Muhammed

By: Jaiden Santiago

 Muhammad was the prophet of Islam who was born in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, C. 520 and

died on June 8, 632 in Medina, Saudi Arabia ​(Watt, W. Montgomery). He spread Islam

throughout most of the Middle East through trading with other countries. He was also referred to

as being the “Prophet of Allah”. Islam was and is still today a dominant religion throughout the

middle East due to Muhammad’s great achievements.

As an orphan Muhammad couldn't inherit anything from his father or grandfather.

Muhammad's father died a couple of weeks before his birth and his mother passed when

Muhammad was only six years old (“Muhammad” ​Historic)​ . Muhammad stood with his uncle,

Abu Talib who was the leader of the clan Hashim, who was successful in making his

Grandfather head of their clan as they set out for trade (Watt, W. Montgomery). As a child

Muhammad encountered many frustrations which made him more aware of the bad things

happening in Mecca and therefore meditated to find a cure for all of the ills (Watt, W.

Montgomery). During his process of meditations he had two visions from the god so called

“Allah”, one of them being that he would become the “messenger of god”, and the other one of

receiving a message to travel with the people of Mecca. After this occurrence he then continued

to get messages or in other words called “revelations” for the rest of his life (Watt, W.

Montgomery). Most of these revelations were recorded in a book called the “Koran” which was

written mostly by Mohammad himself, Mohammad referred to it as being the “speech of god”.
Mohammad went out on a journey to Syria with his uncle who then encountered Christians for

the first time, he was recognized by a Christians Monk to be a future prophet (“Muhammad”

Historic​). When Muhammad was 25 years old he became an employee of a rich woman named,

Khajid, to help with overseas trade into Syria (“Muhammad” ​Britannica​). 40 year old Khajid

became interested in Muhammad’s personality and hard work and therefore proposed to him.

Together they had three sons who died during infancy and four daughters who had lived to grow

up (“Muhammad” ​Historic​). Muhammad then began to communicate with the people around

him about his revelations and through this process he created a group of followers who joined

him in ritual worship and prayer (Watt, W. Montgomery). Muhammad begins to spread his word

of revelations to more and more people and Islam begins to spread all throughout the middle

east.

Muhammad did not begin to preach in public until three years after receiving his first

revelations, within a year or two of public preaching most of the leading merchants joined

Muhammad and his followers in vigorous opposition (Watt, W. Montgomery). One of the

reasons the merchants joined was due to the criticism that the Koran was speaking about them.

They also thought that since Muhammad was a messenger of god, that he would be able to have

political power in Mecca (Watt, W. Montgomery). Oppositions in Mecca were getting tense

since most of the people did not like the teachings of the Quran that Muhammad was teaching to

people, due to this disagreement a boycott broke out and Muhammad was defeated after the

death of his wife, Khadija and his uncle Abu Talib (Watt, W. Montgomery). In result

Muhammad emigrated to Medina accompanied by Abu Bakr, they reached Medina on

September 24, 622. Muhammad built his own house once he arrived to Medina for a place of
prayer for his followers. He has his first encounters with Jews and relations between the two

groups started to steadily worsen as well. Muhammad then sets out to perform a pilgrimage in

Mecca, Muhammad made a treaty between the two groups and the Meccans allowed him to

perform his pilgrimage if the Meccans were to not get attacked (“Muhammad” ​Britannica​). As

Muhammad returns to Medina he is greeted by various Arabian tribes and show their allegiance

to the Muslim polity (“Muhammad” ​Britannica)​ . Muhammad succeeded in spreading Islam on

his journey from Mecca to Medina, Medina to Mecca, and back, which is known as the hijra.

Muhammad was a brave and strong man going up against challenges throughout his

whole life only to try and spread the religion of Islam. He died on June 8, 632 in Medina, Saudi

Arabia (“Muhammad” ​Historic​). He was and still is a very important aspect to world history, he

has achieved great achievements through the help of his followers and merchants. Today Islam is

a dominant religion in the Middle East and even today his teachings are still being taught.