If you’re trying to pin down exactly when did Muhammad live, you’re looking at a window of time that fundamentally reshaped the map of the world. He was born around 570 CE. He died in 632 CE.
That’s the short answer. But history is rarely just two dates on a timeline.
To understand those sixty-odd years, you have to look at 6th-century Arabia. It wasn't a vacuum. It was a chaotic, vibrant, and often brutal intersection of crumbling empires and rising trade routes. Honestly, the timing of his life is just as important as the events themselves because he lived right as the Byzantine and Sassanid empires were exhausting themselves through endless warfare. This created a massive power void.
The Early Years in Mecca (570 – 610 CE)
Most historians agree on the Year of the Elephant. That's the traditional date for his birth, roughly 570 CE. This was in Mecca, a town that was basically the Wall Street of the desert at the time. It was a hub for the Quraysh tribe.
He didn't have an easy start. His father, Abdullah, died before he was even born. His mother, Aminah, passed away when he was only six. You’ve probably heard of his grandfather, Abd al-Muttalib, who took him in, but he died shortly after too. Eventually, his uncle Abu Talib became his guardian.
Life was tough.
By his twenties, he was working in the caravan trade. This is where he earned the nickname Al-Amin, which means "The Trustworthy." It’s a big deal because in a society without a formal legal system, your reputation was your only currency. Around 595 CE, he married Khadija, a successful businesswoman who was older than him. This marriage gave him the financial stability to spend more time in reflection.
He wasn't just sitting around, though. He was watching the social inequality of Mecca grow. The rich were getting richer, and the tribal safety nets for orphans and widows were falling apart. It bothered him.
The Turning Point: 610 CE
Everything changed when he was forty.
While meditating in the Cave of Hira on Mount Jabal al-Nour, he reported receiving his first revelation. This marks the beginning of his prophetic career. For the next three years, he didn't go public. He spoke to close friends and family.
When he finally started preaching in the streets of Mecca, things got ugly fast.
The local elite hated his message. Why? Because it threatened their bottom line. Mecca’s economy relied on pilgrims coming to visit the Kaaba, which housed hundreds of idols. Muhammad’s message of strict monotheism was bad for business.
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The Hijra and the Medina Years (622 – 632 CE)
The year 622 CE is the most important date if you're asking when did Muhammad live in a political sense. This is the year of the Hijra, or the migration.
Persecution in Mecca became life-threatening. Following the death of his wife Khadija and his protector Abu Talib in 619 CE—a period known as the "Year of Sorrow"—the situation became untenable. He moved his followers 280 miles north to Yathrib, which was later renamed Medina (Madinat al-Nabi, the City of the Prophet).
This wasn't just a move. It was a total reset.
In Medina, he wasn't just a preacher; he became a statesman. He drafted the Constitution of Medina, which is one of the earliest examples of a multi-religious social contract. It included Jews, pagans, and Muslims under one administrative umbrella.
The following decade was a whirlwind:
- 624 CE: The Battle of Badr. A small Muslim force defeated a much larger Meccan army.
- 625 CE: The Battle of Uhud. This one was a setback for the Muslims.
- 627 CE: The Battle of the Trench. A successful defense of Medina.
- 628 CE: The Treaty of Hudaybiyyah. A ten-year truce that allowed the movement to grow exponentially.
By 630 CE, the truce was broken, and Muhammad marched on Mecca with 10,000 men. There was almost no bloodshed. He entered the city, cleared the idols from the Kaaba, and offered a general amnesty to his former enemies. It was a move that basically unified the Arabian Peninsula under a single banner for the first time in history.
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The Final Pilgrimage and Death
In early 632 CE, he performed his final pilgrimage to Mecca. This is where he gave the "Farewell Sermon" at Mount Arafat. He spoke about equality, property rights, and treating women well.
A few months after returning to Medina, he fell ill.
He died in June 632 CE, in the arms of his wife Aisha. He was buried in her house, which is now part of the Prophet’s Mosque in Medina.
Why Scholars Sometimes Debate the Dates
While the 570–632 CE range is the gold standard, it's worth noting how we know this. We rely on Sira (biographies) and Hadith (sayings), most of which were compiled a century or two after his death by scholars like Ibn Ishaq and Al-Waqidi.
Some "revisionist" historians in the late 20th century, like Patricia Crone or Michael Cook, questioned the accuracy of these later sources. They looked at non-Muslim contemporary accounts from the Byzantine and Syriac traditions. However, most modern academics, like Fred Donner at the University of Chicago, argue that the core timeline remains robustly supported by both internal tradition and external archaeological evidence.
Timeline Summary
If you need a quick reference for the major milestones:
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570 CE: Birth in Mecca.
595 CE: Marriage to Khadija.
610 CE: First revelation at the Cave of Hira.
615 CE: Some followers flee to Abyssinia (Ethiopia) to escape persecution.
619 CE: Deaths of Khadija and Abu Talib.
622 CE: The Hijra (Migration to Medina). This marks Year 1 of the Islamic calendar.
630 CE: The bloodless conquest of Mecca.
632 CE: The Farewell Pilgrimage and death in Medina.
Practical Insights for History Buffs
If you're studying this period, don't just look at the man. Look at the maps.
The world Muhammad was born into was dominated by the "Big Two" superpowers. By the time he died, those superpowers were on the brink of collapse. The Roman-Persian War of 602–628 CE had left both empires bankrupt and exhausted. This is the "why" behind the rapid expansion of the Caliphate after 632 CE.
Understanding when did Muhammad live requires acknowledging that he existed at the exact moment the "Old World" of late antiquity was dying. He wasn't just a religious figure; he was the catalyst for the Middle Ages in the Near East.
To dig deeper into this era, your next steps should be looking into the Rashidun Caliphate that followed immediately after his death. Check out the works of Robert Hoyland, specifically Seeing Islam as Others Saw It, which provides non-Muslim primary sources from the 7th century. It gives a fascinating, gritty look at how the rest of the world reacted to the sudden emergence of this new power in Arabia.
Also, if you're ever in Saudi Arabia, visiting the sites in Medina provides a spatial context that no book can replicate. Seeing the distance between the hills of Safa and Marwa or the layout of the old city of Medina makes the logistical challenges of the 7th century feel very real.
History isn't just a list of names. It's a series of "whens" that explain the "hows" of our modern world.