Qur'an folio in gold Kufic, 9th c. · Cleveland Museum of Art · CC0

Islam

Tradition·Founded 610 CE·est. ~2 billion worldwide

Islam → 4 branches

Branch
Overview Belief 36How to Live 12Practice 34Stories & Scripture 27Community 11 You × Islam Discussion
M Figure of Islam

Muhammad — the Messenger.

Merchant, orphan, prophet: forty years old when the revelation began, and the pattern of his life — the sunnah — became a civilization's manual.

Add to My Beliefs →
Names & titlesMuhammad — the Messenger of God
DomainThe seal of the prophets; the Quran's human channel
RelationsHusband of Khadija; the Prophet's house is the Shia line
Depicted asNot depicted — the tradition guards the messenger from becoming the message
StandingBlessed by name in every prayer; the pattern (sunnah) of a whole civilization
Understanding it — context, not catechism: how this passage is held

The prohibition on depicting Muhammad is not in the Quran itself; it hardened in the tradition as a guard against the one error Islam holds unforgivable — worship directed at anything but God. The Prophet is honored precisely by keeping him human: he is called Messenger, never more.

From the sources — the passages this rests on; concise renderings, cited

Muhammad is not the father of any of your men, but the Messenger of God and the seal of the prophets.

Quran 33:40

The verse of the seal: prophecy closes with him.

We sent you only as a mercy to the worlds.

Quran 21:107

The mission statement the tradition cites first.

The same ground, other faiths

claims that share this one's ideas
Grace does the work; your effort is mostly getting out of the way. Hinduism · core tenet Go deeper →
The binding of Isaac. Judaism · story Read it in full →
Scripture is God-breathed. Christianity · core tenet Go deeper →
Everything runs under hukam. Sikhism · core tenet Go deeper →
The sunna patterns the whole of life. Sunni Islam · core tenet Go deeper →
Leadership belongs to the Prophet's house. Shia Islam · core tenet Go deeper →

The conversation

argument stays attached to the claim it is about All discussion →

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Where next

← Maryam — the only woman the book names.the previous passage in Islam Jibril — the angel of the word. →the next passage in Islam Islam's Belief roomback up one layer Propose a change to this passageone button — it routes to the review pool

Numbers count Panfaith activity only — never real-world adherence.

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