Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam, was born in Mecca in approximately 570 CE. His father Abd Allah died before he was born and his mother Amina died during his early childhood, leaving the young boy an orphan to be cared for by relatives. In his twenties, he married Khadija, a wealthy widow, with whom he had several children. He worked in his wife's business and lived an unremarkable life until the age of forty. Unlike other Meccans, Muhammad like to spend time apart for reflection and meditation, often in a cave outside Mecca. Muslim traditions holds that during one of these retreas he experinced his first 'revelation' from God, in approximately 610 CE.