With a lot of time on his hands, he indulged in intellectual pursuits — somewhat uncommon in his place & time. He learned a great deal of the classics, including Greek & Roman texts. Also, he read both Christian and Hebrew scriptures. His people, the Arabs, had been exposed to Egyptian & Hellenistic influences for several centuries, & in the coastal cities had adopted many Greco-Roman customs. These urban Arabs — of whom Mohammed was one — were quite a bit different from the Bedouins, or nomadic Arabs of the hinterlands. However, by Mohammed's time, there was a good deal of trade & contact between them, & they coexisted peacefully.
The religion of that place & time was a blend of ancient Arab tradition, mixed with many Egyptian, Greco-Roman, & Judeo-Christian notions. The mythology was somewhat haphazard, with myths coming from different traditions. The people worshipped deities in shrines, in the form of statues, making burnt offerings in the style of the ancient Semites. Gradually, the Judeo-Christian aspects of their faith were beginning to overtake the older primitive Semitic mythology.
During his intellectual period, Mohammed appears to have given a lot of thought to this, apparently trying to make sense of it all. It was at this time that he claimed to have had visitations by Gabriel, the archangel, sent to him by God to set the people straight. Moslem tradition states that Mohammed didn't know how to read & write, so he was "divinely" shown how to do so in order to record the visitations; but his intellectualism makes this seem rather unlikely (although it is possible that he could have had scribes read to him — it wasn't unheard of, in his day, & he could certainly afford it — his wife's family likely had many scribes on their payroll).
When he first spoke of his visitations by Gabriel, people initially thought he was just being a harmless eccentric. But when he started advocating the end of making burnt offering to deities' statues, the people grew afraid of him, for (to their superstitious minds) this was just begging for trouble. He was driven out of Mecca along with his family & a few followers (mostly, his own servants). This happened in 622. Moslems call this the hejira, or "flight," & commemorate it even today, & decry the harassment Mohammed & his followers & family sufffered at the hands of the Quraysh, the chief tribe in control of Mecca.
Mohammed's flight from Mecca appears to have solidified, in his mind, the righteousness of his cause. He felt that those who refused to hear him, simply were afraid of "the truth." Where once he had had a few doubts, those vanished, once he left Mecca. He knew he was right, he knew he was a prophet, & he was convinced he had to bring his message to one and all.
Mohammed & his family & friends went to Yathrib (Medina), not far away, where his wife's family still had some business interests left (they had to abandon most of their property in Mecca). There he seems to have lived more quietly — probably out of fear of being driven forth from there — and documented the content of his visitations from Gabriel. This documentation was eventually distilled down into a single tome, called the Koran (or Qur'an, or any of several other transliterations).
While in Medina, he continued engaging in commerce — though on a more modest scale then before. He was known for being an intellectual, so when there was a dispute between Arabs and an enclave of Jews living in Medina, he was called upon to intervene. He settled that matter, & gained a reputation for wisdom. By now he had a good understanding of the many traditions & customs & beliefs which were practiced there, so it was easy for him to cultivate such a reputation.
Here, Mohammed refined many of his beliefs, considering & reconsidering them, examining the Bible (especially the Old Testament). He came to believe he was a descendant of Ishmael, Abraham's illegitimate son. He seems to have found ways to convince others of his veracity; whereas in Mecca he had just brashly announced his visitations by Gabriel & their content, here, he used better and more effective rhetoric.
He won over most of the population of Medina, & was acclaimed their leader. Eight years after the hejira, he, his family, and followers (which now included the whole town of Medina) returned to Mecca, to reclaim their place & their property. He arrived there in 630, ostensibly on pilgrimage to visit the stone said to have been left behind by the Biblical patriarch Abraham. With such a sizeable following — which included many upstanding citizens of Medina — he had a much better reception than expected. In fact, many in Mecca welcomed him back. He & his followers were now fired up. They destroyed all the idols in the shrines of Mecca — all but Abraham's stone, which was spared, since Mohammed had claimed him as an ancestor, & since he taught that Abraham was the spiritual founder of his people (through Ishmael). They roamed the southwestern Arabian coast, converting many in many cities, occasionally clashing with locals in their fervor to destroy idols & end the Arabs' "heathen" practices. Within just a couple of years, most of the western Arabian urban centers followed his new faith.
Mohammed traveled a bit, going to some of these cities, swaying ever more people to his faith. But he spent most of his time in Medina or Mecca. On his last journey to Mecca, he had his final vision from Gabriel, & recompiled the texts the archangel had dictated to him, up to that point, making some final revisions. (Of course, the texts of the Qur'an would later be edited even after his time, taking on their present form.)
In 633, Mohammed died, leaving no male heir. He had only one surviving child, his daughter Fatima. His first convert, his father-in-law Abu Bakr, took over as head of the new faith. He took the title caliph, or "follower," signifying that he was Mohammed's successor. Abu Bakr was not the kind of intellectual that Mohammed had been, nor did he claim to have had any visitations by Gabriel. But he continued in the same vein as Mohammed had — sticking mostly to the cities of western Arabia. When he died shortly thereafter, Mohammed's son-in-law, Fatima's husband Ali, tried to take over the faith. He was opposed by a man who claimed to have been Mohammed's adopted son, Omar. Omar eventually won out, & Ali had to flee with Fatima into the hinterlands. They eventually reached Egypt & there they began to spread the new faith by missionizing. Ali became the spiritual head of the faith within Egypt — thus establishing two lines of the caliphate.
Omar brought the new faith to the nomadic Bedouins. Until then, they had avoided it, sticking with their ancient tradition of idol worship; however, Omar appears to have appealed to them in some way — and within a couple of years, all of Arabia was solidly Moslem.
The Arabs raided quickly into Egypt, converting those who had not already converted due to Ali's missionizing, then moved north & east, brushing up against the borders of Byzantium, then went out into Persia, & literally following the route of Alexander's conquests, they moved on into northern India.
In Egypt something of a synergy occurred. Ali had already made some converts there, & when the Arabs came, converting people at swordpoint, many of them fell into line behind Ali. There was some fighting, but most of the Egyptian Moslems accepted Ali as their spiritual leader, even those who had been converted by Omar's forces.
The issue of whether or not Omar had actually been adopted by Mohammed is still a matter of debate, & I cannot settle that, here. My main point is that a fundamental rift within Islam developed, concerning this point, & it has persisted to this day.
In northwestern Africa, the Berbers, a nomadic Semitic tribe somewhat related to the Bedouins, were easily converted to Islam, & they helped the Arabs take the former Roman cities, a few of which still had allegiance to Byzantium, thanks to Justinian's reconquest efforts. Then, they swarmed across the Strait of Gibraltar, and overran the Visigothic kingdom in Iberia. They came in numbers so vast that chroniclers could not provide accurate counts. Within a few years they had converted the residents of Iberia, & entrenched themselves there, settling in, just as the Visigoths had done, a couple centuries prior.
By 730, the Islamic ruler of Spain, Abd-er Rahman, led an immense force over the Pyrenees Mountains, & drove into the heart of Gaul. The Franks rallied a counter-assault, led by Charles "the Hammer" Martel. Outnumbered & at a great apparent disadvantage, Martel and the Franks (& some Burgundians & a few Visigothic refugees who'd fallen back before the Moslems) made their stand, near Tours in the Loire River valley.
Martel knew he had little hope, but he chose his battleground carefully, knowing that the Moslem cavalry had been their chief asset. He ordered a shield wall set up in the valley, funneling the charging Moslem cavalry to a single point. The shield-wall held, when the Moslem cavalry charged in, then wheeled about for another charge. This happened several times — it was a common & effective technique for wearing down defenders. But Martel sent some of his infantry alongside the shield wall, & ordered them to charge the rear of the Moslem cavalry, when they turned to circle back.
This tactic — very daring, given that the Franks were outnumbered & could ill afford to attempt such an offensive tactic — proved devastating. The Moslem cavalry was fragmented, & moreover, much of it was bracketed by the Franks' shield-wall, which still held.
Accounts of this battle vary in the telling. Some say it was two days, others say it was seven. But regardless of the length of the battle, while it was costly for both sides, the Moslems lost. They had the greater number of casualties, which included their commander Abd-er Rahman. Finally, with their commander dead, their cavalry in tatters, & their morale broken, they fled the field. Martel regrouped his forces & set up defenses, further down the Loire, expecting the fleeing Moslems to turn on him, but they never did. He allowed the remnants of their army (still a formidable number) to go back over the Pyrenees, back to Iberia.
The center of Islam ceased to be Mecca — although it remains its holiest city & the object of pilgrimage by Moslems around the world. A new city, near ancient Babylon, called Baghdad, was built for the Sunnite caliph. Rival Shi'ite caliphs were found also in Toledo, Spain, and in Cairo, Egypt. By the end of the 9th century, Moslems had conquered Palestine & most of Syria, and these became something of a battleground for the competing caliphates of Baghdad & Cairo. Usually, however, Egypt was in control of Palestine, while Syria stayed with Baghdad.
The Turks overran many of the Islamic states in their path, but at the same time, were easily converted. The idea of a religion based on "surrender," appealed to them at least as much as it had to the Bedouins, and for similar reasons. The Turkish warlords set themselves up as guardians of Islam & warriors in its cause. With them at the helm, came another wave of Islamic conquest. The Turks took Greek cities such as Antioch, and invaded Anatolia. They also raided down into the Balkans, & conquered all of India, as well.
For a long time the Arabs & Turks maintained themselves separately, ethnically speaking. The Turks were the military masters, but the Arabs remained as caliphs & heads of states. Theirs was an odd, tenuous relationship. Frequently the Turks treated other ethnic groups as "subject peoples," but at other times, stood by their side, even placing themselves in their service.
Over several decades, the Moslems learned to fight these well-armed "Franks" or "Celts." Eventually an effort was made to drive off the Crusaders. In 1189, at the Battle of Hattin, the Turk/Kurd Salah-ed-Din, master of Damascus & Egypt, better known as Saladin, defeated the Crusaders & recaptured Jerusalem. It would take another century before the Franks gave up totally on the Holy Land.
Islam has had an enormous impact on the history of the world — second only to Christianity, & even this is debatable. The fire lit by Mohammed and his earliest caliphs still burns in the Middle East today; much of the violence in Israel, for example, comes from the belief by Moslem Palestinians that they're defending Islam, & some are willing to die, in that cause.
This is only natural, given that it is a faith which demands submission to the will of Allah, & which teaches that the very world itself works against believers, in their effort to do the will of Allah.
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