The Last Prophet of Islam Appears

The name Muhammad in Islamic calligraphy

    Nearly eight centuries later, A man by the name of Muhammad who lived in Mecca received a vision from the angel Gabriel in 610. He is told to write down what the angel says. The writings would later form the Quran. The Prophet Muhammad begins to preach and gains converts to a new religion in which they submit everything about themselves to God (Allah, in Arabic). The followers of this new religion, called Islam, were called Muslims. Facing persecution, he goes to the city of Medina in 622. This departure is called the Hijrah and it becomes the starting point of the Islamic Calendar. Before his death ten years later, the Prophet is able to convert nearly all of the Arab tribes in the Arabian peninsula. His close circle of friends began fighting each other over leadership of the newly formed Muslim community. Several caliphates, which are Islamic states under the control of a caliph, emerged in the Middle East. There would be other types of caliphates during the spread of the Muslim faith in North and Sub-Saharan Africa, Southern Europe, India, and Southeast Asia. All of them would rule for centuries until their eventual fall, each having an strong influence in human history. To this day, nearly two billion human beings call themselves Muslim around the world.

The Flight of Muhammad from Mecca to Medina, The Beginning of the Islamic Calendar

    In Lion's Blood, the history of Islam is, more or less, the same as it was in real-life. An early major difference occurred when the Prophet established a mutual assistance treaty with the Jews. It is never said why, but it is an interesting that Muhammad helped them form their own Jewish state. Another major difference that occurred is how and where the Muslim faith was spread. Bilal, an convert with Aksumite ancestry who was also a member of the Prophet's inner circle, rescued the Prophet's family by sending them to the Aksumite Empire [It is also referred to as Abyssinia]. In Abyssinia, there were many people who converted to Islam. This detail is a good addition to the story that helps the reader understand how Islam was spread in the African continent for the successful rise of a Black Muslim civilization. Before his death, Bilal told his followers that he received a vision from the angel Gabriel to head west in order to spread Islam. For the next several centuries, wars occurred between Egypt and Abyssinia, plagues wiped out millions of people, parts of Europe were conquered, and a new land was discovered that was prophesied by Bilal. I always thought that Bilal's vision about the New World was a bit unnecessary, but I suppose that if Islam is going to be portrayed as the One True Faith, then a divine revelation does a good job at adding legitimacy to the idea. The timeline as it was portrayed by the old defunct website was a bit incoherent and contained centuries long gaps until we get to the "present" time when the story of Lion's Blood begins. There may be a few events listed, but I always thought that it needed to be explained more. From the fall of Rome to the rise of Islam, there isn't anything strongly significant about what happened. I wouldn't mind if the timeline was redone.