00:00How Islam began in under 10 minutes? Not a problem. We're started. Okay, so travel back
00:10in time with me to a land far, far away a long, long ago. Mecca and Arabia, about the
00:16year 570. Mecca is important for two reasons. One, the Kaaba is there, an ancient temple
00:23built to worship God. And two, Muhammad, peace be upon him, was born in Mecca. Now, problem,
00:29I can't show you Muhammad because it wouldn't be right. I'll tell you why in a bit. But
00:33in the meantime, here's his name in Arabic. Nice. Back in the day, Mecca was a lawless
00:39place. The only way to be safe was to have backup. Lots of rich big brothers who'd beat
00:43up anyone who got in your way. So the place was ruled by the most powerful families who
00:47could do pretty much what they wanted. And religion didn't help. By this time, the Kaaba
00:53had been filled to overflowing with 360 idols that did nothing to help anyone. So it was
00:59a tough place to grow up. If, like Muhammad, you were a poor orphan and believed in just
01:03one God you couldn't see, like the Jews and the Christians, he called him Allah, the God
01:09in Arabic there. Muhammad's dad died before he was even born, and his mom died when he
01:15was just six. So he was brought up by his grandfather, Abdul Muttalib. And then when
01:20he died too, by his uncle, Abdul Muttalib, who had the respect of the city's ruling
01:24families, so Muhammad was safe for the time being. Muhammad started out as a shepherd
01:32and then became a businessman, traveling about, buying and selling stuff for rich clients.
01:38When he did some work for a rich widow called Khadija, she was so impressed by his honesty
01:42and skill that they ended up getting married. And for a while, it looked like Muhammad was
01:45going places. Well, he was, but not how you think. Every year in the month of Ramadan,
01:51different calendar, different names for the months, there was a big party around the Kaaba
01:55when people made sacrifices to the idols. Muhammad hated it, so he'd get out of town
02:00and sleep in a cave he'd found on top of a nearby mountain. One night, Muhammad's praying
02:05to Allah when wham! There's the angel Jibreel, you might say Gabriel, standing right in front
02:11of him. Read, says the angel, but Muhammad couldn't read. No schools, you see. Jibreel
02:16keeps on at him. Three times he says, read, then he grabs hold of Muhammad and wham! Again,
02:22it's like Muhammad's learned the words off by heart. So he recites the message out loud.
02:28Read in the name of your Lord, who created man from a drop of blood. Read, for your Lord
02:34is most generous. He who taught by the pen taught man what he did not know. It was a
02:41message from Allah. God was speaking to him, just like he'd spoken to the prophets in the
02:46Jewish and Christian holy books, which meant he was a prophet too. The messages continued
02:52for the rest of Muhammad's life. Allah gave him the words to say, and the prophet recited
02:56them. The words were written down by his friends, and years later, they were collected together
03:00and became the Muslim holy book, the Quran, which means recitation, because Muhammad recited
03:05it, you see. Anyway, that was much later. So back to the night of power. Muhammad tells
03:11his family, then his friends, and eventually everyone about Allah, that he's the one and
03:15only God, that he wants everyone to be treated fairly, and long story short, it didn't go
03:19down well with the ruling families of Mecca, who liked things just the way they were. Thank
03:23you very much. You see, Islam means obedience to Allah, and Muslim means someone who obeys
03:29Allah, and the ruling families didn't want anyone obeying anyone else but them. So the
03:35people who believed in Muhammad's message, the Muslims, were given a hard time. Some
03:40were even tortured and killed. A few of them managed to escape to Abyssinia, Ethiopia,
03:46but most were stuck in Mecca. Muhammad also had to cope with the death of his wife, and
03:52then just a few weeks later, his uncle too. Feeling very down, he went to the Kaaba to
03:58pray to Allah one night. Then, the weirdest thing happened. Jibreel turns up, sits him
04:03on a winged horse called Al-Buraq, and flies him all the way from Mecca to Jerusalem. He
04:08prays with all the prophets who have ever lived. Then, he's taken up to the heavens
04:12to chat with some of the prophets, and then into paradise itself, where Allah tells Muhammad
04:17to pray five times a day, and to stay strong. He's returned to Jerusalem, and then flies
04:23back to the Kaaba in Mecca. We call it the night journey, and Muslims still argue whether
04:27it was a real experience or a vision, but whatever, it gave Muhammad a much-needed
04:32boost, and just as well, because there were more tough times ahead.
04:36So, there was this other city called Yathrib. The people there heard about Muhammad and
04:41his message, and invited him and his followers to join them. A few at a time, the Muslims
04:46left Mecca and made a dangerous journey across the desert to Yathrib. It's known as a hijra,
04:51which means migration, you know, like birds do. Muhammad and a few of his friends stayed
04:57in Mecca until everyone had got away, and then made plans for their own escape. But,
05:02the ruling families wanted to kill Muhammad while they still could, so seven sons, one
05:07from each family, was sent in the middle of the night to stab the prophet while he slept.
05:11But he was way ahead of them, and when they burst into the house, Muhammad was gone. Trackers
05:16were sent out to hunt him down. Muhammad and his best friend Abu Bakr took a roundabout
05:22route to try and shake off the pursuits, but the trackers were too good and slowly gained
05:26on them. So, Muhammad and Abu Bakr hid in a cave and prayed that no one found them.
05:31The trackers found the cave alright, but they didn't bother going in to search. There was
05:35no way Muhammad could be inside, they thought. There was a spider's web over the mouth of
05:39the cave, and a nesting bird at the entrance. He must have given them the slip. So, off
05:44they went, leaving Muhammad and Abu Bakr protected by a spider and a bird.
05:50Muhammad made it safely to Yathrib, which was renamed Medina al-Nabi, the city of the
05:55But most people just call it Medina, but Muhammad's warriors weren't over yet.
06:00There were three big battles between the Muslims and the Meccans. First, the Battle of Badr,
06:05when Muhammad and just 313 men faced 1,000 Meccan soldiers. Recklessly, the Muslims won.
06:14Then, there was the Battle of Uhud, which didn't go so well. Some of Muhammad's men
06:19disobeyed his orders and ran off during the battle to raid the Meccans' camp, and so the
06:24Muslims were outmanoeuvred. Then, there was the Battle of the Trench. Medina was protected
06:30on three sides by mountains, so when the Meccan forces advanced in the city, the Muslims just
06:35dove a deep trench. The Meccans made camp, but the weather was terrible. Pouring rain
06:40put out their fires and howling winds blew down their tents. Eventually, they gave up
06:44and went back to Mecca. It was all a bit embarrassing. They were losing the respect of the local
06:50tribes who were flocking to join the Muslims. So, a peace treaty was signed at Hudaybiyah,
06:58but it wasn't long before the Meccans broke it. Muhammad decided that enough was enough.
07:04By now, he had over 10,000 men, so he led them across the desert to Mecca. The ruling
07:09families realised they'd made a huge mistake, but it was too late. All they could do was
07:14surrender and hope that the Muslim army killed them quickly. But Muhammad said there should
07:18be no more fighting. He rode into Mecca and went straight to the Kaaba. He circled it
07:24seven times anti-clockwise and smashed all the idols, rededicating the Kaaba to Allah.
07:31And that's why I'm not going to show you Muhammad. The Muslims wanted to make it totally
07:36clear that they only worshipped the one unseen god, so they didn't have any pictures of Muhammad
07:41in case anyone thought he was an idol, and they didn't have any pictures of Allah because
07:45he's like nothing on earth, so it would be impossible to draw him anyway.
07:50So there you go. How Islam began in under 10 minutes. How did I do?
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