Childrens Illustrated Encyclopedia

Fatima and ali

muhammad’s daughter

Fatima (605-633) traveled

with her father to medina.

She later married muhammad’s

cousin, ali. Fatima’s descendants

went on to found the city of

Kahira (Cairo) in Egypt.

361

HEgira

People came to mecca to worship and

trade at the Kaaba, a huge shrine that

contained hundreds of idols. muhammad

was persecuted when he spoke out

against the worship of idols. in 622, he

fled with a few of his followers to medina.

their journey is called the Hegira

(meaning “flight” or “migration”). today,

the Kaaba is a holy shrine for muslims

(followers of islam). it is surrounded by

a great mosque (muslim prayer hall) and

visited by thousands of pilgrims each year.

during tHE 600s, one man founded what was to become one of the

world’s great religions. His name was muhammad, and the religion was islam.

muhammad came from mecca in southwestern arabia (now Saudi arabia), and

was born into one of the city’s arab clans around 570 ce. Orphaned at an early

age, he became a merchant and married Khadija, a wealthy widow, with whom he

had three daughters. at the time, the arab people worshiped many gods and

prayed to idols and spirits. muhammad came to believe that there was only

one god, named allah, and that he had been chosen to be allah’s prophet.

muhammad’s family and friends were the first to share his beliefs, but his views

angered the people of mecca, and he was forced to flee

to medina, a city north of mecca. there he proclaimed

the principles of islam and won many converts. after a

holy war, muhammad led his followers to conquer mecca

in 630. missionaries spread the message of islam far and

wide, and by the time of muhammad’s death in 632,

arabia was an islamic state.

dEatH OF muHammad

after the farewell pilgrimage,

muhammad went back to medina,

but died within a few days of his

return. His tomb lies in the

Prophet’s mosque at medina. after

his death, his followers wrote down

his teachings in the Qur’an

(Koran), the holy book of islam.

mOunt Hira

at age 40, muhammad began

to meditate in a cave on mount

Hira, north of mecca. Here, he

had a vision in which the angel

gabriel spoke the words of god

to him and told him that he was to

preach that people should believe

in only one god—allah. the

teachings of allah were revealed

to muhammad in a series of

visions throughout his life.

muHammad’S tEaCHingS

muhammad did not claim to be divine. He believed that

he was the last of the prophets and that he had received

messages from god, which he had to pass on to others. He

taught that there is only one god, that people should be

obedient to god’s will, and that all people were equal. He

also preached against the selfishness of the rich, the unjust

treatment of women, slaves, and poor people, and cruelty to

animals. in 632, knowing that his life was coming to an end,

he led a farewell pilgrimage to mecca. there he delivered a

famous sermon on the most important principles of islam.

PrOPHEt OF iSlam

muslims believe that angel

gabriel told muhammad

that he had been chosen

by god to be a prophet, in

the same way as moses and

abraham before him.

Ali

Muhammad

Pilgrims walk

seven times

around the

Kaaba.

Find out more

islam

religions

MuhaMMad

c. 570 ce Born in mecca.

595 marries Khadija,

a wealthy widow.

610 Has a vision of the

angel gabriel telling him to

proclaim a new faith, islam.

613 Begins preaching to

the people of mecca.

622 leaves mecca and

travels to medina.

624 meccan army defeated

at Battle of Badr by much

smaller muslim force.

630 Conquers mecca.

632 dies in medina.

Fatima

Muhammad

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