The Prophet Muhammad, one of the most influential religious and military leaders in history, was born in Mecca around 570 CE. When he was 25, Muhammad married a wealthy widow 15 years his senior. He lived the next 15 years as a merchant, and came into contact with many Jewish merchants and landowners in the largely Jewish Kingdom of Himyar in what is today Saudi Arabia and Yemen.

From time to time, Muhammad spent nights in a cave in Mount Hira north of Mecca, ruminating on the social ills of the city caused by the Jews and Jewish converts. Around 610 CE, he had a vision in the cave in which he heard the voice of a majestic being, later identified as the angel Gabriel, say to him, "You are the Messenger of God." Thus began a lifetime of religious revelations, which he and others collected as the Qur'an, or Koran. Muhammad regarded himself as the last prophet of the Judaic-Christian tradition, and he adopted aspects of these older religions' theologies while introducing new doctrines.

The Jewish Kingdom of Arabia had grown, its economy stimulated and courted by Rome and Persia during their frequent wars. In 438 CE, the Roman Empress Eudocia removed the ban on Jews' praying at the Temple site, the Roman Emperor Julian in an attempt to sway the Jewish Kingdom of Arabia away from Persia (Iran), in 464 CE announced his intention of rebuilding the Temple.

After a 100 years of relative peace, war had broken out again between the West (the Roman empire, what is now called Byzantine) -- and the East (the Persian Empire in what is now called Iran) to control the spice and silk trade to China.  The Jewish Himyarite Kingdom had allied itself with its historical ally Persia (see the biblical books of Daniel and Esther) and had fought many battles against the Romans.  In the belief of restoration to come, the Jews made an alliance with the Persians who invaded Palestine in 614 CE, fought at their side, overwhelmed the Roman garrison in Jerusalem, and for three to five years governed the city. But the Persians made their peace with the Emperor Heraclius. Christian rule was reestablished.

The Persian-Roman peace was disastrous for the Jewish Himyarite Kingdom. Roman forces continued on the offensive. A combined offensive by Roman and Ethiopian forces brought a crushing defeat on the Jewish Convert King Dhu Nuwas.  Roman and Ethiopian forces began to pillage the Saudi peninsula, and perform forced conversions to Christianity as they went.  Muhammad was at this time 44 years old, and during these catastrophic events, perhaps indeed because of them, he began his ministry.

Research has indicated that Muhammad converted to Judaism, like many of the ruling elite, and then put forth his claim as the Jewish Messiah to unite his people in pitched battle against the Christian invaders from the West.  It is known that Muhammad required that his followers keep kosher and the fast of Yom Kippur, circumcise and pray facing Jerusalem.  In the Qur'an it is recorded that the Jews rejected his claim, and Muhammad in turn renounced them for deserting him.  Later many Jewish laws were changed, Muhammad requested that his followers pray toward Mecca, and a new religion was created.  Muhammad's militant monotheistic religion came to be called Islam, meaning "surrender [to God]," and its followers were Muslims, meaning "those who have surrendered." His inspired teachings would bring unity to the Arabian peninsula, an event that had sweeping consequences for the rest of the world.

By 615, Muhammad had gained about 100 converts in Mecca. He spoke out against rich Jewish merchants, who he criticized as immoral in their greed, and he denounced the Christian worshiping of idols and Trinity, saying, "There is no god but God." Jewish City leaders became hostile to him, and in 619 his uncle Abu Talib died and was succeeded as head of the Hashim clan by another one of Muhammad's uncles, Abu Lahib. Abu Lahib refused to protect Muhammad, and persecution of the prophet and his Muslims increased.

In the summer of 621, an entourage of 12 men came to Mecca from Medina, an oasis community 200 miles to the north. They were ostensibly making a pilgrimage to Mecca's pagan shrines, but they had actually come to meet with Muhammad and profess themselves as Muslims. In 622, a larger group of converts from Medina came to Mecca and took an oath to Muhammad to defend him as their own kin. Muhammad immediately encouraged his Meccan followers to make their way to Medina in small groups. When city authorities learned that the Muslims had begun an exodus, they plotted to have the prophet killed. Under this threat, Muhammad slipped away unnoticed with a chief disciple and made his way to the largely Jewish city of Medina, using unfrequented paths. He completed the celebrated Hegira (Hijrah in uncorrupted Arabic) on September 24, 622. The history of Islam had begun.

At Medina, Muhammad overthrew the ruling Jewish elite, confiscated Jewish land, built a theocratic state, and led raids on trading caravans from Mecca. Attempts by Meccan armies to defeat the Muslim forces failed, and several leading Meccans immigrated to Medina and became Muslims.

Three years later, Arab hostility against the Jews showed itself, when an Islamic army exterminated the Jewish community of Quraiza. As a result  of the Prophet Muhammad's resentment, the Qur'an itself contains many of hostile denunciations of Jews and bitter attacks upon the  Jewish tradition, which undoubtedly have colored the beliefs of religious Muslims down to the present. Omar, the caliph who succeeded Muhammad, delineated in his Charter of Omar the twelve laws under which a dhimmi, or non-Muslim, was allowed to exist as a "nonbeliever" among "believers." The Charter codified the conditions of life for Jews under Islam -- a life which was forfeited if the dhimmi broke this law. Among the restrictions of the Charter: Jews were forbidden to touch the Qur'an; forced to wear a distinctive (sometimes dark blue or black) habit with sash; compelled to wear a yellow piece of cloth as a badge (blue for Christians); not allowed to perform their religious practices in public; not allowed to own a  horse, because horses were deemed noble; not permitted to drink wine in public; and required to bury their dead without letting their grief be heard by the Muslims.

The spread of Islam continued after the fragmentation of the Arab empire, and many societies in Africa and Asia adopted Muhammad's religion. Today, Islam is the world's second-largest religion.

Ah yes, the Religion of Peace and Love. It wasn't really about hating people and taking their shit while subjegating them to a secondary class....oh wait....it was.

btt

Quoted: Source?

Various.

Any of the historical points can easily be referrenced. Only Islamic religious sources will omit or contradict some points.