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History The holy prophit & early islamic history

He was son of Abdullah and Amina, from the clan of Hashim, tribe of Quraish, in Mecca. He was the Last of the Prophets sent by Allah to lead mankind onto the right path.
Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.w.) was born in Mecca in A.D. 570 and died in Medina in A.D. 632.
When we mention the apostle's name, Muhammad, we say (s.a.w.w.) Why? What does it mean?
A. (s.a.w.w.) after the name of the Holy Prophet is the abbreviation of "Sallallahu Alayhi wa Aalihi wa Sallam". It means, "May Allah Bestow His Mercy, Grace and Peace upon him (Muhammad) and his progeny"
The Muslims say it in compliance with the command of Allah :-
"Verily, Allah Bestows His Grace upon the Prophet and His angels pray for him; 0 ye who believe send ye blessings on him and salute him as is the proper way" (Qur'an, 33:56).
And the addition of "wa Aalihi" (and upon his progeny) is in accordance with the command of the Holy Prophet who said:
"Do not send on me an incomplete salawaat". The companions asked: "What is the incomplete salawaat, 0 Messenger of Allah!" The Holy Prophet said "It is incomplete to say 'O Allah Bless Muhammad' and then to stop. Nay, you should say: "O Allah Bless Muhammad and his Progeny".
(Jawahirul-Iqdain; As-Sawaiqul-Muhriqua)
He died at Medina and was buried there. Medina is in Hejaz, which nowadays is a part of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The Holy Prophet died at the age of 63. He was 40 years old when he started preaching Islam.
He was buried by Ali bin Abi Talib (cousin and son-in-law of the Holy Prophet) assisted by 3 family-members and two companions (Usama and Shaquran).
The Qur'an is not the work of any human being; it is the Revelation from Allah revealed to the Holy Prophet of lslam (s.a.w.w.) So, you may say that Allah is the author of the Qur'an.
As soon as a revelation was received, the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.w.) used to dictate it to one of the official Scribes. The Qur'an was revealed during 23 years between 610 and 632 A.D.
The Muslims became divided into two groups: The bigger group following Abu Bakr, the other following Ali bin Abi Talib (a.s.).
For details see "Imamat" which is available from this Mission.
The Muslim calendar is a lunar one, the months beginning at the sight of the new moon or if not sighted, at the expiry of 30 days of the previous month. Thus the moon are of 29 or 30 days. A year generally consists of about 355 days. It means that the Muslim year is shorter than the present Gregorian calendar (which is erroneously called Christian Era) by about 10 days. The difference amounts to about one year in 34 or 35 years.
The Hijra (Flight to Medina) was in 622 A.D. And that is the beginning point of the Muslim Era. According to the Gregorian calendar 1348 years have passed out but, owing to the difference mentioned above, it is 1389 of Muslim Era.
In addition to the Fridays, Id-ul-Fitr, Idul-Adh-ha and the Holy month of Ramadhan, we arrange lectures on birthdays and death anniversaries of the Holy Prophet and 12 Imams.
Who said that Abu Talib was not really a Muslim? I have described at length that he kept the tribe of Quraish in suspense and doubt about his faith. But it does not mean that he was not Mumin. To keep one’s faith secret where the interest of religion depends upon that secrecy is very much appreciated in the Qur’an. Allah praises a family member of Firaun who believed in Hadhrat Musa — secretly, and thus used his influence and position to benefit Hadhrat Musa. Commending it, Allah says:
“And said a man who was a believer, from among the people of Pharaoh, who used to conceal his faith ... .” (Qur’an, 40:28).
The same was the position of Hadhrat Abu Talib.
No. She was a Quraishite, and her father was "Wahab s/o Abd Manaf, s/o Zuhra s/o Kilab". Her genealogy meets that of Abdullah in Kilab; Abdullah's genealogy is: Abdullah sf o Abdul-Muttalib s/o Hashim s/o Abd Manaf s/o Qusai s/o Kilab. But the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.) was related to the clan of Bani Najjar of Madina, because his great-grandmother was from that tribe and city. Hashim had married Salmah d/o Amr of Bani Najjar in Yathrib (Madina) who was the mother of Abdul-Muttalib.
You may recite the Ziyarat of any Ma'sum either facing the town where he is buried or facing towards Mecca.

Of course, in some Ziyarats of Imam Husain (a.s.) it is specifically mentioned that it should be recited facing towards Karbala. Such Ziyarat should be recited, accordingly, facing towards Karbala
Holy Prophet (s.a.w.) acquired his knowledge direct from Allah. He was not taught by any human being. But he was the "City of Knowledge" and it is a blasphemy to associate the word "illiterate" to him. You may say that he was not taught by any man
A very interesting question. You are right that the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.) has not been mentioned with this title in the Qur'an. We do not know why. May be it is because his trustworthiness was an established fact which was undisputably recognised even by his enemies; and as such it needed no vouching by the Qur'an.

For example, the Qur'an does not mention about mother of any prophet, except Hazrat Maryam, that she was chaste. It was because only Hazrat Maryam needed this vouching.
Yes. He was given the Qur'an by Allah. As he is the Final Prophet, his Book is the last Book revealed by Allah. It was revealed to Muhammad (s.a.w.a.) as the Guidance for mankind.
Yes. He has left two things for this purpose: the Qur'an and his sinless progeny. He has said: "I am leaving behind among you two precious things, one of them is greater than the other: the Book of Allah which is the covenant of Allah from the heavens upto the earth, and my Descendants who are my family members. So look how you deal with them, and surely they both will not be separated from each other..:
First of them is 'Ali, the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet (s.a.w.a.), whose name was declared at a huge gathering at Ghadir Khum, when the Prophet was returning from his last pilgrimage. There the Prophet (s.a.w.a.) delivered a long Khutba (lecture) at the end of which he asked the Muslims: 'Do not I have more authority upon you than you have got upon yourselves?': All of them responded by saying. "Surely, 0 Messenger of Allah!" Then the Prophet took the arms of 'Ali, and showing him to the audience, declared: "He whose Master am I, this 'Ali is his Master:
Absolutely wrong. It is a propaganda started by enemies of Islam which has no basis at all. You have just seen that the Muslims had to fight in self-defence, the Holy Prophet of Islam did not start any war; and no war was fought "to spread Islam': it was done to defend the Muslims. And all the wars were fought with minimum required force and always keeping the love of humanity in heart. A good proof may be found in the fact that in all the wars fought during the life of the Holy Prophet, the total loss of life (on both sides) was less than seven hundred

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