Who was Muhammad?

Muhammad, the founder and prophet of Islam, was born in the year 570 AD in the Hijaz, or western Arabia. He was born into a family of traders with far-flung commercial contacts and a powerful trade network. At some point in his young life, Muhammad became an orphan and was raised by his uncle. In the year 610 AD, at the age of forty and after he had established a successful business and a reputation as a skilled trader, he began to experience visions. Ultimately, he received a series of visionary revelations from the archangel Gabriel, who dictated the Qur’an to him. You may know the Qur’an as the holy book of Islam, but it is actually considered the word of God as communicated to Muhammad, so in that sense, it is an entity in and of itself. Along with being a religious leader, Muhammad was also a skilled politician and a diplomat. He used his role as an arbiter, someone who settles communal disputes, to make connections with and secure allies in the city of Medina and build a small following into an influential base of power. In the year 622 AD, Muhammad led his followers from the city of Mecca to Medina, where they proceeded to build a state, establish a constitution, and spread the faith of Islam further. Muhammad passed away in the 632 AD. Because he did not designate a successor, his death prompted a succession crisis of sorts within the early Muslim community.
Further reading: http://open.lib.umn.edu/worldgeography/chapter/8-2-muhammad-and-islam/ and https://www.metmuseum.org/learn/educators/curriculum-resources/art-of-the-islamic-world/unit-one/the-prophet-muhammad-and-the-origins-of-islam

Muhammad was orphaned as a child and was raised by an uncle.  His uncle was a successful merchant that showed Muhammad the ropes in the caravan business.  Muhammad was successful in this endeavor and worked for a wealthy widow named Khadija, whom he later married.  The reason I mention Khadija is because she supported her husband in introducing the world to a new religion: Islam.  In the sixth century, Muhammad reported to Khadija that the angel Gabriel had revealed to him everything that he would later write in the Koran. The most important revelation was that there was only one God.  Muhammad founded a new religion which is today referred to as Islam.  With Khadija's urging, Muhammad spread this new message of monotheism to the people in the pagan Arabian peninsula.  While Muhammad's message was not well received in Mecca, his hometown, he was able to move to Medinah where he did find willing converts.  By the end of Muhammad's life, he had converted the entire Arabian Peninsula to Islam.