Prophet Muhammad's time (610 a.d. - 632 a.d.)
The Death of the Prophet
Muhammad died on June 8, 632 in Madinah. He succumbed to a fever, probably
induced by the great strains brought on by constant campaigns for new converts
and the unrelenting demands for his attention. Muslims at first refused to
accept his death, but were reassured by Abu Bakr, who recited this verse from
the Quran:
Muhammad is only a messenger,
Many are the messengers
who have died before him,
If he dies, or is slain, will
you turn back on your heels?Quran Surah 3, Verse 144
On the day of Muhammad's death, the question of leadership of the
faithful was solved by the democratic election of Abu Bakr, who became the
Prophet's first successor or caliph (from the Arabic khalifa). Abu Bakr was
not looked upon as a prophet; Muhammad was seen as the last and the greatest
of Allah's messengers. The caliph was regarded as the head of the Islamic
Ummah.
The significance of Muhammad to the birth and growth of Islam is
impossible to overestimate. The Prophet and his message inspired his followers
to create and work for the betterment of a society united by the Islamic
faith. Tribal loyalties were replaced by faith in the One God, who chose to
speak to his people in their own language through a messenger who was also one
of their own.
Soon after Muhammad's death, his followers and companions, many of whom
were scholars and teachers, began to collect and codify his teachings and
actions. The result of their efforts was the hadith, or reports of the
activities and sayings of Muhammad. The hadith has become an important source
of values and ethical paths of behavior for the Islamic world. The Sunnah, the
custom or practice of the Prophet, is grounded in the hadith and serves as a
pattern for a model way of life to be imitated by the faithful. Sunni Islam is
thus based on imitation of the Prophet's behavior as a proper goal for a
meaningful life; 85 percent of the modern world's Muslims are Sunni.
