Emphasizing the plurality of humanity, Muhammad cited the Qur’an:

10,000 lays siege to Medina but is unable to enter because of a ditch dug around the city. The Meccans run out of provisions in two weeks and leave.

628 Muhammad goes to Mecca with 1,600 pilgrims to visit the Ka’ba. He is not allowed to enter but negotiates a ten-year truce.

630 After the Meccans break the truce by murdering a tribe allied to Muhammad, he returns with an army of 10,000. The Meccans submit without battle and Muhammad announces a general amnesty: “May Allah pardon you. Go in peace.” He cleanses the Ka’ba of idols but does not force locals to convert to Islam, although many do.

631 Muhammad receives delegations from all over Arabia; they swear allegiance to him. He sends a delegation to Palestine and concludes a treaty with the Christians there.

632 Muhammad goes to Mecca for his farewell Haj and gives his last sermon. Two months later, on June 8, he dies in Medina, at age sixty-two, leaving several wives he had married after Khadijah’s death, one daughter and no sons.

Today There are more people in the world called Muhammad than by any other name.

O People, we created you from one male and one female, and made you into tribes and nations, so that you may know one another (49:13).

Muhammad proceeded to lay down a series of rules, which have since evolved into the basic principles of many civil societies today — the right to life, liberty and security of person (which have been guaranteed, for example, in Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms), and the right to private property (entrenched in the American constitution).

Speaking of the sanctity of human life and the need to end tribal savagery, Muhammad said, “Each man’s life and possessions are sacrosanct. The blood feuds of pre-Islamic days are abolished. Every claim arising out of homicide is henceforth waived.” To set a personal example, he announced that he was giving up one such outstanding claim of his own clan.

He followed with an economic manifesto — the obligation to pay off debts and stand by financial guarantees, and the duty to avoid usury and other types of economic exploitation: “Your capital and your property are sacred and inviolate and yours to keep. You will neither inflict nor suffer injustice. All debts must be repaid, all borrowed property must be returned, all gifts must be reciprocated, and all financial losses compensated by the guarantors. All interest and usurious dues accruing from the pre-Islamic age also stand waived.” Again, leading by personal example, he said he would pay back all the interest charged by a money-lending uncle.

“O People, you have certain rights over your women and your women have certain rights over you... It is for them not to commit acts of impropriety, which if they do, you are authorized to separate them from your beds and chastise them, but not harmfully... My dictum to you is that you treat women well and be kind to them for they are your partners.” The words were revolutionary for the times.