Skip to content
The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ
Menu
Who is he ﷺ?His lifeHis personPredictionsForetoldObjectionsSources
العربيةFrançais

Part 3

The message and the Hijra

From the first revelation, at Hira, to his death ﷺ in Medina: thirteen years in Mecca, ten in Medina. The Hijra stands at the centre, and Waraqa ibn Nawfal foretold it on the very first day.

What this part covers

This part follows the Prophet ﷺ from the first revelation, received in the cave of Hira around 610, to his death in Medina, on a Monday in Rabi’ I of the year 11 AH (632). Sent at forty, he died at sixty-three (Ibn Hisham, I, 233; Bukhari 3536).

The Hijra stands at its centre: thirteen years of preaching in Mecca, according to the view Ibn Kathir holds to be the soundest, then ten years in Medina (Ibn Kathir, al-Sira, II, 290; Bukhari 3903). The Companions understood it so: to fix their calendar, they set aside his birth ﷺ, his mission and his death, and chose the Hijra (Ibn Kathir, al-Sira, II, 287-288; Bukhari 3934).

The Prophet ﷺ did not choose this departure. Waraqa ibn Nawfal foretold it to him on the day of the first revelation: “If only I could be alive when your people drive you out!” (Bukhari 3). Thirteen years later his people drove him out, and the Qur’an says of the disbelievers that they “drove him out” (9:40).

What came before the mission is in part 2. The predictions made during these years (the Romans, Badr, the entry into Mecca) are gathered in part 4. Waraqa and the Jews of Yathrib have their page in part 1: The witnesses of the expectation.

What the sources establish

The surest facts rest on the Qur’an and on the two Sahihs:

  • the first revelation, narrated by Aisha (Bukhari 3), and Khadija, the first to believe (Ibn Sayyid al-Nas, I, 110-111);
  • the public call (Bukhari 4770) and Ta’if (Bukhari 3231);
  • the Night Journey and the Ascension (17:1; Bukhari 3887; Muslim 162);
  • the two pledges of Aqaba;
  • the Hijra: the cave (Bukhari 3653), Suraqa (Bukhari 3906), the era chosen by the Companions (Bukhari 3934);
  • the mosque of Medina and the brotherhood between the Emigrants and the Ansar (Bukhari 2048);
  • the great milestones, from Badr to Tabuk;
  • the Farewell Pilgrimage and the verse “Today I have perfected your religion for you” (5:3; Bukhari 45);
  • his death ﷺ at sixty-three (Bukhari 3536), and the words of Abu Bakr (Bukhari 3668).

The sources

The Qur’an comes first, then the authentic hadiths of al-Bukhari, Muslim and al-Tirmidhi, in the numbering of sunnah.com. The continuous narrative comes from four books of sira: Ibn Hisham (d. 213 AH / 828), who transmits the Sira of Ibn Ishaq; Ibn Sayyid al-Nas (d. 734 AH / 1334); Ibn Kathir (d. 774 AH / 1373); al-Salihi al-Shami (d. 942 AH / 1536). Ibn Hajar (d. 852 AH / 1449) sheds light on one passage: the purchase of the land for the mosque.

Abu al-Hasan Ali al-Nadwi (d. 1420 AH / 1999), a modern author, offers a reading of the meaning of the Hijra and of the society of Medina. We present it as such, tying each fact he draws on to the early sources.

Three rules guide these pages:

  • Several books that repeat the same account, most often that of Ibn Ishaq, count as a single testimony.
  • When Ibn Ishaq says “according to what has reached me”, or does not name his source, the page says so.
  • What is established is affirmed; where the sources differ, on a day, a number or an order, the page gives each version with its source.

Christian-era dates are calculated from the lunar dates in the sources, to within a day or two; before the Hijra, to within a year (“around 615”).

The pages of this part

  1. The revelation and the first believers: Hira, Waraqa, Khadija.
  2. The preaching in Mecca and the opposition: the public call, Quraysh, Abyssinia, the boycott, Ta’if.
  3. The Isra and Mi’raj: the Night Journey, and a date the sources do not fix.
  4. Aqaba and the Hijra: the two pledges, the permission to fight, the cave, Quba.
  5. Medina: the community and the pact: the mosque, the brotherhood, the pact, the Jewish tribes.
  6. From Badr to Tabuk: the great milestones, from 2 AH to 9 AH.
  7. The Farewell Pilgrimage and his death: the pilgrimage, the illness, the death.

How this page connects to the others

Sources for this page

  • Qur’an: Tanzil text (Uthmani); translation of the meaning by the site.
  • Hadiths: Bukhari 3, Bukhari 3536, Bukhari 3903, Bukhari 3934; Bukhari 45; Bukhari 2048; Bukhari 3231; Bukhari 3653; Bukhari 3668; Bukhari 3887; Bukhari 3906; Bukhari 4770; Muslim 162.
  • Ibn Hisham, al-Sira al-nabawiyya, ed. al-Saqqa, al-Abyari and Shalabi, Cairo, 1955.
  • Ibn Sayyid al-Nas, Uyun al-athar, Dar al-Qalam, Beirut, 1993.
  • Ibn Kathir, al-Sira al-nabawiyya, ed. Mustafa Abd al-Wahid, Dar al-Ma’rifa, Beirut, 1976.
  • Al-Salihi al-Shami, Subul al-huda wa-l-rashad, Dar al-Kutub al-Ilmiyya, Beirut, 1993.
  • Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, Fath al-Bari, Dar al-Ma’rifa, Beirut, 1379 AH.
  • Al-Nadwi, al-Sira al-nabawiyya, Dar Ibn Kathir, Damascus and Beirut, 12th ed., 2004.
  • Research file “The message and the Hijra”, v1.0, 2 November 2026.