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KF5JRV > TODAY 24.09.18 12:23l 79 Lines 4132 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 21959_KF5JRV
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Subj: Today in History - Sept 24
Path: IW8PGT<CX2SA<VE2PKT<N9PMO<N9LYA<KF5JRV
Sent: 180924/1115Z 21959@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA BPQ6.0.16
prestigious Hashim clan. His mother died when he was six, and his
grandfather when he was eight, leaving him under the care of his uncle
Abu Talib, the new head of the clan. When he was 25, Muhammad married a
wealthy widow 15 years his senior. He lived the next 15 years as a
merchant, and his wife gave birth to six children: two sons, who died in
childhood, and four daughters.
From time to time, Muhammad spent nights in a cave in Mount Hira north
of Mecca, ruminating on the social ills of the city. Around 610, he had
a vision in the cave in which he heard the voice of a majestic being,
later identified as the angel Gabriel, say to him, “You are the
Messenger of God.ö Thus began a lifetime of religious revelations, which
he and others collected as the Qur’an, or Koran. Muhammad regarded
himself as the last prophet of the Judaic-Christian tradition, and he
adopted aspects of these older religions’ theologies while introducing
new doctrines. Muhammad’s monotheistic religion came to be called Islam,
meaning “surrender [to God],ö and its followers were Muslims, meaning
“those who have surrendered.ö His inspired teachings would bring unity
to the Arabian peninsula, an event that had sweeping consequences for
the rest of the world.
By 615, Muhammad had gained about 100 converts in Mecca. He spoke out
against rich merchants, who he criticized as immoral in their greed, and
he denounced the worshipping of idols and multiple gods, saying, “There
is no god but God.ö City leaders became hostile to him, and in 619 his
uncle Abu Talib died and was succeeded as head of the Hashim clan by
another one of Muhammad’s uncles, Abu Lahib. Abu Lahib refused to
protect Muhammad, and persecution of the prophet and his Muslims
increased.
In the summer of 621, an entourage of 12 men came to Mecca from Medina,
an oasis community 200 miles to the north. They were ostensibly making a
pilgrimage to Mecca’s pagan shrines, but they had actually come to meet
with Muhammad and profess themselves as Muslims. In 622, a larger group
of converts from Medina came to Mecca and took an oath to Muhammad to
defend him as their own kin. Muhammad immediately encouraged his Meccan
followers to make their way to Medina in small groups. When city
authorities learned that the Muslims had begun an exodus, they plotted
to have the prophet killed. Under this threat, Muhammad slipped away
unnoticed with a chief disciple and made his way to Medina, using
unfrequented paths. He completed the celebrated Hegira (Hijrah in
uncorrupted Arabic) on September 24, 622. The history of Islam had
begun.
At Medina, Muhammad built a theocratic state and led raids on trading
caravans from Mecca. Attempts by Meccan armies to defeat the Muslim
forces failed, and several leading Meccans immigrated to Medina and
became Muslims. Muhammad later become more conciliatory to Mecca, and in
629 he was allowed to lead a pilgrimage there in exchange for a peace
treaty. Shortly after, he was attacked by allies of the Meccans, and
Muhammad denounced the treaty. In January 630, he returned to his
birthplace with 10,000 men, and the Meccans swore allegiance to its
Muslim conquerors. He was now the strongest man in Arabia. During the
next few years, most of the peninsula’s disparate Arab tribes came to
him to ask for alliance and to convert to his religion. By his death, on
June 8, 632, Muhammad was the effective ruler of most of Arabia, and his
rapidly growing empire was poised for expansion into Syria and Iraq.
Within 20 years, the Byzantine and Persian empires had fallen to the
prophet’s successors, and during the next two centuries vast Arab
conquests continued. The Islamic empire grew into one of the largest the
world has ever seen, stretching from India, across the Middle East and
Africa, and up through Western Europe’s Iberian peninsula. The spread of
Islam continued after the fragmentation of the Arab empire, and many
societies in Africa and Asia voluntarily adopted Muhammad’s religion.
Today, Islam is the world’s second-largest religion.
73 de Scott KF5JRV
Pmail: KF5JRV@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA
email: KF5JRV@ICLOUD.COM
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