After meditating in a cave for 10 years, Hazrat Muhammad started receiving revelations from god. After the first, there were no further revelations for three years. During this period, Muhammad was depressed and immersed himself even further in prayers and meditation. Later, the revelations resumed. As Muhammad preached his ideas, he faced a lot of opposition from the elites of Mecca.
There was a place of worship in Mecca called Kaaba, which was controlled by priests who used to extract money from worshippers. Muhammad opposed this. The priests turned against Muhammad. His own tribe, Quraysh, was the guardian of the shrine and they harassed Muhammad, though they couldn’t kill him because it was a custom to protect noble blood and Muhammad’s grandfather had been among the elites of his tribe.
The big businessmen of Mecca were neck-deep in luxury and vice. They did not like Muhammad calling wine the mother of all sins. Powerful merchants tried to entice Muhammad out of preaching by making offers of wealth and marriage, which he rejected. The people of Arabia at that time used to practice female infanticide. Muhammad said one should not take a life given by Allah. He asked people to take care of their daughters and bring them up with love, rather than kill them and then abduct girls from neighbouring countries for marriage.
Muhammad faced hardships but continued to give Allah’s message to people, first in secret and then in public. His friend Abu-Bakr used to record his messages. These later became the Quran.
The poor people, who were suffering, liked Muhammad’s message. They liked his honesty and simplicity. After Muhammad’s uncle died, his bitter enemy became the clan chief. He withdrew the protection on Muhammad. This meant that blood revenge for his killing would not be exacted. After this, several attempts were made on his life.
After twelve years of persecution, Muhammad, at the age of 53, left Mecca for Medina. This emigration was called hijr and marked the start of the Islamic calendar. His followers had already spread his words. On arrival, he was welcomed by people in Medina. There was much fighting over who would have the honour of taking him home as a guest. Finally, Muhammad said he would stay wherever his camel would go.
He drafted a constitution to prevent fighting between the tribes of Medina and made a pact with Jews. Muhammad led his people in many battles and achieved great victories. Slowly, he converted all of Arabia to Islam.