British Mandate: A Survey of Palestine: Supplement - Page 124

ISLAM.

In 570 A.D., in Mecca, a son was born to Abdullah, son of Abdel-Muttalib, and was named Mohammad.

2. In his 25th year, Mohammad married Khadija, a wealthy widow of a merchant, who had entrusted him with the conduct of some of her caravans to Syria and southern Arabia.

3. During a period of solitary sojourn, in a cave in Mount Hera, near Mecca, Mohammad felt his spirit moved with divine power, and was convinced that he had been chosen by God as His Ambassador. So began Mohammad's prophetic career, about 610 or 612 of the Christian Era.

4. At first, Mohammad made Jerusalem the Holy Place to which the Faithful had to turn their faces when they prayed; thus, Jerusalem became the first Kibla, and has been respected as such ever since. Later on, however, while living at Medina, whither he had had to flee with bis followers from Mecca, he changed the Kibla, or Holy Place, to Mecca.

5. In 630 A.D., Mohammad re-entered Mecca at the head of a victorious host, and the teaching of Islam was firmly established. From the time of the Prophet's entry into Mecca, the domination of Islam in Arabia was only a matter of time. For a period the religious fervour of the Moslems was directed against the stubborn resistance of the pagan Arabian tribes. There were many bloody encounters, but finally Mohammad and bis followers succeeded in subduing the adversaries of "The Proclaimer of the Truth".

6. During the lifetime of the Prophet a vital connection was forged between Islam and Palestine. The Koran states that Mohammad was transported by night from Mecca to Jerusalem, and that, from the top of Mount Moriah, the site of the Hebrew Temple, then lying desolate, he ascended to heaven. The Prophet's horse, Burak, was accommodated during this visit beside what is now called the 'Western or Wailing Wall of the Temple Area. This incident in the life of the Prophet is referred to in the Koran, in the following words :-

"Glory be to Him who carried His servant by night from the sacred Temple of Mecca to the Tern pie that is more remote (i.e., the Temple of Jerusalem) , whose precinct we have blessed that we might show Him of our signs, for He is the Hearer, the Seer."

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