Chapter 2 reading Muhammad:

#1: Mecca was the birth place of Islam. Bustling commercial center. Muhammad was born in Mecca around the year of 570. He had a sad beginning filled with tragedy, he was orphaned.

#2: difficult place to live because of the environment. society was organized around clans, and tribes. The various tribes would steal each others goods in a raid. For instance, animals. Killing was often unavoidable in the the raids. There was no central government, the tribes to the law into their own hands. Killings resulted from this (vengeance killings). Poetry was important and poets were believed to have supernatural powers. Harsh environment to live in, people looked to religion for comfort. Divinities varied according to tribes.

#3: In Mecca they most commonly worshiped three goddess, believed to be the daughters of Allah. The sanctuary of the three goddesses was located in an area called Ka'bah, violence was prohibited. Because of this Mecca was also a religious center. Certain groups benefited from the life style in Mecca. There was spiritual uneasiness.

#4: Some of the people in Mecca converted to other religions, Christianity and Judaism. There were many questions about individual destiny circulating. Very little is known about Muhammad's early life. Eventually he became a merchant (through marriage). Because he was not wealthy he was sensitive to the hardships of the less fortunate. He questioned the direction he was going as well as his community.

#5: He would go on long meditations. On one of them the angel Gabriel came to him and had him say a short set of words. Muhammad began to hear Gabriel saying thins such as "you are the messenger of god". He eventually believed that he had actually become the messenger of god after thinking he was going crazy. He slowly began to preach openly. He preached that there was only one god and that there was nothing like him. The teachings challenged the entire system during this time.

#6: Many people turned against Muhammad. He had many setbacks throughout 619. Supposedly he went to heaven with Gabriel and stood before God. This gave Muslim's evidence of his spiritual nature. He heard that a group of people were planning to kill him so he left with his followers to Medina. He created the Islamic community, and the Islamic calendar through this journey.

#7: He had lots of responsibilities because he became the leader of the Muslim's in Medina. There were three Jewish tribes in Medina. Muhammad condoned raiding in order to sustain his people. This angered the Meccans. The people of Medina and the Meccans fought multiple times the Muslim's one two of the three fights. He attempted to go to Mecca in order to go to perform their traditional ceremonies, but the Meccans turned them away. A year later they were admitted and the Muslim's claimed the sanctuary of Ka'bah to worship Allah.

#8: Tried to get tribes to convert to Islam. In 632 he made his last trip to Mecca and gave his last sermon. He told the Muslim people of their obligations. He returned to medina in his Farewell Pilgrimage and died shortly after. He left the people (who needed a leader) without one, it was up to them to find a successor.