Muhammad (prophet)

Born in 570 CE in the Arabian city of Mecca, he was orphaned at a young age and brought up under the care of his uncle Abu talib . He later worked mostly as a merchant, as well as a shepherd, and was first married by age 25. Discontented with life in Mecca, he retreated to a cave in the surrounding mountains for mediation and reflection. According to Islamic beliefs it was here, at age 40, in the month ofRamadan, where he received his first revelation from God. Three years after this event Muhammad started preaching these revelations publicly, proclaiming that "God is One", that complete "surrender" to Him is the only way acceptable to God, and that he himself was a prophet and messenger of God, in the same vein as other islamic prophet.

Muhammad gained few followersearly on, and was met with hospitility from some Meccan tribes; he and his followers were treated harshly. To escape persecution Muhammad and his followers migrated to Medina(then known as Yathrib) in the year 622 CE. This event, the Hijra, marks the beginning of the Islamic calendar. In Medina, Muhammad united the conflicting tribes, and after eight years of fighting with the Meccan tribes, his followers, who by then had grown to ten thousand, conquered Mecca. In 632, a few months after returning to Medina from his farewell pilgrimage, Muhammad fell ill and died. By the time of his death, most of the Arabian Peninsula had convered to islam; and he united the tribes of Arabia into a single Muslim religious polity.