Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet

Sequencing Events in the Life of Muhammad

By Susan L. Douglass and Aiyub Palmer

Overview

This lesson emphasizes the thinking skill of chronological sequencing. Students will reconstruct the major events from the narrative of Muhammad’s life in chronological order.

Objectives

Students will be able to:

• Sequence events from the narrative of Muhammad’s life in chronological order.
• Describe major events in Muhammad’s life and explain how they affected the development of the Muslim community and the spread of Islam.

Procedure

1. Cut the chronology contained in Student Handout: Sequencing Events in Muhammad's Life into strips of one event per strip. Place these strips in a box and mix. Note that the sequence as provided on the handout is the answer key.
   
   
2. Have students, working either in pairs or small groups, pick two strips from the box. Then have each group discuss and decide which of their two events came first. Allow two to three minutes for this activity.
   
   
3. Have each group present to the class, and record the events on the board or write on a flip chart or large paper. As each group presents their first event, they add it to the chronology presented by the previous group. The next group brings their event and allows the class to decide where their event occurs in the chronology that the teacher or recorder is simultaneously generating on the board. The third group’s result is then chronologically sequenced with that of the previous two groups, and so on, until the first round is over.
   
   
4. Next, have each group deliberate briefly to decide where their second event fits into the class chronology. Then call each group to chronologically add their second event to the growing timeline until it is complete. By the end of the activity, students will have discussed and argued for the accuracy of their views, and will have begun to think about the significance of the events.

Extension: Discuss the significance of major events in the chronology, answering the following questions: (a) In what way was each event important to fulfilling Muhammad’s mission, (b) how did the event affect the development of the Muslim community, and (c) how did the event contribute to the spread of Islam in the Arabian Peninsula and beyond.