The Prophet Muhammad was born in 570 A.D. in Makkah, the power centre of Arabia, and died in Madinah in 632. His father Abdullah, died prior to his birth. His mother, Amina, also died soon after his birth. There was nothing extraordinary in his external circumstances. But, from his very childhood, his personality reflected extraordinary character. On seeing him, his grandfather, Abdul Muttalib, used to remark that this grand son of his would reach a high place in life.
Chapters 93 and 94 of the Qur’an briefly describes the circumstances of his early years, and assert that, God took special care of him. In his youth when he went in search of truth, God gave him guidance through revelation. His livelihood was provided for when one of the wealthy ladies of Makkah, having become impressed by his extraordinary personality and character, desired to marry him. Besides, the Prophet was specially gifted with a vision that would enable him to recognise favourable opportunities, and turn every disadvantage to advantage.
The well known German psychologist Alfred Adler in his book, The Individual Psychology has written that, after studying human beings all his life, the greatest potential he found in them was “their power to turn a minus into a plus.”
Throughout human history, the greatest example of this human potential coupled with vision is to be found in the Prophet Muhammad. This unique quality in him has been acknowledged by historians in diverse ways. For instance, British writer, Mr E.E. Kellet writes: “Muhammad faced adversity with the determination to wring success out of failure.”
The Prophet’s vision was on a totally different plane from that possessed by the common man. It would be true to say that such extraordinary vision has never been found in a person who is not a Prophet. The extraordinary nature of this vision is a proof in itself that it was not a human quality in the simple sense, but that he had received it, in a special sense, from the Almighty whose knowledge encompasses past, present and future.
As an illustration of this, we mention some incidents from the life of the Prophet. These events are not just proofs of his personal superiority but, in their essence, they also provide proof of the fact that the Prophet was an inspired person, who had received knowledge directly from God— a knowledge, the acquisition of which is not possible for an ordinary man.
