Who was Mohammed?

Born in AD 570 in Mecca, Mohammed was orphaned at an early age and was brought up by his relatives. He earned his living as a caravan leader and at the age of twenty-five married a widow, Khadijah, some fifteen years older than himself. It was a strong and successful marriage. When he was about forty Mohammed entered a time of spiritual stress during which he saw in a vision the messenger of

God, who told him that he was to be God's prophet. At first he doubted the reality of this call but at last came to believe that it was true. He began to preach in the name of God, whom he called Allah, calling men to repentance and warning them of the day of judgment to come. His following in Mecca was very small and finally he left for the near-by city of Medina. Here he quickly became the leader of the city and set about establishing the customs of the new religion. The first mosque was built and Friday became the day of community prayer. When war broke out between Medina and Mecca, Mohammed led the Medinan army, marched on Mecca and captured it. He made Mecca the center of the new religion and its shrine, the Ka'abah, became the most holy spot in the Muslim world. In 632, two years after taking Mecca, Mohammed died.

The sacred book of Islam is the Koran. This is a collection of the sayings of Mohammed, which Muslims believe to be the words of God himself given through the prophet. They believe that the Koran must always be right and true, being a copy of the scroll which exists in heaven with God. It is therefore the final revelation, which takes the place of the revelations given to the Jews and Christians.

Mohammed and his followers believed that they were worshipping the same God as both Jews and Christians but that Christians especially were guilty of associating another being, Jesus Christ, on terms of equality with God.

When Mohammed died the leadership of the Muslim community passed to the caliphs, under whom the new religion quickly expanded into a vast empire. Mohammed had united the tribes of the Arabian desert into a political and military force, which quickly conquered vast tracts of territory. First Syria fell to the Muslim armies, to be followed by Palestine, Egypt, and Persia. Later the Muslim domination included Spain, Central Asia and India. Islam spread both as a religion and also as an empire.

If you wish to comment on this article, you will need to first sign up to Wizzley. Unless you're already registered, then proceed down to the Comment module.