3
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streetcorners and declaimed the new truths that the angel Gabriel had
communicated to him, his fellow Meccans were certain that this
formerly upstanding, middle-class man had gone mad. They mocked
Mohammed or ignored him. One put a slimy camel foetus down his
neck as he was praying. Another tried to strangle him. Only a few
believed him. Among the believers were a handful of close relatives,
one good friend, and a disconcerting number of slaves.
The citizens of Mecca were none too happy with the havoc
Mohammed's new notions wreaked on their households. Slaves who'd
abandoned the tried and true religions stopped their household chores
and ran off to pray and wash themselves at all kinds of strange hours.
But Mohammed would not keep his visions to himself. When a plot
was hatched to murder him, Mohammed fled. He sought refuge in a
community where his views might be a bit more welcome, over 200
miles away in Medina, another town isolated in the desert along the
caravan route. In Medina, Mohammed found more willing listeners.
During the course of a few years, he was able to build a following large
enough to dominate his adopted city's politics.
The fledgling prophet was no man of peace. He consolidated his
hold over Medina by ordering opponents assassinated.4 Then he
masterminded a series of assaults on passing Meccan caravans and the
armed escorts sent to protect them. When Meccans, fearful of
Mohammed's new power, attacked the outskirts of Medina, the
"blessed one" led his faithful against the intruders and won. The holy
man's military success impressed some of the fierce tribes that
wandered in the hills outside of town. They signed up with the new,
battle-tested religion. A few years later, the prophet marched his
troops 200 miles to the Jewish town of Khaibar and conquered it. He
killed all of Khaibar's 900 men and carried off the women and children
as slaves.
At last Mohammed was ready to take revenge for the indignities
his former neighbors in Mecca had heaped on him. In 630 AD, eight
years after he had fled, the prophet led an army of 10,000 followers
und the diagnosis believable. When Mohammed planted himself on
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