A five-minute primer on an issue making headlines
Deaths, burned embassies, mass boycotts and worldwide anger: derogatory cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed have sparked an unprecedented reaction.
What do we know about the Prophet?
Historians suggest the Prophet Mohammed was the founder of the religion we now know as Islam, but Muslims believe he is the last in a line of messengers dating from Adam. They revere all of them, including Jesus. The Prophet was born in AD570 in Mecca and became a deeply spiritual man who spent a lot of his time meditating on Mount Hira. It is said that one night during meditation he was visited by the angel Jibreel, or Gabriel, who commanded him to memorise and recite verses sent by Allah - the Arabic word for God. The Prophet understood these to be the words of God and they came to form the text of the Koran, the Muslim scripture.
How did the Prophet become a messenger of Allah?
The Prophet took the angel's commands to mean that he had been chosen as God's messenger and began to preach what had been revealed to him. People flocked to hear him, and it was not long before his popularity was seen as a threat by Mecca's elite. In AD622, he left Mecca and went to Medina, a journey now known as the hijrah, or migration. Within 10 years, the Prophet had so many followers he returned to conquer Mecca. AD622 is the year in which the Islamic calendar begins, and it is from this time that the Prophet was generally accepted as the true messenger of God.
How important is the Prophet to Muslims?