The name Muhammad has the approximate meaning “The Praised One” or "The Praiseworthy". Another name used for him is "Ahmad", which has approximately the same meaning. May peace and the blessings of God be upon Muhammad.
Muhammad is a descendant of Abraham, Hagar and Ishmael. The Prophet Muhammad was sent by the God of Abraham to fulfill the promise and blessings given to Abraham and Hagar regarding Ishmael.
He was born in CE 571, long after the Jewish and Christian Scriptures had closed, so the only reference to him, if any, in those Scriptures would be in prophecies.
He was born in Mecca, the place in the desert where Abraham left Hagar and Ishmael, and where they settled, and where Abraham and Ishmael later built the Kaaba, the place of pilgrimage. His father died before his birth, and his mother died when he was only six years old. He was brought up by his grandfather, and then by his uncle, both of whom were successively the Guardian of the Kaaba, the place of pilgrimage, a high position in Meccan society.
As a youth, he was known to be honest and of good character, and he was called "Al-Amin", the trustworthy.
He was one of the few people in Mecca who still followed the religion of Abraham and Ishmael, while the majority of Meccans and Arabs had become idol worshippers, idols that they had put in the Kaaba, the place of pilgrimage.
He was poor and worked as a shepherd and salesman. He worked as a salesman for a rich widow businesswoman, Khadija. She was so impressed by him that she sent a proposal of marriage to him, which he accepted.
She was 40 and he was 25 at the time of marriage. They had children and a happy married life, and he was a successful businessman.
He was not content with just the worldly life, and he would go off to a cave of Hira in the hills of Mecca to meditate about God for days at a time. He followed the religion of Abraham and Ishmael, worshipping the God of Abraham
One day while he was meditating in the cave, the angel Gabriel came to him in the form of a man and said to him "Iqra", which means read or recite. He said I do not know how to read, so Gabriel squeezed him and said again "Iqra". He said what shall I read? Gabriel said "Iqra bi ismi rabbikal lazi khalaq, khalaqal insana min alaq", meaning "Read in the name of thy Lord Who created, Created man out of a (mere) clot of congealed blood:". So he recited after Gabriel.
After Gabriel left, he went to his wife, Khadija,
doubting the reality of what had happened. If
something like that happened to you, would you not doubt yourself, unless you had a huge ego?
She reassured him that she knew him to be a good person so it must be true, and she believed in him even before he believed in himself. She took him to her cousin Waraqa, a follower of the religion of Abraham, who was learned in the Jewish and Christian scriptures, and he confirmed that he must be the Prophet promised in the Scriptures, so he was reassured.
This was the beginning of the revelation of the Word of God, the Quran to Muhammad, through the angel Gabriel. Muhammad's experience with Gabriel is similar to the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist, which initiated the ministry of Jesus.
The revelations of the Quran, several verses at a time, resumed, and continued over time. The revelations in Mecca were about God, who He is, His attributes, what He expects of those who believe in Him, the relationship with God, and the eternal life of the Hereafter.
He was commanded to preach to the people of Mecca. A few believed, but most remained idol worshippers. The few Muslims were persecuted and even tortured to death, so a group of them emigrated to Abyssinia to live under the protection of the Christian ruler.
A number of people from the city of Yathrib who had come for the pilgrimage, heard the Prophet Muhammad's preachings, and believed and became Muslims.
After thirteen years, the Meccans conspired collectively to kill the Prophet, and he emigrated to Yathrib, the journey being known as the Hijra, which is also the starting point of the Muslim calendar.
In Medina, with the community of Muslims already there, he established an Islamic state, and became its leader.
Yathrib became known as Medinatun Nabi, “The City of the Prophet”, or Medina.
In this regard, he is like Moses, who was both the spiritual leader of the Israelites and their temporal leader.
The revelations of the Quran continued, expanding on the previous topics, but also adding principles for life as a community and nation, to make it a complete way of life:
Rules for social life, marriage, family, community.
Rules for business, contracts, fair dealing, usury
Rules for military, for example, to be prepared and strong, not to be aggressors, to negotiate peace, not to harm civilians even in the heat of battle.
Rules for government, to be by consultation with the people
There were several wars with the idolators of Mecca. They signed a peace treaty which the Meccans violated, so the Muslims marched on Mecca and it fell without bloodshed. The Muslims restored the Kaaba to the worship of the God of Abraham. They forgave the Meccans who had persecuted them and made war against them.
Some other tribes of Arabia became Muslim, others fought the Muslims and were defeated and Islam spread to the most of Arabia.
The Prophet knew his mission was complete with the spread of Islam to Arabia. On the event of his last pilgrimage to Mecca, he address the over 100,000 people who made the pilgrimage.
He reminded them to hold on to the Quran and the Sunnah, the way of the Prophet. He reminded them that the life, property and honor of a Muslim were sacred - this is a Bill of Rights that predates the American Bill of Rights by over a thousand years. He reminded them to be good to the women, to take care of them.
Soon after came the revelation of the final verses of the Quran
He died in the year 632 CE, and was succeeded by Abu Bakr as the leader of the Muslims, khalifa or emir.