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Peninsula. For many years the communities of Arabia had been
prosperous because of trade. Muhammad lived in the city of Mecca;
when he grew up he married a wealthy widow and became a suc-
cessful merchant.
At the time, the people of the Arabian Peninsula were pagans
who worshipped many gods. One god, Allah, was believed to have
created the earth, but in general Allah was given no more or less
attention than any of the other Arab gods. According to tradition,
however, Muhammad grew up worshipping only Allah.
When he was about 40 years old, Muhammad received a series
of divine messages, which said that Allah was the only true God.
Muhammad was told to spread this message to the people of
Arabia. He began to call on his neighbors in Mecca to give up their
other, false gods and surrender their lives to Allah. (The word
Islam
comes from an Arabic word meaning “submission” or “surrender.”)
At first, the people of Mecca tolerated the teachings of
Muhammad, though he attracted few followers. Eventually, howev-
er, Mecca’s pagan leaders decided to do away with the annoying
preacher. They plotted to kill Muhammad, but he got wind of the
plot. In 622 Muhammad and his followers fled Mecca, journeying to
another city, Medina, which was several hundred miles to the north.
The people of Medina welcomed Muhammad and listened to his
message. The ranks of Muslims—as followers of Islam are called—
grew rapidly.
Two years after the flight to Medina, Muhammad’s followers and
a force of Meccans fought a major battle at the village of Badr. The
Muslims won decisively, but in the ensuing years the two sides
fought many skirmishes and an occasional pitched battle. Finally,
in 629, Muhammad returned to Mecca with a small army. The peo-
ple of Mecca surrendered without bloodshed, and many converted
to Islam.
Muhammad’s disciples wrote down and organized his teachings
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