Hazrat Muhammad (P.B.U.H):-

The place of the Prophet Muhammad in world history is directly related to the formation of Islam as a religious community founded on the message of the Koran, which Muslims believe to be the words of God revealed to the Prophet.

Muhammad's Life and Work

Muhammad was born about ¥ 570 (A-D) in the city of Mecca, an important trading center in western Arabia. He was a member of the Hashim clan of the powerful Quraysh tribe. Because Muhammad's father, Abd Allah, died before he was born and his mother, Amina, when he was 6 years old, he was placed in the care of his grandfather Abd al-Muttalib and, after 578, of his uncle Abu Talib, who succeeded as head of the Hashim clan. At the age of about 25, Muhammad entered the employ of a rich widow, Khadijah, in her commercial enterprise. They were married soon after. Two sons, both of whom died young, and four daughters were born. One of the daughters, Fatima, acquired special prominence in later Islamic history because of her marriage to Muhammad's cousin Ali.

About 610, Muhammad, while in a cave on Mount Hira outside Mecca, had a vision in which he was called on to preach the message entrusted to him by God. Further revelations came to him intermittently over the remaining years of his life, and these revelations constitute the text of the Koran. The opening verses of chapters 96 and 74 are generally recognized as the oldest revelations; Muhammad's vision is mentioned in 53:1-18 and 81:19-25, and the night of the first revelation in 97:1-5 and 44:3. At first in private and then publicly, Muhammad began to proclaim his message: that there is but one God and that Muhammad is his messenger sent to warn people of the Judgment Day and to remind them of God's goodness.

The Meccans responded with hostility to Muhammad's monotheism and iconoclasm. As long as Abu Talib was alive Muhammad was protected by the Hashim, even though that clan was the object of a boycott by other Quraysh after 616. About 619, however, Abu Talib died, and the new clan leader was unwilling to continue the protective arrangement. At about the same time Muhammad lost another staunch supporter, his wife Khadijah. In the face of persecution and curtailed freedom to preach, Muhammad and about 70 followers reached the decision to sever their ties of blood kinship in Mecca and to move to Medina, a city about 400 km (250 mi) to the north. This move, called the hegira, or hijra (an Arabic word meaning "emigration"), took place in 622, the first year of the Muslim calendar. (Muslim dates are usually preceded by AH, "Anno Hegirae," the year of the hegira.)

In Medina an organized Muslim community gradually came into existence under Muhammad's leadership. Attacks on caravans from Mecca led to war with the Meccans. Muhammad's followers obtained (624) victory at Badr but were defeated at Uhud a year later. In 627, however, they successfully defended Medina against a siege by 10,000 Meccans. Clashes with three Jewish clans in Medina occurred in this same period. One of these clans, the Banu Qurayza, was accused of plotting against Muhammad during the siege of Medina; in retaliation all of the clan's men were killed and the women and children sold into slavery. Two years later, in the oasis of Khaybar, a different fate befell another Jewish group. After defeat they were allowed to remain there for the price of half their annual harvest of dates.

Since ¥ 624 (AH 2) the Muslims of Medina had been facing Mecca during worship (earlier, they had apparently turned toward Jerusalem). Mecca was considered of primary importance to the Muslim community because of the presence there of the Kaaba. This sanctuary was then a pagan shrine, but according to the Koran (2:124-29), it had been built by Abraham and his son Ishmael and had therefore to be reintegrated in Muslim society. An attempt to go on pilgrimage to Mecca in 628 was unsuccessful, but at that time an arrangement was made allowing the Muslims to make the pilgrimage the next year, on condition that all parties cease armed hostilities. Incidents in 629 ended the armistice, and in January 630, Muhammad and his men marched on Mecca. The Quraysh offer to surrender was accepted with a promise of general amnesty, and hardly any fighting occurred. Muhammad's generosity to a city that had forced him out 8 years earlier is often quoted as an example of remarkable magnanimity.

In his final years Muhammad continued his political and military involvements, making arrangements with nomadic tribes ready to accept Islam and sending expeditions against hostile groups. A few months after a farewell pilgrimage to Mecca in March 632 he fell ill. Muhammad died on June 8, 632, in the presence of his favorite wife, Aisha, whose father, Abu Bakr, became the first caliph (see caliphate).

God's Messenger

According to Muslim belief, God sent Muhammad as a messenger (rasul, or "apostle") from among the Arabs, bringing a revelation in "clear Arabic" (Koran 26:192-95); thus, as other peoples had received their messengers, so the Arabs received theirs. As one who had lived "a lifetime" among them before his calling (10:16), however, Muhammad was rejected by many because he was simply a man among men and not an angelic being (6:50; 18:110). As Moses had brought the Law and Jesus had received the Gospel, the Prophet (al-nabi) Muhammad was the recipient of the Koran. He is "the Seal of the Prophets" (33:40), and the Koran is the perfection of all previous revelations.

Exemplar and Guide

In his sermon during the farewell pilgrimage Muhammad testified that he had fulfilled his mission by leaving behind "God's Book and the sunna [custom] of the Prophet." Imitation of the ProphetÑfollowing the example of his life in all circumstancesÑis a prerequisite for every Muslim. Moreover, the "Blessing of the Prophet," based on a Koranic verse (33:56) and consisting of an invocation of God's blessing on the Prophet (and his family and companions) plays a major role in Muslim piety. In addition to the accomplishments of his lifetime and his significance for the present, most Muslims anticipate a future role for MuhammadÑas intercessor, "with God's permission," on Judgment Day

Hazrat Ali (Ali ibn Abi Talib):-

c.600, d. Jan. 24, 661, fourth caliph of the Muslim community, is regarded by Shiite Muslims as the only legitimate successor of the Prophet Muhammad. The first cousin of Muhammad and husband of the Prophet's daughter Fatima, Ali was passed over in the caliphal succession until 656, when he received the office after the murder of Uthman, the third caliph. He was immediately challenged by an aristocratic faction led by the prophet's widow, Aisha, whom he defeated. Ali then became involved in a civil war with Muawiyah, governor of Syria, and at the same time a group known as the Kharijites ("seceders") created a schism among his own followers. When Ali was murdered by one of the Kharijites, Muawiyah seized the caliphate and founded the first Muslim dynasty, the Umayyads. Ali's partisans, the Shiites, never recognized Muawiyah, claiming that only Ali's sons could rightfully have succeeded him

Muhammad Ali Jinnah:-

Dec. 25, 1876, d. Sept. 11, 1948, led the Indian Muslims in the years before independence and founded the state of Pakistan. A brilliant, prosperous, Westernized lawyer, Jinnah participated in the 1906 session of the Indian National Congress party and joined (1913) the All-India Muslim League. He left the Congress party in 1920 because of differences with its leader, Mahatma Gandhi, who opposed the Muslim demand for a separate communal electorate and advocated policies of no cooperation. Thereafter Jinnah used the Muslim League to propagate his views and to demand political equality for India's large Muslim minority.

By the late 1930s, converting the poetic concept of the word Pakistan meaning "land of the pure" into a political slogan, Jinnah was advocating the idea of a separate independent state for the Indian Muslims. His struggle bore fruit in 1947 when the Indian subcontinent was partitioned into two states: Muslim Pakistan and predominantly Hindu India.

The popular Jinnah became the first governor general of Pakistan. Although he served only a year in that post before his death, his detractors argue that he paved the way for a series of bungling successor governments and military coups by his inability to work with others and to follow democratic norms.

Allama Iqbal:-

One of the greatest poets of the Indian subcontinent, Muhammad Iqbal, b. c.1877, was also a philosopher and Muslim political leader. He studied law and philosophy in Europe (1905-08) and, on his return to India, taught philosophy and literature, practiced law, and soon achieved fame as a poet. He wrote in both Persian and Urdu. The British knighted Iqbal in 1922 in recognition of his poetry. His works include Asrar-e khudi (1915; trans. as The Secrets of the Self, 1920, 1940), Payam-e Mashrig (The Message of the East, 1923), and The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam (1934).

Iqbal also became active in Muslim politics, serving as a member of the Punjab Legislative Council (1926-30) and president of the Muslim League (1930). One of the first to advocate a separate Muslim state in India, he has been called the spiritual father of Pakistan, where the anniversary of his death (Apr. 21, 1938) is a national holiday

Tippu Sultan:-

(also Tippoo Sahib and Tibu Sahib), b. c.1750, d. May 4, 1799, sultan of Mysore (1782-99) in southern India, successfully resisted British conquest for many years. Having studied Western military operations, Tippu commanded the troops of his father, Hyder Ali, in numerous battles against neighboring states. He defeated the British in the Second Mysore War (1780-84) and preserved his empire. Clashing again with the British (1789-92), he scored impressive initial successes but finally was forced to give up half his holdings. Trying to oust the British in the Fourth Mysore War (1799), he died in battle against a superior force, and his empire was destroyed

Hyder Ali:-

b. c.1722, d. Dec. 7, 1782, was the Muslim ruler of Mysore (now Karnataka) in southwestern India. An adventurer of humble origins, he learned military tactics with the French forces in India. In 1749 his military ability earned him an independent command in the Mysore army, a position he eventually used (c.1760) to seize power from Mysore's Hindu rulers.

During the next two decades, Hyder captured many neighboring territories, frequently clashing with the British; he even conquered portions of the Maratha confederacy, the leading Indian power in the mid-18th century. The British finally defeated him in a series of battles in 1781. His son Tippu Sultan, who succeeded him in 1782, was also a formidable rival of the British