Only nomads lived on the Arabian Peninsula up until the Seventh Century AD, although more established settlements did exist around the coastal areas of the Indian Ocean. These coastal settlements were connected to the great cities of Mesopotamia and Syria by caravan trade routes, which were linked by vital oasis settlements such as Medina and Mecca.
Muhammad was born in Mecca as a camel driver’s son. He worked as a caravan trader into his twenties after he lost his parents when he was a boy. He married his employer, Khadija, who was a widow.
He wandered the mountains nearby and began to have visions of the angel Gabriel. Muhammad wrote down the conversations which were to become the early parts of the Koran, Islam’s holy book. It comprised one hundred and fourteen revelations which covered twenty-two years. He began to preach that salvation lay in wait for anyone who submits to the will of Allah, the one true God.
A small following was built up around Muhammad at Mecca although he was unpopular at first given that Mecca was a place of pilgrimage for three hundred and sixty gods at the Kaaba, declared false by the prophet Mohammad. He fled Mecca in AD 622 along with his supporters. The anniversary of this, called the Hegira, is now the first day in the Islamic calendar. They took refuge in Medina where they managed to successfully convert the locals. They called him “God’s Apostle” and he led military action against Mecca. Muhammad destroyed all the false idols at the Kaaba once Mecca fell in 630. He declared it a place of dedication to Allah alone.
The Arabian Peninsula was converted to Islam by Muhammad’s death in 632. He did not arrange a successor so there were disputes over who should be Khalifa. A united Islamic force was too great for the Byzantines and the Persians.
It was under Abu Bakr and later Omar in the mid-Seventh Century who made the greatest advances outside the Arabian peninsula. The growth of Islam took Syria and Mesopotamia, and later North Africa once Alexandria surrendered. There was in-fighting however, and the assassination of Muhammad’s cousin, Ali, led to a civil war. There was sectarian conflict between the larger Sunni and Shia. The advance of Islam grew further still until Punjab in the East and as far west as the Iberian peninsula (Spain) became Muslim territories. The furthest extent was in Tours, France in 732.
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