Muhammad

Muhammad (محمد, c. 570–632 CE) is the prophet of Islam, regarded by Muslims as the final messenger of God ("Seal of the Prophets," Qur'an 33:40).

Life

Born in Mecca to the Banu Hashim clan of Quraysh, Muhammad worked as a merchant and married Khadija, receiving his first revelation at age 40 in the cave of Hira. Persecuted in Mecca, he led the Hijra to Medina (622 CE), where he established the first Islamic polity — a constitutionally organized community (ummah) including Jewish tribes as constituent members. He returned to Mecca in 629/630 CE largely without bloodshed, and died in Medina in 632 CE.

Socio-political significance

For Marxist engagement (see Communism is Islam), key points include:

• The Medinan polity as a proto-social community transcending tribal property relations — zakat institutionalized redistribution; riba abolished.
• The Constitution of Medina as an early document of pluralistic political order.
• Muhammad's explicit concern for the poor, orphans, slaves, and debtors — the Qur'anic social ethic.

Muslims also follow his Sunnah as the second source of Sharia.