Within thirty years of Muhammad’s death in 632, vast swathes of the Near and Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia had come under Muslim rule and influence.
Having consolidated his base at Medina, and within less than eight years of the Hijrah, Muhammad and his followers were able to wrestle control of Mecca in 630, subsequently extending their authority over key parts of the Arabian Peninsula. This event, referred to as the Hijrah, proved to be a turning point for the faith as it then became possible to propagate the religion openly and gain new converts. In the face of opposition and persecution in Mecca, in July 622 they migrated to Medina, an agricultural settlement north of Mecca. The earliest adherents were close members of the Prophet’s family and friends. The essence of the Qur’an’s message was simple: it affirmed the existence of one Supreme Being and declared that Muhammad was his appointed messenger. Referring to the Arabs’ recognition of a supreme being and multiple idols, the Qur’an states: ‘We worship them only, because they draw us closer to God’ (Q. Although the Arabs believed in the existence of a supreme being who sustained the universe, they also worshipped lesser deities and idols and sought their intercession. Religion at that time was dominated by the cult of polytheism, and among the key religious festivals celebrated in pre-Islamic Arabia was the annual pilgrimage ( hajj) to the Ka‘bah. The pre-Islamic era is portrayed in the traditional Islamic sources as an ‘age of ignorance’ ( jahiliyyah). They were accomplished traders and custodians of the city’s coveted shrine. According to traditional accounts, Muhammad was born into a Meccan noble tribe known as the Quraysh. Mecca is also home to a revered shrine, the Ka‘bah, a cube-shaped edifice at the heart of the Meccan sanctuary, which the Qur’an indicates was built by Abraham and his son Ismael for the worship of one true God (Q. Muhammad was a merchant who was born in the oasis city of Mecca, in the western regions of the Arabian Peninsula. The historical context of the emergence of Islam was 7th-century C.E.
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