[source: Islam A Short History, p. 

FIRST TWO YEARS FOLLOWING INITIAL REVELATION, MUHAMMAD TOLD ONLY HIS WIFE AND 
HER COUSIN ABOUT REVELATION FROM ALLAH
For the first two years, Muhammad kept quiet about his experience. He had new 
revelations, but confided only in his wife Khadija and her cousin Waraqa ibn 
Nawfal, a Christian.
[source: Islam A Short History, p. 4]

NOT UNTIL 612 CE, TWO YEARS AFTER FIRST RELEVATION, DID MUHAMMAD BEGIN PREACHING
...it was only in 612 that Muhammad felt empowered to preach, and gradually 
gained converts: his young cousin Ali ibn Abi Talib, his friend Abu Bakr, and 
the young merchant Uthman ibn Affan from the powerful Umayyad family. 
[source: Islam A Short History, p. 4]

MANY OF THE FIRST CONVERTS TO ISLAM WERE WOMEN
Many of the converts, including a significant number of women, were from the 
poorer clans...
[source: Islam A Short History, p. 4]

MUHAMMAD OPPOSED HORDING WEALTH WHILE THE POOR AND DESTITUTE STARVED
It was wrong, he insisted, to build a private fortune, but good to share wealth 
and create a society where the weak and vulnerable were treated with respect. 
[source: Islam A Short History, p. 4]

MUHAMMAD'S EARLIEST MESSAGES WERE TO THE QURAYSH: IF YOU MEND NOT YOUR WAYS, 
YOUR SOCIETY WILL COLLAPSE LIKE THOSE THAT ENDED BEFORE YOU
If the Quraysh did not mend their ways, their society would collapse (as had 
other unjust societies in the past) because they were violating the fundamental 
laws of existence.
[source: Islam A Short History, p. 4]

MANY CONVERTS TO ISLAM WERE WON OVER FROM THE ABSOLUTE BEAUTY AND MAJESTY OF ITS VERSES
Many of the first believers were converted by the sheer beauty of the Quran, 
which resonated with their deepest aspirations, cutting through their 
intellectual preconceptions in the manner of great art, and inspiring them, at a 
level more profound than the cerebral, to alter their whole way of life.
[source: Islam A Short History, p. 5]

DRAMATIC CONVERSION OF OPPONENT OF ISLAM FROM THE WORDS OF THE QURAN DETAILED
One of the most dramatic of these conversions was that of Umar ibn al-Khattab, 
who was devoted to the old paganism, passionately opposed to Muhammad's message, 
and was determined to wipe out the new sect, But he was also an expert in 
Arabian poetry, and the first time he heard the words of the Quran he was 
overcome by their extraordinary eloquence. As he said, the language broke 
through all his reservations about its message: "When I heard the Quran my heart 
was softened and I wept, and Islam entered into me."
[source: Islam A Short History, p. 5]

EARLY IN ISLAMIC HISTORY, PRAYER WAS ONLY THREE TIMES DAILY, BUT LATER INCREASED TO FIVE TIMES
It was an attitude expressed in the prostrations of the ritual prayer (salat) 
which Muslims were required to make three times a day. (Later this prayer would 
be increased to five times daily.)
[source: Islam A Short History, pp. 5-6]

MUSLIM WARRIORS FOUGHT UNIFIED UNDER MUHAMMAD, OPPONENTS EACH FOUGHT FOR THEIR OWN CHIEF, NOT UNITED
Even though the Meccans were superior in terms of numbers, they fought in the 
old Arab style with careless bravado, each chief leading his own men. Muhammad's 
troops, however, were carefully drilled and fought under his unified command. It 
was a rout that impressed the Bedouin tribes, some of whom enjoyed the spectacle 
of seeing the mighty Quraysh brought low.
[source: Islam A Short History, p. 19]

700 JEWISH BATTLEFIELD OPPONENTS EXECUTED, WOMEN AND CHILDREN SOLD INTO SLAVERY
...so when the Jewish tribe of Qurayzah sided with Mecca during the Battle of 
the Trench, when for a time it seemed that the Muslims faced certain defeat, 
Muhammad showed no mercy. The seven hundred men of the Qurayzah were killed, and 
their women and children sold as slaves.
[source: Islam A Short History, p. 21]

IBN TAYMIYYAH FROM FAMILY OF VERY TRADITIONAL HANBALI SCHOLARS
In the post-Mongol world, the great reformer of the day was Ahmad ibn Taymiyyah 
(1263-1328), an alim of Damascus, which had suffered so terribly at the hands of 
the Mongols. Ibn Taymiyyah came from an old family of ulama who belonged to 
the Hanbali madhhad, and wanted to reinforce the values of the Shariah.
[source: Islam A Short History, p. 104]

IBN TAYMIYYAH DECLARED THE MONGOLS TO BE APOSTATES AND INFIDELS, NOT TRUE MUSLIMS
He declared that even though the Mongols had converted to Islam, they were in 
fact infidels and apostates, because they had promulgated the Yasa instead of 
the Shariah. 
[source: Islam A Short History, p. 104]

IBN TAYMIYYAH DENOUNCED THE ISLAMIC DEVELOPMENTS FOLLOWING THE RASHIDUN CALIPHATE
Like a true reformer, he attacked the Islamic developments that had occurred 
after the Prophet and the rashidun as inauthentic: Shiism, Sufism and Falsafah. 
[source: Islam A Short History, p. 104]

IBN TAYMIYYAH EMPHASIZED THE SPIRIT OF SHARIA, AND NOT MERELY THE LETTER OF THE LAW
But he also had a positive programme. In these changed times, the Shariah had to 
be brought up to date to fit the actual circumstances of Muslims, even if this 
meant getting rid of much of the fiqh that had developed over the centuries. It 
was essential, therefore, that jurists use ijtihad to find a legal solution that 
was true to the spirit of the Shariah, even if it infringed the letter of the 
law as this had been understood in recent times. 
[source: Islam A Short History, p. 104]

IBN TAYMIYYAH WAS VERY ANTI-MAINSTREAM ISLAM, WORRYING TO ESTABLISHED ORDER
Ibn Taymiyyah was a worrying figure to the establishment. His return to the 
fundamentals of the Quran and sunnah and his denial of much of the rich 
spirituality and philosophy of Islam may have been reactionary, but it was also 
revolutionary.
[source: Islam A Short History, p. 104]

IBN TAYMIYYAH THROWN INTO PRISON, NOT ALLOWED TO WRITE
Ibn Taymiyyah was imprisoned, and was said to have died of sorrow, since his 
gaolers would not permit him to write.
[source: Islam A Short History, p. 105]

GENERAL PUBLIC LOVED IBN TAYMIYYAH DURING HIS LIFETIME, ATTENDED HIS FUNERAL
Ibn Taymiyyah was imprisoned, and was said to have died of sorrow, since his 
gaolers would not permit him to write. But the ordinary people of Damascus 
loved him, because they could see that his Shariah reforms had been liberal, 
and that he had their interests at heart. His funeral became a massive 
demonstration of popular acclaim.
[source: Islam A Short History, p. 105]