Mohammed

Mohammed (a. d. 570-632) was born of parents who belonged to an Arabian tribe which claimed a descent from Joktan, the son of Eber (Gen. x. 25-29), and not from Ishmael. This tribe went by the name of the Koreish, and they were considered “Araba el Araba,” as St. Paul declared himself a “Hebrew of the Hebrews,” on account of the purity of their blood. Some years before the time of Mohammed’s public life there had been signs of dissatisfaction among some members of this tribe with the religion then current, and they craved after one more in accordance with the religion of Abraham. Four are especially remembered by name—Waraca, Othman, Obayd Allah, and Zayd—who were thus seeking for some higher faith than the superstition in which they had been brought up. The first two of these shortly became Christians; the third, after he had been for a time seduced into being a follower of Mohammed. The fourth, Zayd, became a great reformer of Arabian religion at Mecca, proclaiming the Unity of God, and denouncing idolatry; and he probably laid the foundation of the better parts of Mohammedanism, though he was murdered before he could obtain an interview with Mohammed himself.

It was in the year 570 of the Christian era that Mohammed was born, and about 609 (five years after the death of St. Augustine, first archbishop of Canterbury) that he declared himself to be the Prophet of God.