Mohammed of Mecca

Mohammed of Mecca

  

It’s hard to underestimate the impact this middle-aged merchant turned mystic turned religious leader turned military commander has had on history and the role he continues to play in the lives of nearly a billion people around the planet. Considered by one sixth of the world’s population to have been the last and greatest of all the prophets, he is best remembered as the man who penned the Koran, one of the best known and most widely read sacred writings in the world. (Of course, he didn’t actually write it himself.

 According to legend, the writings were given to him by the angel Gabriel through a series of visions over a twenty year period, which eventually were recorded and codified into the book we know today.) In any case, in recording these mystical writings, he instituted one of the most stridently monotheistic religions in the world and set the stage for the rapid spread of Islam throughout the then known world.