The oppositon to Muhammad in his hometown of Mecca continued to grow until he was forced to flee 250 miles to Medina where his message was received. The Islamic calendar dates from this year when Muhammad fled to Medina and found a receptive audience, resulting in the formal establishment of Islam as a religion.
It was the year AD 622, and that date represents year one of the Muslim calendar, which is a lunar calendar. The year 2003 is the year 1424 in the Muslim dating system.
After the death of his wife, Muhammad married at least 11 other women. He also took several concubines. He married one girl who was only six years old and had sexual relations with her when she was only nine.
Muhammad died on June 8, AD 632. He left no successor, and Islam soon broke into warring sects such as the Shiites and the Sunnis.
Palestinians pray under Hamas grafitti reading 'revenge
is coming' at a mosque in the Nuseirat Refugee Camp in the southern
Gaza Strip...(AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)
of Islam
All of those who surived Muhammad took up the sword, as directed by the Koran, and devoted themselves to advancing Islam throughout the world with military might. The resulting spread of the religion was phenomenal. Within a century, Islamic forces had conquered Saudi Arabia, the entire Middle East, Central Asia, and large parts of India. The armies raged through Egypt and across North Africa, destroying corrupt Byzantine Christianity in their path.
