The exile
Mohammed began preaching the religion of Islam in the year 610, in his native Mecca. He was descended from Abraham, and taught that he followed in Jesus' footsteps. In him, the children of Ishmael and Isaac were reunited.
But though he earned followers, like the first Caliphs, Abu Bakr and Umar, their numbers were few. Early Muslims were often quite far down on the social hierarchy of the time -- many former or current slaves, women (treated especially poorly during that time), or they did not belong to tribes, all of which meant they had few protectors. At first, these early Muslims were mocked for their faith, but soon they found themselves humiliated, and eventually some of them were tortured and even killed.
Mohammed's own tribe was driven out of Mecca and placed under boycott. The stress placed on his family was fatal: In the year 619, his wife and uncle died, unable to bear the persecution any longer. Soon after, though, an unexpected opportunity presented itself. Leaders from the city of Yathrib, some 250 miles north, wanted to become Muslim, and invited Mohammed to rule their city, which had been bitterly divided by tribal infighting.
Mecca's tiny Muslim community fled under cover of night; Islam's exodus was so critical to the religion that our calendar begins with that year of exodus to Yathrib. That city was eventually renamed Medina, which just means "city" -- as in "city of the Prophet." (Arabic should win points for just getting to the point.) Mohammed lived out nearly the rest of his life in Medina, which became his beloved new home, his safe haven.
When Mohammed died, he was buried in his home, which had been attached to the city's Spartan mosque.
His successors ruled from Medina. The first grand Muslim dynasties moved the capital away, but built ever more elaborate tombs over his grave, expanding his original humble mosque until it has become the massive Great Mosque we see today, an impossibly lavish, expensive and enormous set of columned arcades, huge chambers from inside which hundreds of thousands can comfortably fit, sheltered from the fierce heat without.
But the heart of Medina and the Mosque is still the southernmost end, where behind three grills lie the tombs of Mohammed, and the first caliphs, Abu Bakr and Umar. Some Muslims claim there is a fourth grave, awaiting Jesus, Islam's messiah, who upon his return to the world will live out a normal lifespan and die as all people eventually do. Medina is our past, you see. But also our future.
source: www.cnn.com