Muhammad was separated from other prophets of Islam as
Muslims believe that God sent him to express his message to the whole world, in
other words, to finalize the word of God. Islam was a prevalent religion far
before Christianity and its prophet Jesus. Muhammad’s message was successful
because it was simple and total. A.K.A “God is One,” “God is All.”
Muslims believed that verses of the Qur’an were revealed to
Muhammad by God through the archangel Gabriel on numerous circumstances from
610 CE up until the point of his death 632 CE. The revealed verses were written
or mentally memorized by Muhammad’s companions. In Mecca Muhammad and his
followers urged people to abandon their way of worship or beliefs and to begin
to worship one God. Muhammad was successful in converting a few to Islam.
However, he and his followers were swiftly persecuted by Meccan authorities
because they believed that Muhammad was trying to alter their society by
preaching about one God, racial equality
and giving ideas and faith to the poor and the slaves (who were the
first converters to Islam).
After 12 years of the persecution of Muslims, Muhammad’s
followers and he performed the “Hijra” to the city of Medina in 622 CE. Here,
Muhammad formed his political and religious authority and created the
Constitution of Medina; founding rights and responsibilities for the Muslim,
Jewish, Christian and pagan communities of Medina. This formed the Ummah.
The Constitution established the security of the community,
religious freedoms, and the role of Medina as a sacred place, the security of
women, stable tribal relations, a tax system, a system for granting protection
to individuals and a legal system. All surrounding tribes signed the
Constitution and swore to protect Madina from any threats and to live as a
community of peace.
After a few years of the formation of this Constitution, two
battles ensued against the Meccan army. The first battle was the Battle of Badr
in 624 CE and then in 625 CE the Battle of Uhud. The first battle was a Muslim
victory but the victor of the second battle is unclear. Following this, the
Arab tribes in Arabia formed a confederation and during the Battle of Trench
they overwhelmed Medina with the sole purpose of eliminating Islam and all its
followers. In 628 CE the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah was formed between Mecca and the
Islamc people but was broken by Mecca in 630 CE. The reason behind this could
have been due to the fact that many people converted to Islam after the signing
of this Treaty. However, simultaneously, as it seems Muhammad may have
anticipated this move, Muhammad had surrounded Meccan trade routes through the
union of surrounding of desert tribes. Muhammad was successful in his overthrow
of Mecca and by the time of his death in 632 CE at the age of 62 Muhammad was
successful in uniting the tribes of Arabia into a single religion, Islam.
