Spencer - The Truth About Muhammad: Founder of the Worlds Most Intolerant Religion

Abdullah bin Jahsh: the Muslim warrior who carried out the first Muslim raid (at Nakhla) on Muhammads orders

Abdullah bin Salam : a Jewish rabbi who became an early convert to Islam

Abdullah bin Ubayy : a leader of the Hypocrites, insincere Muslims who opposed Muhammad

Abu Afak : A poet who mocked Muhammad in his verses and was assassinated on Muhammads orders

Abu Bakr : One of Muhammads earliest companions and his successor as leader of the Muslims (caliph)

Abu Jahl : A leader of the pagan Quraysh who opposed Muhammad

Abu Lahab : Muhammads uncle, who opposed him and was cursed in the Quran (111:1-5)

Abu Sufyan : A leader of the pagan Quraysh who opposed Muhammad, but who later converted to Islam

Aisha : Muhammads favorite wife; he married her when she was six and consummated the marriage when she was nine

Al-Aqaba : A city where the early Muslims pledged fealty to Muhammad

Al-Lat : One of the goddesses worshipped by the pagan Quraysh

Al-Uzza : One of the goddesses worshipped by the pagan Quraysh

Ali : Muhammads son-in-law, whom Shiite Muslims regard as his rightful successor; he reigned briefly as the fourth caliph, after Abu Bakr, Umar, and Uthman

Asma bint Marwan : A poetess who mocked Muhammad in her verses and was assassinated on Muhammads orders

Badr : An Arabian town about 80 miles from Medina where the Muslims won their first great military victory, against the Quraysh in 624

Bahira : A Syrian Christian monk who, according to Islamic tradition, recognized the boy Muhammad as a prophet

Bukhari : Ninth-century collector of traditions about Muhammad that Muslims generally consider reliable

Buraq : The winged horse with a human head that is supposed to have carried Muhammad from Mecca to Jerusalem and thence to Paradise on his Night Journey

Chosroes : The Persian emperor in Muhammads day, whom Muhammad called to Islam

Gabriel : The angel who is supposed to have delivered Allahs revelations to Muhammad

Ghatafan : The pagan Arabian tribe that, along with the Quraysh, laid siege to Medina in the Battle of the Trench

Hafsa : One of Muhammads wives

Heraclius : The Byzantine emperor in Muhammads day, whom Muhammad called to Islam

Hudaybiyya : A town about nine miles from Mecca where Muhammad concluded a treaty with the Quraysh

Hunayn : A dry riverbed near Mecca where Muhammad defeated the last large-scale resistance to him in Arabia

Ibn Ishaq : Muhammads first biographer (704773)

Ibn Sad : An early compiler of biographical traditions about Muhammad (d. 845)

Jerusalem : The city from which Muhammad is supposed to have ascended to Paradise on his Night Journey

Kab bin Al-Ashraf : A Jewish poet who mocked Muhammad in his verses and was assassinated on Muhammads orders

Kabah : A shrine and place of pilgrimage in Mecca that Muhammad emptied of its idols and transformed into a site for Islamic pilgrimage

Khadija : Muhammads first wife and first convert

Khalid bin al-Walid : A renowned Muslim warrior

Khaybar : An oasis near Medina which Muhammad attacked, exiling the Jews who inhabited it

Kinana ibn Rabi : A Jewish leader at Khaybar who was tortured and killed on Muhammads orders for refusing to disclose the location of treasure

Manat : One of the goddesses worshipped by the pagan Quraysh

Mary the Copt : Muhammads concubine and mother of his son Ibrahim, who died in infancy

Mecca : Muhammads birthplace; a principal city for trade and pilgrimage in pre-Islamic Arabia

Medina : An Arabian city north of Mecca, in which Muhammad first became a political and military leader after his flight there (Hijra)

Muhammad : the prophet of Islam (570632)

Muhammad bin Maslama : An early Muslim who carried out several assassinations on Muhammads orders

Nadir : A Jewish tribe of Medina; Muhammad besieged and exiled them

Nakhla : An Arabian town where the Muslims carried out their first military raid against the Quraysh