Muhammad

Muhammad ibn ‘Abdullĝh (Arabic: محمّد; Transliteration: Muḥammad son of Abdullah;[ IPA: [mʊħɑmmæd̪]; also spelled Mohammed or Muhammed) (born 570 in Mecca – died June 8, 632 in Medina), the founder of the religion of Islam, is regarded by Muslims as a messenger and prophet of God (Arabic: الله‎ Allĝh) whom they consider to be the last (seal of the Prophets). Muslims consider him the restorer of the uncorrupted original monotheistic faith (Islĝm) of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus among other prophets. During his life he was also active as a diplomat, merchant, philosopher, orator, legislator, reformer, military general and, according to Muslim belief, he was an agent of divine action.

Born in 570 CE in the Arabian city of Mecca,[11] he was orphaned at a young age and brought up under the care of his uncle Abu Talib. He later worked mostly as a merchant, as well as a shepherd, and was first married by age 25 to an older, wealthy and successful bussiness woman. Discontented with life in Mecca, he retreated to a cave on Mt. Hira in the surrounding mountains for meditation and reflection. According to Islamic beliefs it was here, at age 40, in the month of Ramadan, where he received his first revelation from God. Three years after this event Muhammad started preaching these revelations publicly, proclaiming that "God is One", that complete "surrender" to Him (lit. islĝm) is the only way (dīn)[12] acceptable to God, and that he was a prophet and messenger of God, in the same vein as other Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus.

Muhammad gained few followers early on, and was met with hostility from some Meccan tribes; he and his followers were treated harshly. To escape persecution Muhammad and his followers migrated to Medina (then known as Yathrib) in the year 622 CE. This event, the Hijra, marks the beginning of the Islamic calendar. In Medina, Muhammad united the conflicting tribes, and after eight years of fighting with the Meccan tribes, his followers, who by then had grown to ten thousand, conquered Mecca without bloodshed. In 632 a few months after returning to Medina from his Farewell pilgrimage, Muhammad fell ill and died. By the time of his death most of the Arabian Peninsula had converted to Islam and he united the tribes of Arabia into a single Muslim religious polity.

The armies of Islam spread to the east in north Africa, spreading into Europe through Spain, Sicily and Italy. In the west after conquering Constantinople the warriors of Islam crossed the Bosphorus and were soon on the way to Austria. After conquering the Persians. Arabs and the newly converted warriors of Turkey, Persia and the Traders of Arabia spread Islam across India. Though many deny that Islam was spread by conquest (at the tip of the sword), invasions by Babar the sion of the Moghuls (who had once attempted to wipe out Islam) invaded India, first for its riches and slaves, eventually to conquer all of northern India and under Aurangzeb attempted to take the south as well.

It was the armies of the Sikhs and the Marathas that eventually ended the tyranny of Mughal rule in India. The Sikhs also would defeat the Afganis adding the Kingdoms of Jammu and Kashmir to the Sikh Raj.