Story of Mohammed Islam Unveiled

1 Early Life
(If you think this book has been written to promote a sinister agenda or somehow encourage
harm to Muslims, then please go to the end and read the appendix first.)
Mohammed was born in 570AD, in a town called Mecca in what is now Saudi Arabia. At that
time Arabia was not a country, but an area inhabited by a collection of tribes. It was, and remains,
a hot, dry and inhospitable landscape where people survived herding sheep and goats with some
dates being cultivated in the North. Blood feuds were not uncommon and were generally resolved
on the principle of an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Occasionally blood money would be paid
to resolve a killing.
Mecca was a holy town and a religious centre for all different kinds of religions. There was a
building named the Kabah, which held a sacred stone, believed to have been a meteorite. There
was also a well, whose water was believed to be holy and to have medicinal powers. Tribes from
all around Arabia would come to Mecca to worship their various deities. There were even a few
Christians and Jews living there, it was very multicultural. Mohammed came from the nobility of
Mecca who were known as the Quraysh, and his clan was known as the Hashim. The main God of
the Quraysh was Allah, the Moon God, (which is why every Mosque has a crescent moon on top)
although many other Gods were worshipped. Because it was a holy place, fighting was not allowed
in Mecca and disputes had to be settled outside of the town.
Mohammed's father died before he was born, and his mother died when he was Five. He was then
raised by his grandfather, until he too died and his uncle, Abu Talib, took over his care. Abu Talib
was a powerful member of the Quraysh. He seems to have been a kindly figure who, while he was
alive, protected Mohammed and treated him well.
The main business of the Quraysh was religion, though they also made money from trading.
When he grew up, Mohammed was hired by a wealthy widow named Khadija who traded with
Syria. Mohammed managed the caravans and did the deals with the Syrians. Syria was a Christian
country at that time, and far more sophisticated and cosmopolitan than Arabia. It was in fact at that
time, far more sophisticated and cosmopolitan than most of Europe. The Arabs took their alphabet
from the Syrian Christians, although writing was restricted to business transactions only. There
were no books written in Arabic at that time. Religious traditions were passed down by word-ofmouth,
and the Christians and Jews were known as the people of the book because they possessed
written Scriptures. Mohammed did well as a trader and made a good profit for Khadija. After a
while Khadija proposed marriage to him, and they had four daughters and two sons 4 .
Because of his background, Mohammed was familiar with many different religions. He was of
course very familiar with the rituals of his own clan, the pagan Arabs of Mecca, many of whose
rituals were later incorporated into Islam. There were also some Jews in Mecca, and his wife's
cousin was a Christian. Since most religions were not written down, it was not uncommon for
people to have different versions of each religion, or even to start their own type of worship.
4 Only one of his daughters, Fatima survived to adulthood.
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