Muhammad in Islam in the context of Revelation

Islam is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number 2 billion worldwide and are the world's second-largest religious population, after Christianity.

Muslims believe that there is a primordial faith that was revealed many times through earlier prophets and messengers, including Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus, and they believe that Islam is the universal and complete version of this faith. Muslims consider the Quran to be the verbatim word of God and the unaltered, final revelation. Alongside the Quran, Muslims also believe in previous revelations, such as the Tawrat (the Torah), the Zabur (Psalms), and the Injil (Gospel). They believe that Muhammad is the main and final of God's prophets, through whom the religion was completed. The teachings and normative examples of Muhammad, called the Sunnah, documented in accounts called the hadith, provide a constitutional model for Muslims. Islam is based on the belief in the oneness and uniqueness of God (tawhid), and belief in an afterlife (akhirah) with the Last Judgment—wherein the righteous will be rewarded in paradise (jannah) and the unrighteous will be punished in hell (jahannam). The Five Pillars, considered obligatory acts of worship, are the Islamic oath and creed (shahada), daily prayers (salah), almsgiving (zakat), fasting (sawm) in the month of Ramadan, and a pilgrimage (hajj) to Mecca. Islamic law, sharia, touches on virtually every aspect of life, from banking and finance and welfare to men's and women's roles and the environment. The two main religious festivals are Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha. The three holiest sites in Islam are Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, Prophet's Mosque in Medina, and al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.

The Quran (vocalized Arabic: الْقُرْآن‎, Quranic Arabic: الۡقُرۡءَان‎, al-Qurʾān [alqurˈʔaːn], lit. 'the recitation' or 'the lecture'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation directly from God (Allāh). It is organized in 114 chapters (surah, pl. suwar) which consist of individual verses (āyah). Besides its religious significance, it is widely regarded as the finest work in Arabic literature, and has significantly influenced the Arabic language. It is the object of a modern field of academic research known as Quranic studies.

Muslims believe the Quran was orally revealed by God to the final Islamic prophet Muhammad through the angel Gabriel incrementally over a period of some 23 years, beginning on the Laylat al-Qadr, when Muhammad was 40, and concluding in 632, the year of his death. Muslims regard the Quran as Muhammad's most important miracle, a proof of his prophethood, and the culmination of a series of divine messages starting with those revealed to the first Islamic prophet Adam, including the holy books of the Torah, Psalms, and Gospel in Islam.

Muhammad (c. 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, military and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the monotheistic teachings of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and other prophets. He is believed by Muslims to be the Seal of the Prophets, and along with the Quran, his teachings and normative examples form the basis for Islamic religious belief.

According to the traditional account, Muhammad was born in Mecca to the aristocratic Banu Hashim clan of the Quraysh. He was the son of Abdullah ibn Abd al-Muttalib and Amina bint Wahb. His father, Abdullah, the son of tribal leader Abd al-Muttalib ibn Hashim, died around the time Muhammad was born. His mother Amina died when he was six, leaving Muhammad an orphan. He was raised under the care of his grandfather, Abd al-Muttalib, and paternal uncle, Abu Talib. In later years, he would periodically seclude himself in a mountain cave named Hira for several nights of prayer. When he was 40, in c. 610, Muhammad reported being visited by Gabriel in the cave and receiving his first revelation from God. In 613, Muhammad started preaching these revelations publicly, proclaiming that "God is One", that complete "submission" (Islām) to God (Allāh) is the right way of life (dīn), and that he was a prophet and messenger of God, similar to other prophets in Islam.

The holy books are a number of religious scriptures that are regarded by Muslims as having valid divine significance, in that they were authored by God (Allah) through a variety of prophets and messengers, all of which predate the Quran. Among scriptures considered to be valid revelations, three that are named in the Quran are: the Tawrat (Arabic for Torah), received by prophets and messengers amongst the Israelites; the Zabur (Psalms), received by David; and the Injil (Arabic for the Gospel), received by Jesus. Additionally, the Quran mentions the Scrolls of Abraham and the Scrolls of Moses, as well as individual revelations and guidance to specific Messengers.

Muslims hold the Quran, as it was revealed to Muhammad, to be God's final revelation to mankind, and therefore a completion and confirmation of previous scriptures, such as the Bible. Despite the primacy that Muslims place upon the Quran in this context, belief in the validity of earlier Abrahamic scriptures is one of the six Islamic articles of faith. However, for most self-identified Muslims, the level of this belief is restricted by the concept of tahrif.

Seal of the Prophets (Arabic: خاتم النبيين, romanized: khātam an-nabīyīn or khātim an-nabīyīn; or Arabic: خاتم الأنبياء, romanized: khātam al-anbiyā’ or khātim al-anbiyā) is a title used in the Qur'an and by Muslims to designate the Islamic prophet Muhammad as the last of the prophets sent by God.

The title is applied to Muhammad in verse 33:40 of the Qur'an, with the popular Yusuf Ali translation reading:

The Shahada (Arabic: الشَّهَادَةُ aš-šahādatu; Arabic pronunciation: [aʃʃahaːdatʊ], 'the testimony'), also transliterated as Shahadah, is an Islamic oath and creed, and one of the Five Pillars of Islam and part of the Adhan. It reads: "I bear witness that there is no god but God, and I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of God."The Shahada declares belief in the oneness (tawhid) of God and the acceptance of Muhammad as God's messenger. Some Shia Muslims also include a statement of belief in the wilayat of Ali, but they do not consider it as an obligatory part for converting to Islam. A single honest recitation of the Shahada is all that is required for a person to become a Muslim according to most traditional schools.

The Prophet's Mosque (Arabic: ٱلْمَسْجِد ٱلنَّبَوِي‎, romanized: al-Masjid al-Nabawī, lit. 'Mosque of the Prophet') is the second mosque built by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in Medina, after the Quba Mosque, as well as the second largest mosque and holiest site in Islam, after the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, in the Saudi region of the Hejaz. The mosque is located at the heart of Medina, and is a major site of pilgrimage that falls under the purview of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques (a royal style used by the King of Saudi Arabia.)

Muhammad himself was involved in the construction of the mosque. At the time, the mosque's land belonged to two young orphans, Sahl and Suhayl, and when they learned that Muhammad wished to acquire their land to erect a mosque, they went to Muhammad and offered the land to him as a gift; Muhammad insisted on paying a price for the land because they were orphaned children. The price agreed upon was paid by Abu Ayyub al-Ansari, who thus became the endower or donor (Arabic: وَاقِف, romanized: wāqif) of the mosque, on behalf or in favor of Muhammad. al-Ansari also accommodated Muhammad upon his arrival at Medina in 622.

In Islamic belief, Laylat al-Qadr (in Arabic: لیلة القدر) or Night of Power is an Islamic festival in memory of the night when Muslims believe the Quran was first sent down from heaven to the world, the first revelation the Islamic prophet Muhammad received from the angel Gabriel. The Night of Power belongs to one of the five Kandil Nights.

In the Quran, it is said this night is better than 1,000 months (approximately 83.3 years). According to various hadiths, the exact date of the night is uncertain, though it is believed to fall on one of the odd-numbered nights during the last ten days of Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. Since that time, Muslims have regarded the last ten nights of Ramadan as being especially blessed. Muslims believe the Night comes again every year, with blessings and mercy of God in abundance. The surah al-Qadr is named after this Night, and the chapter’s purpose is to describe the greatness of the occasion.

The Salafi movement or Salafism (Arabic: السلفية, romanized: as-Salafiyya) is a fundamentalist revival movement within Sunni Islam, originating in the late 19th century and influential in the Islamic world to this day. The name "Salafiyyah" is a self-designation, claiming a return to the traditions of the predecessors (salaf), the first three generations of Muslims (the Islamic prophet Muhammad and the Sahabah [his companions], then the Tabi'in, and the third generation, the Tabi' al-Tabi'in), who are believed to exemplify the pure form of Islam. In practice, Salafis claim that they rely on the Qur'an, the Sunnah and the Ijma (consensus) of the salaf, giving these writings precedence over what they claim as "later religious interpretations". The Salafi movement aimed to achieve a renewal of Muslim life, and had a major influence on many Muslim thinkers and movements across the Islamic world.

Salafi Muslims oppose bid'ah (religious innovation) and support the implementation of sharia (Islamic law). In its approach to politics, the Salafi movement is sometimes divided by Western academics and journalists into three categories: the largest group being the purists (or quietists), who avoid politics; the second largest group being the activists (or Islamists), who maintain regular involvement in politics; and the third group being the jihadists, who form a minority and advocate armed struggle to restore early Islamic practice. In legal matters, Salafis advocate ijtihad (independent reasoning) and oppose taqlid (blind faith) to the four schools (madhahib) of Islamic jurisprudence.

Ahmadiyya (/ˌɑːməˈdiːə/, also UK: /-ˈdiːjə/), officially the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at (Arabic: الجماعة الإسلامية الأحمدية, romanized: al-Jamāʿah al-Islāmīyyah al-Aḥmadīyyah; Urdu: جماعتِ احمدیہ مسلمہ, romanized: Jamā‘at-i-Aḥmadiyah Muslimah) is an Islamic messianic movement originating in British India in the late 19th century. It was founded by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835–1908), who said he had been divinely appointed as both the promised Messiah and Mahdi expected by Muslims to appear towards the end times and bring about, by peaceful means, the final triumph of Islam; as well as to embody, in this capacity, the expected eschatological figure of other major religious traditions. Adherents of the Ahmadiyya—a term adopted expressly in reference to Muhammad's alternative name Ahmad — are known as Ahmadi Muslims or simply Ahmadis.

Ahmadi thought emphasises the belief that Islam is the final dispensation for humanity as revealed to Muhammad and the necessity of restoring it to its true intent and pristine form, which had been lost through the centuries. Its adherents consider Ahmad to have appeared as the Mahdi—bearing the qualities of Jesus in accordance with their reading of scriptural prophecies—to revitalise Islam and set in motion its moral system that would bring about lasting peace. They believe that upon divine guidance he purged Islam of foreign accretions in belief and practice by championing what is, in their view, Islam's original precepts as practised by Muhammad and the early Muslim community. Ahmadis thus view themselves as leading the propagation and renaissance of Islam.

Liberalism and progressivism within Islam or simply Islamic liberalism or Islamic progressivism are a range of interpretation of Islamic understanding and practice, it is a religiously left-leaning view, similar to Christian and other religious progressivism. Some Muslims have created a considerable body of progressive interpretation of Islamic understanding and practice. Their work is sometimes characterized as progressive (Arabic: الإسلام التقدمي al-Islām at-taqaddumī) or liberal Islam. Some scholars, such as Omid Safi, differentiate between "progressive Muslims" (post-colonial, anti-imperialist, and critical of modernity and the West) versus "liberal advocates of Islam" (an older movement embracing modernity). Liberal Islam originally emerged from the Islamic revivalist movement of the 18th–19th centuries. Leftist ideas are considered controversial by some traditional fundamentalist Muslims, who criticize liberal Muslims on the grounds of being too Western and/or rationalistic.

The methodologies of liberal and progressive Islam rest on the re-interpretation of traditional Islamic sacred scriptures (the Quran) and other texts (the Hadith), a process called ijtihad. This reinterpreting can vary from minor to fundamental, including re-interpretation based on the belief that while the meaning of the Quran is a revelation, its expression in words is the work of the Islamic prophet Muhammad in his particular time and context.

The Mahdi (Arabic: ٱلْمَهْدِيّ, romanized: al-Mahdī, lit. 'the Guided'), also Masih al-Mahdi (Arabic: المسيح المهدي, romanized: al-Masīḥ al-Mahdī, lit. 'the Guided Redeemer'), is a messianic figure in Islamic belief. He is comparable to the Christian idea of the return of Jesus and the Mashiach ben David in Judaism. He is believed to appear at the End of Times to rid the world of evil and injustice. He is said to be a descendant of Muhammad and will appear shortly before Jesus.

The Mahdi is mentioned in several compilations of hadith, but absent from the Quran and the two most-revered Sunni hadith collections (Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim). As such, he plays only a marginal role in Sunni Islam and some Sunni theologians have rejected the concept of the Mahdi altogether. However, the Mahdi plays a significant role among Twelver Shias, who believe that the Mahdi is Imam Muhammad al-Mahdi, the twelfth Imam, son of the eleventh Imam Hasan al-Askari (d. 874), who is said to be in occultation (ghayba) by divine will.

Dāwūd, or David, is considered a prophet and messenger of Allah (God) in Islam, as well as a righteous, divinely anointed king of the United Kingdom of Israel. Additionally, Muslims also revere David for receiving the divine revelation of the Zabur.

Dawud is considered one of the most important people in Islam. Mentioned sixteen times in the Quran, David appears in the Islamic scripture as a link in the chain of prophets who preceded Muhammad. Although he is not usually considered one of the "law-giving" prophets (ulū al-ʿazm), "he is far from a marginal figure" in Islamic thought. In later Islamic traditions, he is praised for his rigor in prayer and fasting. He is also presented as the prototypical just ruler and as a symbol of God's authority on earth, having been at once a king and a prophet.