According to Muslim history, Muhammad was born in the year 570 into the Bedouin tribe known as the Quraysh. This tribe resided in Mecca (Saudi Arabia) which was a stopping-point for merchants whose trade caravans journeyed throughout the Mideast. It is said that Muhammad tended goats as a youngster and in his latter years joined the caravan trade - transporting merchandise from one city to another and providing armed protection against thieves, sometimes encountered along the way.

 

The Quraysh tribe was one of 360 pagan tribes from throughout the vast desert region that would gather in the centralized city of Mecca at the sacred shrine known as the Ka'ba. The god of each tribe was represented by an idol placed at designated locations encircling the Ka'ba and, in an annual event, all tribes would make their pilgrimage to Mecca for the worship and celebration to their specific god. The Quraysh god was known as "Hubal," a pre-Islamic deity known as the "moon god."

 

At the age of twenty-five, Muhammad was hired by a forty-year-old wealthy widow, Khadijah, to lead her caravans. Khadijah took a liking to Muhammad for the honest manner in which he conducted her business affairs and they were married shortly thereafter. 

 

Muhammad maintained his search for spiritual guidance and would often retreat to a cave in a mountain known as Hira, located not far from his home in Mecca.

 

It was during one of these retreats in the year 610 when, at the age of forty, Muhammad claimed to have had a visitation by the archangel, Gabriel.