According to the Islamic sources, 7th Century Mecca was a thriving mercantile centre, involved in the
lucrative Western Arabian transit trade in luxuries such as slaves and spices. Tradition relates that Muhammad
was born in Mecca around the year 570. As a youth he travelled with the trading caravans from Mecca
to Syria, and at the age of twenty five he married Khadijah, a wealthy widow fifteen years his senior.
He appears to have come under the influence of a group of spiritual fundamentalists, known as "hanifs"
who, impressed by Jewish and Christian monotheism, had rejected idolatry for an ascetic religion of
their own. Muhammad received his first revelation (traditionally recognised as verse 96) around the year
610, whilst in solitary prayer and meditation, as was his custom.
For the next 10-15 years Muhammad
remained in Mecca, receiving episodic revelation. A small group of converts to his prophesy gathered,
and a simple ritual and morality developed. Initially, whilst maintaining that Allah was the supreme God,
Muhammad also allowed that certain pagan Arabic goddesses were minor deities, serving Allah. The
verses referring to these goddesses have become known as the 'Satanic Verses'. The verse 22:52 describes
how Satan is wont to attempt to mislead God's prophets with false revelations. Under direction from
God, Muhammad soon remedied his error, and moved onto hardline monotheism. His attacks on the
local pagan gods offended the Meccans, and in 622 Muhammad was forced to flee, with his small following,
to nearby Medina. This event is known as the Hijra, and was to be a turning point in Muhammad's career.
Medina, formerly known as Yathrib, was a rich oasis town, which suffered recurrent civil strife as it lacked
an effective central authority.
Muhammad was seen as a positive element, as the conspicuous socio-
economic content of his teaching could unite the town in Islam, and solve its domestic problems. Muhammad
declared the existence of the Ummah, (the brotherhood of Muslims) and the conditions that were to
regulate it, as directed by God. Political and social order were created and sustained, and henceforth all
authority, both religious and temporal, was based on the Ummah. At the head of the Ummah, Muhammad
strove to consolidate his power both within and without of the Ummah. He preached the importance of
Jihad, or holy war, which must be continually waged against unbelievers until God's cause prevails, "The
Believers fight in the way of God, the unbelievers in the way of idols; so fight the friends of Satan!"(K.
4:78) Opponents were successfully defeated within Medina; Muhammad's attention was then turned towards
securing control of the Hijaz, the area of Western Arabia, in which Medina and Mecca lay. The Meccans
were subdued following the Battle of Badr in 624, and by the time of the Prophet's death in 632, most of
Arabia had submitted to the will of God and the authority of the Ummah.