In the fifth century C.E. a merchant aristocrat called Muhammad from Mecca claimed to have received a divine prophecy from God’s messenger, Angel Gabriel. This prophecy is known as the Qu’ran. Mecca was a thriving commercial town that was a pilgrimage site where Ka’ba stood and was the center of the caravan trade. Mecca also held the origins of Islam. Muhammad was motivated to begin this new religious tradition because he saw what materialism and idolatry was doing to the world. After Muhammad’s proclamation of God’s last call to the people, him and his followers fled to Medina in 622 due to the religious persecutions they had received. This flig

ht is known as the hegira, which is also the beginning of the Islamic calendar.

The Muslim people in the early days of Islam had a great tolerance for the non-Islamic “people of the book,” which were primarily Jews and Christians. This was because Islam promoted religious toleration to those who worship the same God. These “people of the Book” were obligated to pay a head tax in place of the military service that was required of all Muslims. After Muhammad’s death in 632 C.E., there was a political struggle between religious leaders and secular rulers over his successor. The institution of holy leaders, the Caliphate, was chosen informally. The first four caliphs from 632-661 were Muhammad’s successors. From the fifth caliph and on, the rulers became more secular. Two dynasties replaced the Caliphate: the Umayyad first, and then the Abbasid, which reached its peak from 750-900. Shortly after, the Mamluk Turkish slave soldiers independent.

In Medina, the organization of this new religious tradition began to develop. Muhammad, the prophet and founder of Islam, defined his followers as being Muslim, which is being submissive to God’s will. Their beliefs were held in the Five Pillars of Isl

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