THREE
The Prophet of Mecca
Around 570 an Ethiopian army marched northward from Yemen with a
baggage train of elephants and tried to take Mecca. It failed. Legend has it
that some birds flew over the Ethiopians and pelted them with stones.
Smallpox broke out among the troops, and they withdrew to Yemen. Soon
afterward they were driven out of Arabia entirely. From then on, the "Year
of the Elephant" was remembered by the Arabs—especially Meccans—as a
lucky one. Most people think that Muhammad was born in that year, a few
months after his father's death. Before Muhammad was six, his mother also
died. His grandfather, taking responsibility for the boy, sent him out to live
with bedouin Arabs. Meccans often farmed out their children so that they
might learn to speak more grammatical Arabic and get a healthier start in
life than they could in the city. When his grandfather died, Muhammad's
upbringing was taken over by his uncle, a caravan merchant named Abu-
Talib, from whom he learned the business of buying, selling, and trans¬
porting goods. Muhammad's family was called the clan of Hashim, or
Hashimites. They were a reputable, if relatively poor, branch of the ruling
Quraysh tribe. But if you omit the legends, nothing in this orphan's back¬
ground could have told you that he would become a prophet of God, a
popular leader in war and peace, and a shaper of world history.
MUHAMMAD'S EARLY LIFENow that so many historians look to psychology as a key to understand¬
ing great men and women of the past, it is frustrating to know so little
about Muhammad's childhood. To be sure, the Quran (the book of God's
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