Around the year 570 A.D., Mohammad was born into a family of the ruling tribe of Makkah. Makkah, a caravan city in the western region of Arabia, grew around the Ka'abah (the House of God), a shrine of ancient origins built by Abraham and his son Ishmael. Pre-Islamic Arabia was polytheistic and idols used to be housed in and around the Ka'abah.

Orphaned as a child, Muhammad spent several years among the Bedouins of the desert, developing a love for the rich Arabic language. As a young man, Muhammad travelled widely with the trade caravans before dedicating his life to Islam.

In 610 God revealed His word to Muhammad through the Angel Gabriel. In this way, Muhammad became the chosen bearer of the divine message and began proclaiming the oneness of God. The name of this new religion, Islam, means "submission to God" The followers of Islam are called Muslims, meaning "those who submit."

God's message as conveyed through Muhammad was not unanimously accepted in Makkah. Pagan worshippers threatened by the new monotheistic religion and merchants anxious to preserve the profitable pilgrimage trade intensified their opposition to the followers of Islam. To foil an assassination plot against him. Muhammad and a small group of his dedicated followers emigrated to Madinah. This, the Hijrah or emigration, dates the beginning of the Islamic calendar and the history of the Islamic community. In 629, the Prophet Muhammad re-entered Makkah without bloodshed, destroying the idols in the Ka'abah, and the inhabitants of Makkah embraced Islam.