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Muhammad

Muhammad ibn 'Abdullah (Arabic: محمد بن عبدالله, Muḥammad; also Mohammed, Muhammed, Mahomet, and other variants) (c. 570 Mecca- June 8, 632 AD Medina), was the founder of Islam and is regarded by Muslims as the last and only true messenger and prophet of God (Arabic: الله Allah).

Muhammad himself is considered an ideal man, al-insan al-kamil in Arabic, he is not considered divine nor is he to be worshiped. He is rather a model in how a Muslim should live his life.

Through Muhammad's example, his life and teachings Muslims can discern the sunnah or "way" of the prophet. Through Muhammad's non-Qur'anic utterances to his personal habits, all ways should be mirrored. One can attain these insights into his life primarily by way of Hadiths or reports of his life passed down orally until finally written down in the eighth century AD. The hadiths are considered written by contemporaries and eyewitnesses to Muhammad. There are thousands of hadiths with some very lengthy while others are only a few sentences. Many were considered fakes, not owning up to what they claimed in the end but through Islamic scholars during the time those that should not be considered were found out.

Muhammad's life as a prophet can be separated into two epochs. One is when he was in Mecca, where he first received revelation for 12 years and painstakingly tried to convert for fourteen years. The other epoch after Mecca has to do with the city of Medina or The City of the Apostle of God.

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