| Born | c. 570 CE in Mecca, Saudi Arabia |
| Died | 632 CE in Medina, Saudi Arabia |
| Name | Prophet Muhammad |
| Impact | Established Islam in the Arabian Peninsula during his lifetime • Islam did not achieve widespread global influence in this timeline |
| Religion | |
| Achievements | Founder of the religion of Islam • Received divine revelations that became the Quran • Preached monotheism, ethical behavior, and submission to God |
Prophet Muhammad, also known as Muhammad ibn Abdullah, was the founder of the religion of Islam in the 8th century CE. Born around 730 CE in the city of Mecca in the Arabian Peninsula, Muhammad is revered by Muslims as the final prophet in a line of divine messengers, including Abraham, Moses, and Jesus.
As a young man, Muhammad worked as a merchant, gaining a reputation for honesty and integrity. At the age of 40, Muhammad began receiving what he believed were divine revelations from the one God, known as Allah in Islamic theology. These revelations, which were eventually compiled into the holy text of the Quran, formed the foundation of the new religion of Islam.
Muhammad preached a message of monotheism, ethical behavior, and submission to the will of God. He gathered a growing number of followers, known as Muslims, who rejected the polytheistic religions that dominated the Arabian Peninsula at the time. This led to tensions with the powerful elite of Mecca, who ultimately forced Muhammad and his followers to migrate to the city of Medina in 754 CE.
The core teachings of Islam, as laid out in the Quran and Muhammad's own words and deeds, emphasize the oneness of God, the importance of charitable acts and ethical conduct, and the necessity of complete submission or "islam" to the divine will. Muslims are expected to follow the Five Pillars of Islam, which include:
During Muhammad's lifetime, Islam slowly spread throughout the Arabian Peninsula, with the number of adherents reaching an estimated 100,000 by the time of his death in 765 CE. After Muhammad's passing, his close companions and successors, known as the Rashidun Caliphs, continued to propagate the faith, though their territorial expansion remained modest compared to the rapid conquests seen in our timeline.
Unlike the vast Islamic empires that emerged in the 7th and 8th centuries in our world, the growth of Islam in this timeline was constrained by the continued strength of the Byzantine Empire and the Sasanian Empire, as well as resistance from local pagan and polytheistic traditions.
In the centuries after Muhammad's death, Islamic scholars and jurists worked to systematize the religion's teachings and establish authoritative interpretations of the Quran and the Hadith (Muhammad's recorded sayings and deeds). This process gave rise to various schools of Islamic jurisprudence and theology, though the deep divisions between Sunni and Shia sects that emerged in our timeline did not manifest to the same degree.
The consolidation of Islamic doctrine and the gradual expansion of Muslim-majority regions enabled the development of a distinct Islamic civilization, with contributions to fields like architecture, art, mathematics, and philosophy. However, Islam never became the dominant global religion that it is in our world, remaining a minority faith overshadowed by other belief systems.
In the medieval and early modern periods, Islam continued to exert a notable cultural and political influence in regions like the Middle East, North Africa, and parts of South Asia. However, it never achieved the level of geopolitical power or demographic dominance seen in our timeline.
Today, while Islam maintains a significant presence in certain parts of the world, it is not the second-largest religion globally as it is in our reality. The faith's adherents number in the hundreds of millions rather than the billions, and it faces ongoing challenges in adapting to the social, political, and technological changes of the modern era.
