Mohammed

Mohammed was born in about 570 at Mecca. As a young man he helped drive camel caravans across the desert for his uncle who was a merchant. After his marriage with a wealthy widow, Khadidja, Mohammed spent more and more time alone, meditating in a cave at Mount Hira near Mecca. It was here that Muslims believe he had a vision: the Angel Gabriel appeared and told him that there was only one God, Allah.

Allah was the same god as the god of the Jews and Christians and Mohammed came at the end of a long line of Prophets (special messengers of god) after Abraham, Moses and Jesus Christ.

From about 613 onwards, Mohammed began preaching to the people of Mecca, telling them to abandon their worship of idols in the Kaaba and to turn to Allah. The rich families of the city were not happy to lose the lucrative pilgrimage trade that the idols brought to Mecca and they persecuted Mohammed and those who followed him.

In 622, his life under threat, Mohammed escaped across the desert to the city of Medina ('the city of the Prophet' in Arabic) where he was welcomed and made the chief. This event became known as the Hegira or 'Flight' and is so important that it marks the beginning of the Muslim calendar, just as the birth of Jesus Christ marks the beginning of the Christian calendar. The Prophet became not only a religious leader but a military leader too. He led armies back across the desert to conquer Mecca in 630. Here he destroyed the idols but kept the Kaaba and its black stone as holy places which Muslims still visit today on their pilgrimages.

Mohammed was generous with his enemies and this attracted more and more Arabs to his faith. When he died in 632, most of Arabia had accepted the new religion of Islam, which means 'obedience to the will of God'. Those who were converted to the religion were called 'Muslims'.

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