Mohammad

From Missiopedia

Mohammad (570-632) was an important religious figure who founded Islam.

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[edit] History

Unfortunately apart from some legends about his life written down a century or more after his death (recorded from oral traditions), there is no contemporary account of his life. Thus we know very little about him.

• Orphaned at the age of 6.
• Raised by his paternal uncle.
• As a young man, became a merchant in the caravan trade.
• Later entered the service of a wealth widow, Khadija, then later married her and received financial stability.
• A pious man devoted to contemplation.
• At the age of 40, during his usual custom of praying in a cave, had a vision: an angelic being (which he later believed to be Gabriel, a messenger of God) commanded him to preach the revelations that God would send him.
• Began preaching to the people to give up their idols and submit to the one indivisible God.
• His followers recorded his revelations. After his death, scribes organized them in chapters.
• In 651 they published the Qur'an, which Arabs revere for its sacred message.
• His preaching at first did not attract many people; his revelations were socially revolutionary (see Islam).
• After he urged the destruction of the idols in the Ka'ba, the people turned against him and he was forced to flee. This was the hijra or flight/emigration to Medina, in 622. Muslims date the beginning of Islam from this point.
• He began to attract more followers while preaching in Medina.
• By the time he died in 632 he had brought all of the Bedouin tribes together under his authority.