Write an account of the Prophet Muhammad's life from his birth until he received revelation.

Mark scheme

Marking points from the official mark scheme (May/June 2022). The mark or mark type is shown in brackets.

1. [1] Candidates should give a detailed answer regarding the main events in the Prophet's life until the age of 40.
2. [1] The Prophet (pbuh) was born in the year of the elephant.
3. [1] His parents were Amina and Abdullah.
4. [1] As with the custom of the time, he was sent to the desert with a wet nurse.
5. [1] Halima Sa'adia narrates that they had good fortune with the arrival of the Prophet (pbuh) in their household, and asked he stay with them another two years.
6. [1] During this time the angel Jibril came to clean the Prophet's heart while he was playing with his friends. Halima then returned him to his mother.
7. [1] His mother died on the way back from visiting family in Yathrib when he was six.
8. [1] His grandfather Abdul Muttalib looked after him and after he died the Prophet (pbuh), aged eight, came under the care of his uncle Abu Talib.
9. [1] Abu Talib would take the Prophet (pbuh) on trade journeys with him, and this is where Bahira the monk saw him and told Abu Talib that he was going to have a great future ahead of him, and told him to take him back to Makka as he was scared for his life if he continued to travel with the caravan.
10. [1] The Prophet (pbuh) picked up arrows in the sacrilegious wars (Harb al Fijar) and was present at the subsequent Fudul confederacy to protect fair transactions.
11. [1] He was known for his honesty and integrity and was employed by Khadija to go on a trade journey to Syria.
12. [1] After the Prophet (pbuh) returned with profits, her servant, Maysara, spoke about his good character, Khadija sent a marriage proposal to him which he accepted after consulting his uncle.
13. [1] They had six children together.
14. [1] At the age of 35 he helped resolve the issue of the fixing of the black stone, this prevented the Makkan tribes from fighting with each other.
15. [1] He began to spend longer periods in the cave of Hira and at age of 40 the angel Jibril came with the first revelation.
16. [1] Going to the desert as a baby offered him good health and it helped him to learn the eloquence of the Arabic language which was said to be a pure dialect.
17. [1] This helped him communicate well with other tribes and others when preaching about Islam.
18. [1] He was able to observe and learn from different people which would have been beneficial for allowing him to understand people.
19. [1] This would allow him to understand the needs of different people in different circumstances/places.
20. [1] He would have the opportunity to learn different skills from different people, whether it was in the home or in the market.
21. [1] Alternately, a candidate might argue that being an orphan had no impact on the Prophet's preparation for prophethood because God made the preparations and would have helped him when it was needed.