Sirah Atlas
Seerah Timeline: The Life of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ (570–632 CE)
The Seerah is the recorded biography of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, from his birth in Mecca around 570 CE to his death in Medina in 632 CE (11 AH). This timeline lists the key events of his life in chronological order, each dated in both the Islamic (Hijri) and Gregorian calendars. It opens with a section on the Jahiliyya, the pre-Islamic background, which reaches back centuries before his birth.
Last updated: 15 August 2026
Explore the interactive atlasJahiliyya53–13 Before Hijra · 570–610 CE
The Carved Mountains
5000 BCE
The jahiliyya, the era before revelation, explains the society in which the Prophet ﷺ had to carry out his mission. The Arabs fell into three groups, among them the extinct peoples 'Aad and Thamud who carved their houses out of the mountains.
Read the full article →The Origin of the House
2000 BCE
At the command of Allah ﷻ, Ibrahim ﵇ brought his wife Hajar ﵍ and the young Ismail ﵇ to a barren valley without water. There Zamzam sprang forth, Makkah grew around the well, and father and son later built the Sacred House.
Read the full article →The People of the Book
700 BCE
Judaism, Christianity and Zoroastrianism reached the Arabian Peninsula through migration, conquest and trade. They took root in the Hijaz, Yemen and Najran, and over time drifted away from their original teachings.
Read the full article →The Great Flood
550 BCE
Wedged between Byzantium and Persia, the kingdoms of Ma'in, Saba and Himyar flourished in South Arabia with the dam of Ma'rib as their lifeline. When they turned away, Allah ﷻ sent the flood that swept their gardens away.
Read the full article →The Bringer of the Idols
'Amr ibn Luhayy al-Khuza'i saw people in Al-Sham worshipping images, brought the idol Hubal back with him and placed it inside the Ka'bah. Idolatry thus displaced the religion of Ibrahim ﵇, and every tribe acquired its own idol.
Read the full article →The Union of the Valley
Qusai ibn Kilab gathered the scattered clans of the Quraysh into the valley of Makkah, founded Dar al-Nadwa and united the key offices around the Ka'bah in a single hand. So arose the power the Prophet ﷺ would later face.
Read the full article →The Poets of 'Ukaz
At the annual market of Ukaz near Ta'if, the finest poets of Arabia measured themselves against one another during the sacred month of Dhul-Qa'dah. Poetry there was no ornament but a weapon, and that culture of language makes the miracle of the Quran intelligible.
Read the full article →The Year of the Elephant
The Abyssinian ruler Abraha built the cathedral of Al-Qullays in Sana'a to supplant the Ka'bah as the spiritual centre of Arabia. When that failed he marched on Makkah with elephants, where his army was destroyed by Allah ﷻ.
Read the full article →The Birth of the Prophet ﷺ and the Years of Purity
The Prophet ﷺ was born an orphan in Makkah in the Year of the Elephant, on a Monday in Rabi al-Awwal. He grew up in the desert with the wet nurse Halimah ﵂, and afterwards lost his mother and his grandfather as well.
Read the full article →Hilf al-Fudul: The Pact of Virtue
After the sacrilegious Fijar wars, the chiefs of Makkah swore in the house of Abdullah ibn Jad'an that they would stand by every wronged person in the city until his right was restored. The young Prophet ﷺ was present and praised the pact even years later.
Read the full article →The Dispute and the Solution
During the rebuilding of the Ka'bah, the tribes of Makkah nearly came to blows over the honour of setting the Black Stone back in place. The Prophet ﷺ, then thirty-five and known as Al-Amin, had them carry the stone together on a cloak.
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The Mecca Period13 Before Hijra – 1 After Hijra · 610–622 CE
The beginning of the message of Islam
The First Words: "Iqra!"
After years of seclusion in the cave of Hira, Jibril ﵇ appeared to the Prophet ﷺ, then about forty years old, and commanded him to read. With the first verses of Surah Al-'Alaq the revelation of the Quran began.
Read the full article →The Beginning of the Cultivation Phase
In the earliest years the Prophet ﷺ invited people to Islam one by one and taught the new believers in private. In this way he shaped a core group of some forty men and women drawn from every layer of Makkan society.
Read the full article →Dar al-Arqam: The Hidden Centre
When praying in the valleys around Makkah became too dangerous, the young Al-Arqam ibn Abi al-Arqam ﵁ made his house available. There the Prophet ﷺ taught the early believers, sheltered from the eyes of the Quraysh.
Read the full article →The Warning on the Mountain
When the command came to proclaim the message publicly, the Prophet ﷺ climbed the hill of Al-Safa and called the clans of the Quraysh together by name. His warning turned their indifference into open hostility.
Read the full article →The Period of Trials
When mockery failed to stop the flow of converts, the leaders of the Quraysh resolved to torture the Muslims. Those with a strong tribe were struck socially and economically, but slaves such as Khabbab ﵁ and Zinnira ﵂ bore the harshest violence.
Read the full article →The Migration to the Righteous King
In the fifth year of the Prophetic Mission, the Prophet ﷺ sent a group of Companions ﵃ to Abyssinia, where the Christian king, the Negus, was renowned for his justice. They left in secret and found protection there.
Read the full article →Quraysh Pressure Abu Talib
The notables of Makkah repeatedly pressed Abu Talib to silence his nephew, even offering him another young man in exchange. The Prophet ﷺ answered that he would not abandon his path, though they gave him the sun and the moon.
Read the full article →The Turning Point: The Conversion of the Two Giants
The conversion of Hamza ﵁, the feared hunter and uncle of the Prophet ﷺ, and shortly afterwards that of Umar ibn al-Khattab ﵁, gave the persecuted community standing and protection. For the first time the Muslims dared to pray openly at the Ka'bah.
Read the full article →The Offer of Quraysh to the Prophet ﷺ
When violence and mockery yielded nothing, 'Utbah ibn Rabi'ah offered the Prophet ﷺ wealth, leadership and even kingship on behalf of the Quraysh in return for abandoning the da'wah. He answered with the verses of Surah Fussilat.
Read the full article →The Years of Hunger in the Valley
The Quraysh signed a pact forbidding all trade and social contact with Banu Hashim and Banu al-Muttalib. For three years they lived cut off in Shi'b Abu Talib, eating leaves and dried hides to still their hunger.
Read the full article →The Year of Sorrow
Six months after leaving the valley, the Prophet ﷺ lost his uncle Abu Talib and his wife Khadijah ﵂. With them fell away both his tribal protection and his closest support, and the Quraysh openly intensified their persecution.
Read the full article →From Jerusalem to the Throne
In the darkest hour of the da'wah, the Prophet ﷺ was carried in a single night from Makkah to Jerusalem and from there through the seven heavens. At Sidrat al-Muntaha he received the prayer as a gift for his community.
Read the full article →The Trial in Ta'if
Without a protector in Makkah, the Prophet ﷺ travelled to Ta'if to ask Banu Thaqif for nusra. Their leaders rejected him and set the street youth upon him, and he withdrew wounded, speaking there his well-known supplication.
Read the full article →The Search for Support
During the months of pilgrimage the Prophet ﷺ went along the markets of Ukaz, Majanna and Dhu al-Majaz, asking tribes such as Banu Kalb, Kinda and Shayban for nusra. Tribe after tribe refused him, yet he kept searching.
Read the full article →The Oath of the Twelve
At Aqaba the Prophet ﷺ met a small group of men from Yathrib who recognised in him the prophet with whom the Jews of their city had long threatened them. Twelve of them swore the first pledge of allegiance.
Read the full article →Mus'ab: The First Ambassador
After the first pledge of 'Aqabah, the Prophet ﷺ sent Mus'ab ibn 'Umair ﵁ to Yathrib to teach the Quran there and lead the prayer. Within a year this once pampered young man from Makkah had brought Islam into nearly every house in the city.
Read the full article →The Oath of Blood and Allegiance
In the thirteenth year of Prophethood, seventy-three men and two women from Yathrib gathered at 'Aqabah in the dead of night. They pledged to protect the Prophet ﷺ as they would protect their own families.
Read the full article →The Order to Depart
With the second pledge of 'Aqabah the road to Madinah lay open. The Muhajirun left behind home, family and property, while the Quraysh split up families and imprisoned believers to prevent their departure after all.
Read the full article →The Plot in Dar al-Nadwa
In Dar al-Nadwa the leaders of the Quraysh decided that a young man from every clan would kill the Prophet ﷺ, so that the blood guilt could not fall on one tribe. Ali ﵁ took his place in bed while he ﷺ escaped with Abu Bakr ﵁ to the cave of Thawr.
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The Medina Period1–11 After Hijra · 622–632 CE
The establishment of Islam's Base
The Beginning of the Islamic Calendar (Hijra)
After three nights in the cave of Thawr, the Prophet ﷺ and Abu Bakr ﵁ travelled by unknown paths to Madinah, passing the tent of Umm Ma'bad on the way. Years later Umar ﵁ chose this hijra as the starting point of the Islamic calendar.
Read the full article →The Reception of the Prophet ﷺ
For weeks the Muslims of Madinah had gone out each morning to Al-Harra to watch for the Prophet ﷺ. When he finally appeared the streets filled with people and the women and children sang Tala'a al-Badru Alayna.
Read the full article →Building the State
From the moment he arrived in Madinah, the Prophet ﷺ set about building an entirely new society. He had his mosque raised, instituted the call to prayer and forged a bond of brotherhood between the Muhajirun and the Ansar.
Read the full article →The Charter of Madinah
The Prophet ﷺ drew up a document setting out the rights and duties of every inhabitant of Madinah: Muhajirun, Ansar, Jews and polytheists. It bound them into one ummah, with him ﷺ as the final authority in disputes.
Read the full article →The First Expeditions from Madinah
To break the pressure of the Quraysh, the Prophet ﷺ sent small detachments to the trade routes along the coast, from Saif al-Bahr and Rabigh to Buwat and Nakhla. In this way the young state established its military presence.
Read the full article →The Battle of Badr
In Ramadan of the second year after the hijra, just over three hundred Muslims set out to intercept a Qurayshi caravan, but at Badr they met an army of nearly a thousand men. It became the first great victory of Islam.
Read the full article →The Aftermath of the Battle of Badr
With seventy Makkans killed and seventy taken captive, the young state faced new questions: how to divide the spoils and what to do with the prisoners. The Prophet ﷺ remained three days on the battlefield before returning.
Read the full article →Fire Beneath the Ashes
The year between Badr and Uhud was one of smouldering tension. The hypocrites came to the fore, Banu Qaynuqa broke the covenant, the poet Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf incited revenge, and Makkah prepared its retaliation.
Read the full article →The Battle of Uhud
With the profit of the rescued caravan, the Quraysh equipped three thousand men to avenge their defeat at Badr. At Uhud an initial victory turned into a severe trial when the archers abandoned their ridge.
Read the full article →The Years of Trial
Between Uhud and the Trench the community was tested from every side. The betrayal at Raji' and the disaster at Bi'r Ma'una cost dozens of lives, Banu Nadir plotted an assassination, and the hypocrites stirred openly.
Read the full article →The Battle of the Trench
A coalition of ten thousand men marched on Madinah to destroy the city for good. The Muslims dug a trench around it in bitter cold and held out for weeks, until a storm broke the siege.
Read the full article →The Turning Point
After the Trench the relation reversed, for from then on the Muslims marched on their enemies and not the other way round. The expedition against Banu Mustaliq, the affair of al-Ifk and Madinah's growing authority paved the way to Hudaybiyya.
Read the full article →The Treaty of Hudaybiyya
The Prophet ﷺ set out unarmed with fourteen hundred men for the umrah but was halted at Hudaybiyya. The treaty that followed struck the Companions ﵃ as humiliating, while Allah ﷻ called it a clear victory.
Read the full article →Da'wah to the Kings
The calm of Hudaybiyya gave the Prophet ﷺ room to look outward. In the seventh year after the hijra he sent envoys with sealed letters to Heraclius, Chosroes, the Muqawqis and the Negus.
Read the full article →The Prelude to the Conquest
In the two years after Hudaybiyya every obstacle between Madinah and Makkah fell away. Khaybar was taken, the Muslims performed the umrat al-qada in the holy city, and in the end the Quraysh themselves broke the treaty.
Read the full article →The Battle of Mu'tah
After an envoy of the Prophet ﷺ was killed, an army of three thousand marched to the south of present-day Jordan. At Mu'tah the Muslims faced Byzantium for the first time, and three commanders fell one after the other.
Read the full article →The Conquest of Makkah
After the breach of Hudaybiyya, the Prophet ﷺ advanced on Makkah in silence. The city that had fought him for twenty years fell without a massacre, after which he granted a general amnesty and cleansed the Ka'bah of its idols.
Read the full article →The Battle of Hunayn
Shortly after the opening of Makkah, the Muslim army walked into an ambush by the Hawazin in the narrow valley of Hunayn. The largest force they had ever fielded was no guarantee, and only when the Companions ﵃ regrouped did the battle turn.
Read the full article →The Expedition of Tabuk
In the heat of the ninth year the Prophet ﷺ called for the longest march the Muslims ever undertook, against a reported Byzantine army. At Tabuk no battle took place, but the call laid bare faith, weakness and repentance.
Read the full article →The Farewell Sermon
More than a hundred thousand people accompanied the Prophet ﷺ on his only Hajj. On the plain of Arafat, from the back of his camel, he delivered the sermon that declared blood and property sacred and abolished the riba and blood vengeance of the jahiliyya.
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Sources
The events in this timeline are based on the classical sources of the Seerah and early Islamic historiography, including at-Tabari's Tarikh and Ibn Kathir's al-Bidaya wa'n-Nihaya.