Claim: Muhammad had very few early followers.

Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd AllāhFull name : Abū al-Qāsim Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib ibn Hāshim -LRB- ابو القاسم محمد ابن عبد الله ابن عبد المطلب ابن هاشم , lit : Father of Qasim Muhammad son of Abd Allah son of Abdul-Muttalib son of Hashim -RRB- -LRB- محمد -LSB- muħammad -RSB- ; Classical Arabic pronunciation c. 570 CE -- 8 June 632 CE -RRB- is the prophet of Islam and widely identified as its founder by non-Muslims . According to Islamic doctrine , he was God 's Messenger -LRB- rasūl Allāh -RRB- sent to confirm the essential teachings of monotheism preached previously by Adam , Abraham , Moses , Jesus , and other prophets . He is viewed as the final prophet of God in primary branches of Islam , though some modern denominations diverge from this belief.The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community considers Muhammad to be the `` Seal of the Prophets '' -LRB- Khātam an-Nabiyyīn -RRB- and the last law-bearing Prophet but not the last Prophet . See :   There are also smaller sects which believe Muhammad to be not the last Prophet :  The Nation of Islam considers Elijah Muhammad to be a prophet -LRB- source : African American Religious Leaders -- p. 76 , Jim Haskins , Kathleen Benson -- 2008 -RRB- .  United Submitters International consider Rashad Khalifa to be a prophet . -LRB- Source : Daniel Pipes , Miniatures : Views of Islamic and Middle Eastern Politics , p. 98 -LRB- 2004 -RRB- -RRB- Muhammad united Arabia into a single Muslim polity and ensured that his teachings , practices , and the Quran , formed the basis of Islamic religious belief .   Born approximately 570CE -LRB- Year of the Elephant -RRB- in the Arabian city of Mecca , Muhammad was orphaned at an early age ; he was raised under the care of his paternal uncle Abu Talib . Periodically , he would seclude himself in a mountain cave named Hira for several nights of prayer ; later , at age 40 , he reported being visited by Gabriel in the cave , where he stated he received his first revelation from God . Three years later , in 610 , Muhammad started preaching these revelations publicly , proclaiming that `` God is One '' , that complete `` surrender '' -LRB- lit . islām -RRB- to him is the right course of action -LRB- dīn -RRB- , and that he was a prophet and messenger of God , similar to the other prophets in Islam .   Muhammad gained few early followers , and met hostility from some Meccan tribes . To escape persecution , Muhammad sent some followers to Abyssinia before he and his followers migrated from Mecca to Medina -LRB- then known as Yathrib -RRB- in the year 622 . This event , the Hijra , marks the beginning of the Islamic calendar , also known as the Hijri Calendar . In Medina , Muhammad united the tribes under the Constitution of Medina . In December 629 , after eight years of intermittent conflict with Meccan tribes , Muhammad gathered an army of 10,000 Muslim converts and marched on the city of Mecca . The attack went largely uncontested and Muhammad seized the city with little bloodshed . In 632 , a few months after returning from the Farewell Pilgrimage , he fell ill and died . Before his death , most of the Arabian Peninsula had converted to Islam .   The revelations -LRB- each known as Ayah , lit . `` Sign -LSB- of God -RSB- '' -RRB- , which Muhammad reported receiving until his death , form the verses of the Quran , regarded by Muslims as the `` Word of God '' and around which the religion is based . Besides the Quran , Muhammad 's teachings and practices -LRB- sunnah -RRB- , found in the Hadith and sira literature , are also upheld by Muslims and used as sources of Islamic law -LRB- see Sharia -RRB- .