This is a timeline of the early history of Islam during the lifetime of Muhammad. The information provided in this article is based on Islamic oral tradition, not on historical or archaeological evidence. A separate list of military expeditions and battles is at List of expeditions of Muhammad. N. Record, milestone or achievement Date Noteworthy facts Notable primary sources 1. Muhammad's first revelation: Brown (2003), pp. 72–73Sell (1913), p. 29. Ramadan According to Islamic tradition, during one such occasion while he was in contemplation, the archangel Gabriel appeared before him in the year and said, ‘Recite’, upon which he replied, ‘I am unable to recite’. Thereupon the angel caught hold of him and embraced him heavily. This happened two more time after which the angel commanded Muhammad to recite the following verses:"Proclaim! (or read!) in the name of thy Lord and Cherisher, Who Created man, out of a (mere) clot of congealed blood:Proclaim! And thy Lord is Most Bountiful,- Who taught (the use of) the pen,-Taught man that which he knew not." 2. First Muslim Female convert: Khadija When Muhammad reported his first revelation from the Angel Gabriel (Jibril), Khadija was the first female and first person to convert to Islam. However, Shia Muslims claim Ali was the first to convert to Islam. Ibn Hisham & Ibn Ishaq 3. First Muslim child convert: Ali Ibn Abi TalibWatt, Muhammad in Mecca, p. 80, Ali, is said to have supported Muhammed from his childhood and in some texts, is said to have converted to Islam just after his birth. It is sometimes reported that Ali was the second, after Khadija, to embrace Islam amongst the earliest Muslims. Ali ibn Abi Talib is known among the earliest and youngest Muslim converts. The early historian Ibn Ishaq and al-Tabari puts Ali Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law as the first male convert; Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari presents three candidates, and does not decide between them. According to one Hadith, Ali was Muhammad's cousin and accepted Islam at the age of 11 making him the first male to accept IslamIbn Hisham & Ibn Ishaq Tabari, Volume 6 4Earliest Muslim Adult Male converts: Zayd ibn Harithah and Abu Bakr One account in Tabari says that the first male convert was Zayd ibn Harithah, a freed slave who had become Muhammad's adopted son. It is known that Ali was indeed one of the first persons to convert to Islam, however some dispute this arguing he was only 12 years old at the time he embraced Islam.Watt 1953, p. 86
Later Abu Bakr followed.
Muhammad's prominent companions Hassan ibn Thabit (d. 674), Ibn Abbas (d. 687), and the Kufan scholar al-Nakhai (d. 714) claim Abu Bakr to be the first adult male convert. Abu Bakr is also said to be one of the first male Muslim convert on accounts preserved by the historian al-Tabari. Despite the conflicts, when talking about adult males, Abu Bakr was one of the first ones to accept Islam. al-Tabari & al-Nakhai 5 First Public DawahRamadan (2007), p. 37–9 613 An Introduction to the Quran (1895), p. 185Watt, The Cambridge History of Islam (1977), p. 36. Around 613, Muhammad began to preach to the public(Quran ). Most Meccans ignored him and mocked him, though a few became his followers. There were three main groups of early converts to Islam: younger brothers and sons of great merchants; people who had fallen out of the first rank in their tribe or failed to attain it; and the weak, mostly unprotected foreigners. Ibn Hisham & Ibn Ishaq 6 First Muslim Martyr/first Muslim to be killed: Sumayyah bint Khabbab 615 Tradition records at great length the persecution and ill-treatment towards Muhammad and his followers. Sumayyah bint Khabbab (mother of Ammar ibn Yasir), a slave of a prominent Meccan leader Abu Jahl, is famous as the first martyr of Islam; killed with a spear by her master when she refused to give up her faith.Jonathan E. Brockopp, Slaves and Slavery, Encyclopedia of the Qur'anW. Arafat, Bilal b. Rabah, Encyclopedia of IslamWatt (1964) p. 76.Peters (1999) p. 172. Ibn Hisham & Ibn IshaqAlfred Guillaume "The Life of Muhammad: A translation of Sirat Rasul Allah" Oxford 1955 , 2003 reprint used - page 145 7 First Muslim to be tortured: Bilal ibn Ribah 615 When Bilal's master, Umayyah ibn Khalaf found out he had converted to Islam, he began violently to torture Bilal.Janneh, Sabarr. Learning from the Life of Prophet Muhammad: Peace and Blessing of God Be upon Him. Milton Keynes: AuthorHouse, 2010. Print. Pgs. 235-238 With Abu Jahl instigating, Umayyah tied Bilal up and had him dragged around Mecca as a means to break Bilal's faith. Frustrated upon Bilal's refusal to denounce Islam, Umayyah became even more angry. He ordered that Bilal's limbs were to be stretched out and tied to stakes lying flat on desert sand, so that he could feel the intensity of the sun and the Arabian heat. He would be whipped and beaten while tied to the stakes. Constantly refusing to denounce Islam, Umayyah became frustrated and ordered that a large boulder/stone be placed on Bilal's chest. The boulder heated by the sun burned Bilal's body while also crushing him. After such punishments, news of this slave reached some of Muhammad's companions who told Muhammad of the slave. Muhammad then sent Abu Bakr. Eventually, Abu Bakr negotiated a deal with Umayyah to purchase Bilal and emancipate him from slavery. Tabari, Volume 6 Watt, Muhammad in Mecca, p. 85, 8 First migration to another country: Ethiopia 615 In 615, some of Muhammad's followers emigrated to the Ethiopian Aksumite Empire and founded a small colony. This was known as the Hijrah Tabari, Volume 6 Watt, Muhammad in Mecca, p. 98, Ibn Hisham & Ibn IshaqMuḥammad, Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Edited by P. J. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C. E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, W. P. Heinrichs et al. Brill Online, 2014 9 First Muslim Ambassador and Envoy: Mus`ab ibn `Umair September 621 Note: Author says it happened before the Second pledge at al-Aqabah which happened in 622. Therefore this event happened in 621 Musab ibn Umair al-Abdari was the first Muslim Ambassador. He was sent to Yathrib (now Medina) to teach the people the doctrines of Islam and give them guidance Note: Author says it happened before the Second pledge at al-Aqabah which happened in 622. Therefore, this event happened in 621 Tabari, Volume 6Tabari, The History of al-Tabari Vol. 6: Muhammad at Mecca, p. 127, SUNY Press, Ibn Hisham & Ibn Ishaq 10 First Muslim Muezzin: Bilal ibn RibahSyed Razwy, Khadija-tul-Kubra (the Wife of the Prophet Muhammed) May Allah be Pleased ..., p. 77, TTQ, INC., 1990, 622 Notes: Source says Bilal was appointed after Muhammad migrated to Medina, that is the year 622 After Muhammad migrated to Medina he appointed Bilal ibn Ribah as the first Muslim Muezzin Ibn Hisham & Ibn Ishaq A. Adu Boahen, Alvin M. Josephy, The Horizon history of Africa, Volume 1, p. 151, University of Michigan Tabari, Volume 39 Tabari, The History of al-Tabari Vol. 39: Biographies of the Prophet's Companions ..., p. 371, SUNY Press, 11 622 . Note: This is the free version available on Google BooksIbn Hisham & Ibn IshaqIbn Hisham, as-Seerat an-Nabawiyyah, Vol. I p. 454 Tabari, Volume 6 Watt, Muhammad in Mecca, p. 138, . Quote: "the second al-'Aqabah took the pledge of war" 12 623 Mubarakpuri, The Sealed Nectar (Free Version), p. 127. According to Ar-Raheeq Al-Makhtum (The Sealed Nectar), a modern Islamic hagiography of Muhammad written by the Indian Muslim author Safi ur-Rahman Mubarakpuri, Muhammad ordered the first caravan raid led by Hamza ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib (Muhammad's uncle) seven to nine months after the Hijra. A party of thirty to forty men assembled at the seacoast near al-Is, between Mecca and Medina, where Amr ibn Hishām (Abu Jahl), the leader of the caravan was camping with three hundred Meccan riders.Note: Book contains a list of battles of Muhammad in Arabic, English translation available hereMubarakpuri, When the Moon Split, p. 147. Hamza met Abu Jahl there with a view to attack the caravan, but Majdi bin Amr al-Juhani, a Quraysh who was friendly to both the parties intervened between them; so, both parties separated without fighting.Muḥammad Ibn ʻAbd al-Wahhāb, Mukhtaṣar zād al-maʻād, p. 345.Witness Pioneer "Pre-Badr Missions and Invasions" It is mentioned in Ibn Hisham and Ibn Ishaq's biography of Muhammad (the earliest surviving biography of Muhammad from the 7th century), that for these caravan raids Muhammad gave permission to "plunder" the caravans of theirs enemies and seize their goods and property(s) and said: "Go forth against this caravan; it may be that Allah will grant you plunder"ʻAbd al-Malik Ibn Hishām, The life of Muhammad, Apostle of Allah, p. 95, Folio Society, 1964. Translated by Michael Edwardes. Quote: "Go forth against this caravan; it may be that Allah will grant you plunder." (archive) Ibn Hisham & Ibn Ishaq Al-Waqidi, Kitab al-Maghazi Rizwi Faizer, The Life of Muhammad: Al-Waqidi's Kitab Al-Maghazi, p. 12, , Routledge, 2013 13 623In 623 Muhammad ordered the Batn Rabigh Caravan Raid to raid Quraysh caravan to relieve themselves from poverty Sa'd ibn Abi Waqas was the first person to fire an arrow in the name of Islam, it mentioned in the Sunni hadith collection Sahih al-Bukhari "I heard Sa'd saying, "I was the first amongst the 'Arabs who shot an arrow for Allah's Cause. We used to fight along with the Prophet""
Ibn Sa'd, Kitab al-tabaqat al-kabir, Volume 2 14 First peace treaty: Banu Darhma peace treaty August 623 Muhammad ordered the Invasion of Waddan with the purpose of raiding Quraysh caravan to relieve themselves from poverty.Richard A. Gabriel, Muhammad, Islam's first great general, p. 73. However, they instead raided the Caravan of Amr Bin Makhshi Al Dhamri of the Banu Damrah tribe. Negotiations began and the two leaders signed a treaty with Banu Damrah. According to Muslim scholar Muhammad al-Zurqani, the provisions of the treaty were as follows: "This document is from Muhammad, the messenger of Allah, concerning the Banu Darmah, in which he establishes for them safety and security in their wealth and lives. They can expect support from the Muslims, unless they oppose the religion of Allah. They are also expected to respond positively if the prophet seeks their help." The treaty meant that both parties were forbidden from raiding each other, joining hostile concentrations against each other, and supporting each other's enemies. The historian William Montgomery Watt saw this as a deliberate attempt by Muhammad to provoke the Meccans. Ibn Sa'd, Kitab al-tabaqat al-kabir, Volume 2 15 January 624Sir William Muir, The Life of Mahomet and History of Islam, to the Era of the Hegira ..., Volume 3, p. 72, Oxford University, Smith, Elder, 1861 Muhammad Ibn Abd-al-Wahhab, Mukhtaṣar zād al-maʻād, p. 347. Ibn Hisham See footnote 1, page 247 16 First assassination carried out by Muslims: Asma bint Marwan or Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf January 624 Muhammad ordered the killing of 'Asma' bint Marwan for opposing Muhammad with poetry and for provoking others to attack him For those scholar who consider this as unreliable Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf is considered the first person to be assassinated by Muslims Ibn Hisham & Ibn Ishaq Ibn Sa'd, Kitab al-tabaqat al-kabir, Volume 2 17 First assassination carried out by Muslims: Ka'b ibn al-AshrafUri Rubin, The Assassination of Kaʿb b. al-Ashraf, Oriens, Vol. 32. (1990), pp. 65-71.Mubarakpuri, The Sealed Nectar, pp.151-153. (online) September 624 According to Ibn Ishaq, Muhammad ordered his followers to kill Ka'b because he "had gone to Mecca after Badr and inveighed against Muhammad. He also composed verses in which he bewailed the victims of Quraysh who had been killed at Badr. Shortly afterwards he returned to Medina and composed amatory verses of an insulting nature about the Muslim women".