People had been living in cities in the Middle East for more than 2000 years. Most of that civilization, however, was buried by the Islamic wave that swept the region in the 600's CE. A few vestiges of the old civilization remains to this day, but the dominant force in the Middle East is Islam.

And it all started with a man wandering in the hills in the middle of the desert.

You can refer to the video below for the story of how Mohammed founded the religion of Islam. In the next hub, we will look at some of the details of the Islamic religion.

Mohammed came from the Arabian desert, a region that had been ignored by previous civilizations.  But within that empty wasteland, Mohammed lived in the city of Mecca, on of the- if not the most- important cities on the caravan route from Yemen to the cities of the north.  Mohammed also came from the ruling family of Mecca. 

Mohammed often walked alone in the hills outside of Mecca.  One of these lonely sojourns, he claimed to have met the angel Gabriel.  As a Christian, I say that Mohammed claimed to have met with God's Messenger.  I suppose that if I accepted this claim, I would have to become a Moslem.  I know that hundreds of millions of devout Moslems believe this claim.  We could dispute over Mohammed's claim, whether he actually met with God's Messenger or not.  But one thing we cannot dispute is tha Mohammed made a profound and lasting impact on the world.