who was muhammad? date: 17-07-21

# In his early teens,muhammad worked in camel caravan,following in the footsteps of many people his age,born of meager wealth.Working for his uncle,he gained expeerince in commercial trade traveling to syria and eventually from the mediterranean sea to the indian Ocean. In time ,muhammad earned a reputation as honest and sincere, acquiring the nickname" al-amin" meaning faithful or trustworthy.            In his early muhammad 20s, muhammad began working for a wealthy rich woman named Khadijah 15 years his senior. She soon became attracted to this young,accomplished man and propased marriage.He accepted and over the years the happy union brought several children.Not all lived to adulthood,but one, Fatima,would marry muhammad's cousin,ali ibn abu talib, whom shi muslim regard as muhammad's successor.                                                                                                                              # The Prophet Muhammad                                                                                                                                Muhammad was also very religious,occasionlly taking journey of devotion to sacred sites near mecca.On one of his pilgrimage  in 610 ,he was meditating in a cave on mount jabal al-nour. The angel Gabriel appeared and relayed the word of God.Recite in the name of your lord who creates,creates man from a clot Recite for your lord is most generous ..."These words became the opening verses of surah 96 of the holy quran.Most Islamic historians believe Muhammad was initially distrubed by revelations and that he didn't reveal them publicly for several years.However, shi"a tradition states he welcomed the message from the angel gabriel and was deeply inspired to share his experience with other potential believers.                                                                                                                                                Islamic tradition holds that the first persons to believe were his wife, khadija and his close friend abu baker.soon ,muhammad began to gather a small following initially encountering on opposition .Most people in mecca either ignored him or mocked him as just another prophet.However,when his message condemned idol worship and polytheism,many of mecca's tribal leaders began to see Muhammad and his message as a threat.Besides going against long standing beliefs, the condemnation of idol worship had economic consequences for merchants who catered to the thousand of pilgrims who came to mecca every year.This was especially true for member of Muhammad's own tribe ,the qurayah, who were the guardians of the kaaba .Sensing a threat, mecca merchants and leaders offered Muhammad incentives to abandon his preaching, but he refused.                                                                                                             Increasingly, the resistance to Muhammad and his followers grew and they were eventually forced to emigrate from mecca to medina ,a city 260 miles to the north in 622.This event marks the beginning of the muslim calendar.These Muhammad was instrumental in bringing an end to a civil war raging amongst several of the city's tribe .Muhammad settled in medina, building his Muslim community and gradually gathering acceptance and more followers.                                                                                        Between 624 and 628, the Muslim were involved in a series of battles their survival.In the final major confrontation, the battle of the Trench and siege of Medina, Muhammad and his followers prevailed and a treaty wa singed. The treaty was broken by meccan allies a year later.By now, Muhammad had plenty of force and the balance of power had shifted away from the meccan leaders to him.In 630, the Muslim army marched into mecca, taking the city with minimum casualties. Muhammad gave amnesty to many of the meccan leaders who had opposed him and pardoned many oyher.Most of the meccan population converted to Islam.Muhammad and his followrs then proceeded to destroy all of the statues of pagan gods in and around the kaaba.                                                                          # wait for next topic.