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570
Birth
The prophet Muhammad was believed to be born in the city of Mecca in the year 570 AD. -
Nov 1, 610
Muhammad Receives First Revelation
Mecca's new materialism and its traditional idolatry disturbed Muhammad. He began making long retreats to a mountain cave outside town. There, he fasted and meditated. On one occasion, after a number of indistinct visionary experiences, Muhammad was visited by an overpowering presence and instructed to recite words of such beauty and force that he and others gradually attributed them to God. -
Nov 1, 613
Muhammad Takes his Message Public
Muhammad finally began to reveal the messages he was receiving to his tribe. These were gathered verse by verse and later would become the Qur'an, Islam's sacred scripture. In the next decade, Muhammad and his followers were first belittled and ridiculed, then persecuted and physically attacked for departing from traditional Mecca's tribal ways. -
Nov 1, 622
Muhammad and the Muslims Emigrate to Medina
Muhammad and his few hundred followers left Mecca and traveled to Yathrib, the oasis town where his father was buried. -
Nov 1, 630
The Conquest of Mecca
They marched on Mecca and were joined by tribe after tribe along the way. They entered Mecca without bloodshed and the Meccans, seeing the tide had turned, joined them. -
Jun 8, 632
Muhammad's Death
Finally... -
Muhammad's Marriage
Impressed by Muhammad's honesty and character, Khadija eventually proposed marriage. They were wed in about 595. He was twenty-five. She was nearly forty.