Muhammad
Muhammad was born in 570 and lived in Mecca in his early years. He then was orphaned when he was only five years old. His employer was a rich widow, and he decided to marry her. His business was managing caravans. He started to see visions from Allah and he believed that Allah was revealing the final part of himself. The rules by which the followers of Allah were to live were revealed to Muhammad and later made into the Qur'an or Koran. From these revelations, Muhammad started the religion called Islam. The people had to submit to Allah completely so that they could have eternal life. These followers were now called Muslims. Some people thought that Muhammad was just crazy and some were angry with him. Muhammad therefore moved to Yathrib (later named Medina) with some friends in 622. It took them a year and the journey is called the Hegira which is now the Islamic calendar year. The people of Medina were highly supportive of Muhammad and so were the Bedouin. Many people joined together to create a Muslim colony. The people made Muhammad the leader and they submitted to him. In 630, they took over Mecca and converted people to Islam, and soon after that people all over the peninsula were Muslims.