The life and career of Muhammad

Muslims speak of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) as the final messenger of God. CCEA asks for his life "according to the different traditions of Islam", so learn the shared account first, then where Sunni and Shi'a readings diverge.

• Born in Makkah around 570 CE into the Quraysh tribe; orphaned young and raised by his grandfather and then his uncle Abu Talib.
• Worked as a trader and was so trusted that he was nicknamed al-Amin, "the trustworthy". He married Khadijah, a successful merchant, who later became the first person to accept his message.
• Around 610 CE, meditating in the cave of Hira, he received the first revelation through the angel Jibril (Gabriel), beginning with the command to recite. Muslims mark that night as Laylat al-Qadr, the Night of Power.
• He preached the oneness of God in a city of many idols, and he and the early Muslims faced persecution and boycott.
• 622 CE — the Hijrah: the migration to Madinah, where he became the leader of a community, agreed a covenant governing relations between its groups, and built the first mosque. The Islamic calendar (AH) counts from this year.
• Years of conflict with Makkah followed (Badr, Uhud, the Trench). In 630 CE he returned to Makkah largely without bloodshed and cleansed the Ka'bah of idols.
• He delivered the Farewell Sermon at Arafat and died in 632 CE in Madinah.

Different traditions. Sunni Muslims hold that the Prophet named no successor and that the community rightly chose Abu Bakr. Shi'a Muslims hold that at Ghadir Khumm he designated Ali ibn Abi Talib, his cousin and son-in-law, and that leadership (the Imamate) belongs to his family. This single disagreement about succession is the root of the Sunni–Shi'a division — and it is a disagreement about history and authority, not about the oneness of God or the Qur'an.

The four Rightly-Guided Caliphs

Sunni Muslims call the first four successors the Rashidun — the "Rightly-Guided" Caliphs (632–661 CE).

• Abu Bakr (632–634) — the Prophet's close companion and father of Aisha. He held the community together when tribes tried to break away, and the collection of the Qur'an into a single written copy began under him.
• Umar ibn al-Khattab (634–644) — under him the Muslim state expanded dramatically into Syria, Egypt and Persia. He is remembered for administration and justice: a treasury, a judiciary, a calendar dated from the Hijrah, and a famously simple personal life. He was assassinated.
• Uthman ibn Affan (644–656) — his lasting achievement is the standard written text of the Qur'an: an authoritative copy was prepared and copies sent to the main centres, so that recitation would not diverge. He faced accusations of favouring his own family and was assassinated.
• Ali ibn Abi Talib (656–661) — cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet, husband of Fatimah. His caliphate was consumed by the first civil war (fitna). He was assassinated at Kufa. Shi'a Muslims regard Ali as the first rightful successor — the first Imam — all along, and honour his descendants.

Evaluate, do not just list. The achievements are real (unity, expansion, a stable Qur'anic text) — and so is the cost: three of the four were assassinated, and the disputes of this period still shape the Muslim world. CCEA rewards candidates who can hold both facts together.

Think it through

The Qur'an — origin, nature and compilation

Origin. Muslims believe the Qur'an is the literal word of God, revealed to Muhammad through the angel Jibril over roughly 23 years, in Arabic. It was not composed by the Prophet: he is the messenger, not the author.

Nature and meaning. 114 chapters (surahs) made of verses (ayat). Surah 1, al-Fatihah ("The Opening") is recited in every cycle of prayer, and Surah 112, al-Ikhlas, states the pure oneness of God. Muslims hold the Qur'an to be inimitable — its Arabic cannot be matched — and translations are treated as explanations of the meaning, not as the Qur'an itself. It is handled with reverence: kept above other books, and many Muslims perform wudu before touching it.

Compilation. Revelations were memorised by the companions (a hafiz is someone who has memorised the whole text) and written on whatever was available. After many memorisers were killed in battle, the collection into one copy began under Abu Bakr; the standard text was established under Uthman, with copies sent to the main centres and variant copies withdrawn. Memorisation and writing check one another — which is why Muslims regard the text as preserved.

Sunnah, Hadith and Sharia

• Sunnah — the example of the Prophet: his practice, his decisions, the way he prayed, traded, treated his family and his enemies. It shows Muslims what the Qur'an looks like when it is lived.
• Hadith — the individual reports of what the Prophet said or did. Each has a chain of transmission (isnad) and a text (matn), and scholars grade them for reliability — sahih (sound), hasan (good), da'if (weak). Sunni Muslims especially value the collections of al-Bukhari and Muslim; Shi'a Muslims use their own collections, including reports from the Imams.
• Sharia — literally "the path to the water". It is God's law, drawn from the Qur'an and the Sunnah, worked out by scholars using consensus (ijma) and reasoning by analogy (qiyas). The human science of working it out is called fiqh, and there are several respected schools of it — Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i and Hanbali among Sunnis, Ja'fari among Shi'a. Actions are classified from obligatory (fard) through recommended, neutral and disliked to forbidden (haram).

Be precise about Sharia (AO2). Sharia covers prayer, fasting, charity, diet, marriage, inheritance and business — most of it is personal religious practice. Its application varies enormously: some states codify parts of it in law; in Britain, Muslims follow it as personal religious duty within UK law, and Sharia councils that advise on religious divorce have no legal power. Answers that treat Sharia as though it were only a criminal code are simply inaccurate — and examiners notice.

Think it through

Tawhid: the unity and nature of God — and the prophets

Tawhid — the absolute oneness of God (Allah) — is the foundation of everything else in Islam. To associate any partner with God is shirk, the gravest sin.

• God is one, eternal, uncreated, without partner, parent or child — the claim of Surah 112.
• God is Creator and Sustainer, all-powerful and all-knowing, and yet "nearer than the jugular vein".
• God is merciful and compassionate — every chapter but one opens by naming God as ar-Rahman, ar-Rahim — and also perfectly just.
• God is beyond representation: no images, no statues. This is why mosque decoration uses calligraphy and geometry rather than pictures of living beings. Muslims speak of the 99 Names of God, which describe without confining.

The prophets (risalah). God has sent messengers to every people. Muslims honour Adam, Nuh (Noah), Ibrahim (Abraham), Musa (Moses), Dawud (David) and Isa (Jesus) — who is revered as a great prophet and as the Messiah, born of the Virgin Maryam, though Islam does not accept that he is the Son of God or that he was crucified. Muhammad is the Seal of the Prophets: the last, whose message completes and confirms what came before. Earlier scriptures — the Tawrat, Zabur and Injil — are honoured, and the Qur'an is held to be the final, uncorrupted revelation.

The Five Pillars — in Sunni and Shi'a traditions

• Shahada — the declaration: "There is no god but God, and Muhammad is the Messenger of God." Said with sincerity, it makes a person a Muslim. Many Shi'a add a phrase honouring Ali as the friend of God.
• Salah — prayer five times a day (Fajr, Zuhr, Asr, Maghrib, Isha), preceded by wudu (ritual washing) and facing the qiblah (the direction of the Ka'bah in Makkah). Prayer is made in cycles called rak'ahs. Men attend Jumu'ah, Friday congregational prayer, with a sermon. Shi'a Muslims commonly combine the five prayers into three sittings, and many pray with the forehead touching a small clay tablet.
• Sawm — fasting in Ramadan from dawn to sunset: no food, drink, smoking or sexual relations. The ill, the very young, the elderly, travellers, and pregnant, nursing or menstruating women are exempt (making up the days or feeding the poor instead). Suhur is the meal before dawn, iftar the meal that breaks the fast.
• Zakat — an annual payment of (normally) 2.5% of surplus wealth, given to the poor and other categories named in the Qur'an. It is a duty, not a favour: it purifies what remains. (Voluntary giving beyond it is sadaqah.) Shi'a Muslims additionally pay khums, a fifth of certain surplus income.
• Hajj — the pilgrimage to Makkah, obligatory once in a lifetime for those who are able. Pilgrims enter the state of ihram (two plain white cloths for men — rich and poor indistinguishable), circle the Ka'bah seven times (tawaf), hurry between Safa and Marwah, and stand at Arafat in prayer — the heart of the Hajj. They stone the pillars at Mina, and the festival of Eid-ul-Adha follows.

Sunni and Shi'a interpretation. Both traditions perform all five duties. Sunnis frame them as the "Five Pillars"; Twelver Shi'a organise their faith as the Usul ad-Din (roots of religion — including divine justice and the Imamate) and the Furu ad-Din (branches — the practices, including salah, sawm, hajj, zakat and khums). The practice is shared; the framework differs.

Pillars, beliefs, or sources of authority?

Tap a card, then tap the group it belongs to.

Think it through

Resurrection, judgement and life after death

Islam teaches that this life is a test and that it is not the whole story. CCEA calls this akhirah — the hereafter.

• Barzakh — an intermediate state between death and the resurrection.
• Yawm ad-Din, the Day of Judgement — the dead are raised bodily; each person receives the book of their deeds; deeds are weighed; nothing is hidden.
• Jannah (paradise) — described as gardens with rivers flowing beneath, and above all as nearness to God. Jahannam (hell) — a state of punishment and separation.
• God's mercy is emphasised throughout: judgement is just, but God is repeatedly named the Most Merciful, and repentance is always open while life lasts.

AO2: belief in judgement gives Muslim ethics its backbone — every act, however private, is seen. Critics argue that acting well for fear of hell is not true morality; Muslim thinkers reply that judgement is not the motive for goodness but the guarantee that goodness is not futile in a world where the wicked often prosper.

The mosque, the Imam — and worship at home

The mosque (masjid — "place of prostration"). Its design is shaped entirely by what happens in it:

• Minaret — the tower from which the adhan (call to prayer) is given.
• Mihrab — the niche in the wall showing the qiblah, the direction of Makkah.
• Minbar — the raised steps from which the khutbah (sermon) is delivered at Friday prayer.
• Washing facilities — for wudu before prayer.
• The prayer hall — carpeted, no seats, no images of living beings, no statues: nothing to distract from God, and nothing that could become an idol. Decoration is calligraphy and geometric pattern. Worshippers stand in straight rows, shoulder to shoulder; the equality is visible.
• A dome often amplifies sound and, symbolically, suggests the vault of heaven. Most mosques provide a separate space for women.

The Imam. In Sunni Islam the imam is the person who leads the prayer — usually learned, respected, and often employed by the mosque to teach, lead Friday prayer and give guidance. He is not a priest: he mediates nothing, and in principle any competent adult male Muslim may lead prayer. In Shi'a Islam the word Imam also carries a much larger meaning — the divinely guided successors of the Prophet, beginning with Ali.

Personal worship. The five daily prayers shape the whole day, from before sunrise to night. Beyond them: du'a (personal supplication in one's own words), dhikr (remembrance of God, often using prayer beads), and daily Qur'an recitation. In the home, food is halal, Qur'anic calligraphy may hang on the walls, children learn to recite, and in Ramadan the household rises together for suhur and gathers for iftar. Worship in Islam is not confined to a building.

Match each part of the mosque to its purpose

Tap a feature on the left, then its purpose on the right.

Think it through

Ramadan, Eid-ul-Fitr and Eid-ul-Adha

• Ramadan — the ninth month, in which the Qur'an was first revealed. Muslims fast from dawn to sunset, pray extra night prayers (taraweeh), read the Qur'an intensively and give generously. The purpose is taqwa — God-consciousness — plus self-discipline and real solidarity with the hungry. Laylat al-Qadr, the Night of Power, falls in the last ten nights and is said to be better than a thousand months.
• Eid-ul-Fitr — the festival that breaks the fast, on the first day of Shawwal. Special congregational prayer, new or best clothes, family visits, gifts for children, and zakat al-fitr — a payment made before the prayer so that the poor can celebrate too. The charity is not an optional extra; it is part of the festival.
• Eid-ul-Adha — the festival of sacrifice, during the month of Hajj, remembering Ibrahim's willingness to sacrifice his son in obedience to God, and God's provision of a ram instead. Those who can afford it have an animal sacrificed (qurbani), and the meat is traditionally divided in three: for the family, for relatives and friends, and for the poor. It is celebrated by Muslims everywhere, whether or not they are on Hajj.

Think it through

Birth, marriage and death

• Birth rites. The adhan — the call to prayer — is whispered into the newborn's right ear, so the first word the child hears is the name of God. Something sweet may be placed on the baby's gums. On about the seventh day comes aqiqah: the child is named, the head is shaved (with the weight of the hair given in charity), and an animal is traditionally sacrificed and the meat shared. Boys are circumcised.
• Marriage. Marriage (nikah) is a contract, not a sacrament, and it is strongly encouraged. It requires the free consent of both parties and witnesses; the groom gives the bride a mahr (a gift or dower that remains hers). The walimah is the celebration feast. The family is understood as the foundation of society.
• Divorce. It is permitted but strongly discouraged — a well-known hadith describes divorce as the most disliked of the things God has permitted. Reconciliation should be attempted first, including arbitration by both families; there is a waiting period (iddah) before it is final. A wife may seek a divorce (khul), and Muslim jurists have long debated how easy or hard the process should be. Practice varies widely between communities and countries.
• Funeral and mourning. Burial happens quickly, usually within a day. The body is washed (ghusl) and wrapped in simple white shrouds — the same for everyone, rich or poor. The community prays the janazah prayer. The body is buried, not cremated, with the face turned towards Makkah; graves are kept simple. Formal mourning is normally three days; a widow observes a longer period. Grief is not suppressed, but extravagant display is discouraged.

Women, diet, dress and money

• The role and status of women. The Qur'an teaches that men and women are spiritually equal before God, and reforms in seventh-century Arabia gave women rights of inheritance, property and consent to marriage. Muslims today disagree sharply about what follows: whether women should lead mixed prayer, how mosque space should be shared, how far tradition or culture (rather than revelation) has restricted them, and how to read verses on witnesses and inheritance. Muslim feminist scholars argue that many restrictions are cultural accretions, not Qur'anic; traditionalists argue that different roles are not unequal roles. Present the range — do not flatten it.
• Diet. Halal (permitted) and haram (forbidden). Pork, blood, carrion and the meat of animals not slaughtered correctly are haram; meat should come from an animal slaughtered by dhabihah, with the name of God pronounced. Alcohol is prohibited, together with intoxicants generally — the reasoning being that they cloud the mind and damage families. Food preparation matters: separate utensils, and careful label-reading in a non-Muslim country.
• Dress. The Qur'an commands modesty for both men and women. The hijab (headscarf) is worn by many Muslim women as an act of obedience and identity; others wear the niqab; others cover the body but not the hair. Muslim women themselves disagree about what is required — and many object strongly to being told, whether by conservatives or by secular critics, what they must wear. Modesty applies to men too, in dress and in conduct.
• Money. Gambling (maysir) is haram — wealth from chance, at another's loss. Interest (riba) is haram: money should not simply breed money while risk falls on the borrower alone. Islamic banks therefore use profit- and risk-sharing arrangements instead of lending at interest.

Think it through

The practice of Islam in a non-Muslim society

CCEA's final bullet is a live question for Muslims in Northern Ireland and across Britain and Ireland.

The big ideas to know

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