What Can We Know About the Prophet Muhammad

Historians can know just as much about the life of the Prophet Muhammad as any other historical figure with the aid of documents, anthropology, and oral history. The basis of history resonates from many elements of research: oral history, anthropology, visual documents, primary documents, and secondary documents. This holds true for any aspect of history be it life or otherwise. The words written in a book during someone’s lifetime can hold just as much truth, or falsehood for that matter, than that of a statement or document made or written after one’s lifetime. The general way historians gain insight on their subjects is to analyze available documents and information in order to find some common thread and assess what seems likely to hold true and what is dismissible. The analysis is not going to be the same for each historian but in the end, the receivers of the information get to know about a historical person in a broad sense.

General information is available about the Prophet Muhammad’s childhood and family life through secondary sources. Many believe he was born in 570, which is the year of the elephant (Goldschmidt and Davidson 2010). The Prophet Muhammad was from the clan of Hashim, a poor tribe that branched from the ruling Quarysh tribe. Muhammad was orphaned at an early age and raised by his uncle Abu-Talib. The Prophet was a keen merchant who caught the eye of a wealthy older woman he worked for named Khadija. Khadija proposed to Muhammad and they later married and had six children together. Khadija and Abu-Talib died in 619 and went on to marry several other women (Goldschmidt and Davidson 2010). Muhammad died June 8, 632 in Medina (Goldschmidt and Davidson 2010). The Prophet Muhammad’s child and family life is dis...

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...e time of which the Prophet Muhammad lived.

There are two primary resources whereby information about the life of the Prophet Muhammad can be drawn. The remaining resources used to obtain information surrounding and of the Prophet Muhammad’s life consist of oral dictation that was later documented. Readers come to know information about the Prophet Muhammad’s childhood, marriages, family, religion, and a glimpse into what was the socio-political system of his day through this documentation. This is more than one can know about many historical figures and certainly does not make for a sparse filler of the life of the Prophet Muhammad.

Works Cited

"Aisha, Ayesha." BELIEVE. http://mb-soft.com/believe/txh/aisha.htm (accessed January 24, 2012).

Goldschmidt, Arthur Jr, and Lawrence Davidson. A Concise History of the Middle East. Philadelphia: Westview Press, 2010.