Muhammad (570 – 632 CE) was born into a family belonging to the clan of Hashim of the tribe of Quraish. His father ‘Abdallah died before he was born and his upbringing was entrusted to his uncle Abu Talib, whose son ‘Ali was the Prophet’s companion, cousin and later son-in-law. 

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                 It is likely that Muhammad dedicated himself to commerce and perhaps made a few trips. Around the age of twenty-five, he married Khadija, a widow of great wealth who played a decisive role in his life, supporting him in the most difficult moments that followed the revelations, becoming the first follower of the Prophet's revelations.

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             Around the age of forty, Muhammad began to have visions and revelations during meditations he used to carry out in caves near Mecca. Tradition has it that the angel appeared to him and said: "In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful. Recite in the name of your Lord who created the human being from a cell.  Recite, for your Lord is most generous and, through the pen, has taught the human being everything he did not know (Surah 96)."

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             The path indicated by the Prophet, thus, had given the Arabs a unity that, perhaps latent within the people, was only possible after the belief that the testament written by God himself, in Arabic, was the seal of unity and the guide to truth, just as it had been for Jews and Christians previously.

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