the Prophet's ﷺ envoy, only to find a much larger coalition of Christian Arab tribes and a Roman contingent awaiting them. All three appointed commanders, Zayd ibn Harithah, Ja'far ibn Abi Talib, and Abdullah ibn Rawahah, were killed in succession before Khalid ibn al-Walid was chosen to lead.

A winter expedition of 300 men under ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ, a Muslim of barely three months, against the large northern tribe of Quḍāʿah, which had aided the Ghassanids at Muʾtah. ʿAmr marched by night without fires to hide his small numbers, then requested reinforcement; the Prophet ﷺ sent 200 more under Abū ʿUbaydah ibn al-Jarrāḥ, including Abū Bakr and ʿUmar.

The near-bloodless conquest of Makkah on 20 Ramaḍān 8 AH, after Quraysh broke the Treaty of al-Ḥudaybiyyah. The Prophet ﷺ marched with ten thousand under strict orders not to fight, entered on his camel with his head bowed in humility, cleansed the Kaʿbah of its idols, and forgave the Quraysh with the words of Yūsuf: "Go, for you are free."

The battle against the Hawāzin–Thaqīf confederacy in Shawwāl 8 AH, days after the Conquest, the largest gathering of pagan Arabs in their history (some 20,000) against 12,000 Muslims. An ambush of archers in the pass routed the Muslims at the outset, until the Prophet ﷺ stood firm and rallied them back to victory.

The siege of the fortified mountain-city of Ṭāʾif in Shawwāl 8 AH, directly after Ḥunayn, as Thaqīf fled behind their walls. The Muslims deployed the first catapult, ram and testudo they had ever built (learned from Jurash), but the walls held; after some weeks and heavy losses the Prophet ﷺ lifted the siege, praying for Thaqīf's guidance rather than against them.

The last ghazwah of the Prophet's ﷺ life (Rajab 9 AH): the largest and furthest-marching army he ever led, north to the oasis of Tabūk in the fierce summer heat and harvest season, the Army of Hardship (Jaysh al-ʿUsrah). No battle was fought; there appears to have been no immediate enemy, and the campaign reads as a farḍ-ʿayn test and command from Allāh, with Sūrat al-Tawbah revealed around it.

After the conquest of Makkah, Ḥunayn and Tabūk, the tribes of Arabia had no force left to rally behind, and delegations poured into Madinah, to embrace Islam, to negotiate a treaty, to feign conversion, or in a few cases to threaten. Delegations had come since 5 AH and continued until the Prophet's ﷺ death, but their frequency peaked in the ninth year, which is why it is called ʿĀm al-Wufūd.

In the ninth year the Prophet ﷺ sent Abū Bakr with 300 pilgrims and 25 sacrificial camels to lead the Ḥajj, refusing to attend himself while idolaters still circled the Kaʿbah naked. Sūrat al-Tawbah was revealed and ʿAlī sent to proclaim its barāʾah, four months' notice to the idolaters, the end of naked ṭawāf, and the last year pagans would ever make Ḥajj.

The Prophet's ﷺ only Ḥajj, in the tenth year, drawing perhaps a hundred thousand pilgrims. From it descends the entire fiqh of Ḥajj (Jābir's narration), the Farewell Sermon at ʿArafah with the verse of the completion of the religion, the equality of mankind, and Ghadīr Khumm.

After the Farewell Ḥajj the Prophet ﷺ ordered Usāmah's expedition, then fell ill in Rabīʿ al-Awwal 11 AH. Through some ten days he appointed Abū Bakr to lead the prayer, gave his final counsels, and died on his beloved ʿĀʾishah's chest with the words 'the highest Companion', the terminus of the Sīrah.

In approximately the 17th year of the Hijra, the Caliph ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb was presented with a contract dispute caused by the lack of a standardized calendar: a debt was due in 'Shaʿbān' but the parties disagreed on which year's Shaʿbān was meant. A governor's letter (attributed to Abū Mūsā al-Ashʿarī) raised the same issue. ʿUmar convened a gathering of the senior Companions to establish a formal numbered calendar. Several starting-year proposals were considered: the birth of the Prophet ﷺ, the death of the Prophet ﷺ, the Battle of Badr, and the Hijra. ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib proposed the Hijra as Year One, arguing it was when the Muslim situation changed from dhull (humiliation) to ʿizzah (honor). The Companions unanimously agreed. ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān then proposed Muḥarram as the first month, which was also accepted. The resulting Hijrī calendar, a pure lunar calendar of 354 days, has been in continuous use in the Muslim world from that day to the present.