Mohammed, an ex-merchant, made Mecca the center of a new world religion. On a late September evening in the year 622, two men mounted their camels, quietly left the busy, dusty trading city of Mecca and rode south into the silent immensity (= infinity) of the Arabian desert… If they had continued into that In that direction they ended up in Yemen, Arabia Felix, where traders brought spices, perfume and fine fabrics from across the Indian Ocean and from there transported them on to Byzantium and Persia. But after three days the travelers stopped in a cave. When they were sure they were not being pursued, they turned around and headed north around Mecca to Yathrib, 300 miles away, where they had long been awaited.
The community
The older man was a dignified figure in his sixties, the other a sturdy man of around fifty, handsome and with pale skin. According to Arab custom they had a clan and a family name, but they became known as Abu Bekr, the first caliph (= political leader of Islam), and Mohammed, the prophet. They came to head the first Islamic community. Their departure from Mecca has become known as the Hijra, relocation. For the Muslims this is the beginning of a new era and they start their calendar with it. Yathrib became known as Madinat-al-Nabi, the City of the Prophet, Medina. The Muslims lived together as an ummah, a community bound by obligation and protection, based on obedience to the word of the Prophet and the belief that he had received a revelation from God. Muslim means: one who submits to God.
,You have not defeated the enemy, but God has defeated them.,
QURAN
Mecca
The city of Mecca had become rich for two reasons. First, it was a sacred city where local tribes could meet on neutral territory to worship their various deities, trade, make sacrifices, and settle disputes. Mecca was also central to the trade routes that were controlled by a merchant elite. They managed, with a mixture of diplomacy, bribery and violence, to guide the trade caravans safely through the desert, full of hostile tribes. Mohammed, himself the son of such a trader, had contributed to this. He had traveled north, in the Christian lands, and there he had acquired the nickname Al-Amin, the Trustworthy One.
Muhammad’s motivations
Mohammed was disgusted by the moral decay in Mecca. He gained a lot of support because he stood up for the poor and called for authority for creation. But he also gained powerful enemies, because he exposed not only the corruption, but also the idols that made the city so rich. He proclaimed that there was only one god and preached a faith of compassion and care, based on justice rather than wealth and power. While he was still in Makkah, a number of pilgrims from Yathrib heard him speak and invited him to their city to live there and act as counselor and mediator among them. Muhammad accepted, but first sent 70 of his followers in small groups to Yathrib. He himself only left Mecca three months later when he heard the call of Allah.
View of Muhammad
From the moment he arrived at Yathrib, he felt that he had to use all his tact. The people who invited him and his followers did not fully trust each other. In addition, Mohammed’s role as a mediator was accepted in a community that had become torn by feuds, but his religious teachings were not appreciated by everyone, and especially not by those Arabs who practiced a form of Judaism. was stated.
Mohammed’s tact showed when he had to choose a house in the city. Instead of accepting hospitality from either party, he made his camel wander around. Where it remained, there he built his house and the first mosque.
Because he knew that his enemies in Mecca would not leave him alone , and his followers could not live on charity, he organized raids on the trade caravans to Mecca. This had several purposes: to harm his enemies, reward his followers, disrupt Mecca’s food supply, impress the neutral tribes, feed the sick and poor, and convert people to his teachings.
In 624, a small army of 950 men left Mecca to escort (= guard) a caravan from Gaza. At the springs of Badr, Muhammad’s followers , who were vastly outnumbered, defeated the Meccan army. This victory became a high point in the history of Islam. Mecca took revenge at the battle of Uhud a year later. The loyalty of Mohammed’s followers was sorely tested here, as many of them died, including one of Mohammed’s uncles.
‘Your God is one God; there is none other than He, the most merciful.”
QURAN
Course and progress of Islam
In 627 an army of 10,000 men from Mecca marched against Medina. The city was protected by rocks on three sides. Mohammed had a ditch dug on the fourth side. This simple defense completely confused the attackers; so little experience did they have with sieges. Their food supply ran out and they retreated, cursing.
Each victory made it clearer that the prophet was inspired by his god and he could now expel from Medina anyone who did not follow him. In 628, Muhammad led a large group to Mecca, ostensibly to make a pilgrimage . The people of Mecca then decided on a ten-year treaty. When Mohammed returned two years later with an army of 10,000 men, the opposition in Mecca melted away and Mohammed was able to settle in his parental city again.
Idols were no longer worshiped at the Kaaba . Muhammad was merciful to his enemies, but there was no mercy for those who mocked Islam. Those who first accepted and then rejected Islam faced exile or death.
Two years after the decisive victory, Mohammed died suddenly. The Muslims were astounded, but Muhammad had never claimed to be anything more than an ordinary human being. His miracles were his message and his victories. Abu-Bekr reminded the Muslims that their god was not dead and that they were obliged to him and to each other. Abu-Bekr called himself neither king nor prophet; he was therefore called Khalifa, caliph, successor of the prophet and leader of the believers. His determination to continue the work of the Prophet was the driving force behind the rise of an Islamic empire.