The History of Islam

Muhammad ibn Abd Allah was bom around the year 570 ce in the town of Mecca, a city in the southern Arabian Peninsula. At the time of his birth, the peninsula was not politically united, and much of the population was made up of nomadic herders, known as Bedouins, who lived in remote desert areas.

Muhammad was bom into a tribe called Quraysh, a powerful extended family that was very influential in Mecca. His father died before he was born, and his mother died when he was a young child. After her death, Muhammad went to live with his grandfather, who was his appointed guardian. When his grandfather died, Muhammad was raised by his uncle, a man named Abu Talib. Although he spent most of his early life in the city of Mecca, as a young boy Muhammad was sent out to the desert to live with the Bedouin, who many considered to live the ideal Arab lifestyle.

Muhammad is known to have been a hard worker, and he was active in business and trade. Indeed, he met his first wife, Khadija, while he was working for her in a trading caravan. Khadija was a widow about fifteen years older than Muhammad, and she was so taken with the integrity and dignity of the young man that she proposed to him. They married when he was about twenty-five years old and she forty. Their marriage was thought to be one of close companionship and deep love, and they had several children together.

As was discussed earlier, Muhammad began preaching in Mecca after receiving the first revelations. His preaching was not welcomed, however, and was even controversial in some quarters of Mecca. The reason was that he criticized both the polytheistic beliefs held by many Meccans and the disregard that wealthy Meccans showed toward the poor. The controversy led to persecution of the small but growing community of Muslims. Because they held much power in Mecca, Muhammad’s own clan, the Quraysh, stood to lose the most with the social change that Muhammad’s teachings advocated. The Quraysh were thus particularly active in ridiculing and persecuting Muhammad’s followers.

This persecution inspired some Muslims to flee to Abyssinia (Ethiopia), where they were granted refuge by the Christian king. Others tried to resist. One well-known Muslim who resisted persecution was Bilal, an Abyssinian slave who had converted to Islam. The man who owned Bilal forced him to lie in the hot sun with a stone on his chest and told him to renounce his Muslim beliefs by denying the oneness of God. Bilal refused, crying out “One! One!” until he was rescued by Abu Bakr, who purchased him from his tormentor and then freed him from slavery. Bilal is remembered by Muslims to this day for his devotion and is also known as the first muezzin—the person who calls the faithful to prayer.

What is the role of prophecy in Islam, Christianity, and Judaism? Consider the figures Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad. How are they understood in each tradition?