Muhammad, the founder and leader of the Islam religion, was born to a powerful Meccan family in the Arrabian Penninsula. He was born around 570, and by the age of six, both his parents died and he fell into the care of his grandfather and uncle. His new guardians taught Muhammad how to survive, and showed him how to use a bow and arrow. Muhammad grew up to be a trader, and he worked with a …showed first 75 words of 526 total…

…showed last 75 words of 526 total…was young, his successors spread the religion even farther. In 632, Abu-Bakr became the first caliph, a word for successor. Under Abu-Bakr and the next three caliphs, rebels and those who abandoned the religion were reconquered. The swift, well-trained Muslim armies continued to conquer and defeat Syria, Lower Egypt, and parts of the Byzantine and Persian Empires. Less than 100 years after Muhammad's death, the Muslim Empire stretched 6,000 miles from the Atlantic Ocean to the Indus River.