Islam Unit Review

Islam Overview
In the last few centuries of the ancient world, Arabia was a divided and contested country. The peninsula lay
between the Roman Empire, and the Empire of Persia. Parts of it, at least, had been ruled by one empire or
another in a seesaw battle, that lasted for centuries. Internally, Arabia was divided into many tribal areas, and the
various tribes fought both the imperial powers and each other. Some of the Arabian tribes were hristian, some
were !ewish, and a few may have been "oroastrian, but the ma#ority were pagan.
In $%& .E., 'uhammed was born into the Quraysh tribe, which was very influential in Mecca/
Makkah . (hen 'uhammed was about )&, he had gone into the mountains around 'ecca to fast and
pray, when he received a revelation. The Angel Gabriel appeared to him and told him that he was a
prophet of Allah, and that his mission was to bring the true (ord of Allah to the Arab peoples. As a
sign of the truth of this, 'uhammed, who had been unable to read or write previously, was suddenly
literate.
Returning to 'ecca, 'uhammed began to preach the message he had been given* there was only one
+od, Allah, that no image or idol was acceptable to Allah, that Allah was not born from another god,
and -e did not have any son or daughter, that all who believed the (ord of Allah were as brother or
sister, and that all the prophets, from the time of Adam to the time of !esus, had revealed the same
message.
The people of 'ecca were not very receptive to his message. Their own religious practices were la.,
and one of the ma#or businesses of the 'eccans was playing host to pilgrims from the various other
tribes, who came to worship their own gods at a shrine called the Kaaba, which was said to have been
built by Abraham. 'uhammed at frist was only able to covert his wife, his cousin, and a handful of
others.
'eeting considerable opposition, and fearing for the lives of his few followers, 'uhammed moved to
Yethrib in /00.E. 1 an event 2nown as the Hejira , which mar2s the beginning of the 'uslim
calendar. -ere he was as2ed to mediate a conflict between the ruling clans and he became, in effect, the
ruler of the city. This city afterwards was called Medina the City of the Prophet. 3rom this base
'uhammed increased his efforts to convert the other tribes of Arabia, using discussion, persuasion, and
politics. -e also began a jihad against the 'ecca.
In /4& .E., 'uhammed and his armies captured 'ecca. The 5a6aba was cleansed and the idols within
it destroyed 1 although it is said that 'uhammed himself protected an icon of the 7irgin 'ary with his
own hands. The 5a6aba remains as a centre of devotion, and all 'uslims pray in the direction of the
5a6aba to this day.
'uhammed died in /40 .E. and was succeeded by the first Caliph, Abu Bakr. The aliph had to deal
with the War of Apostasy, an uprising among some of the tribes of Arabia who felt that once
'uhammed was dead, so was their obligation to worship Allah.
8nder the second aliph, 8mmar, the 'uslims began to e.pand out of Arabia. In battles with the
Persian Empire and the 9y:antine Roman Empire, the armies of Islam proved to be stronger. 9y his
death in /)).E., about 4& years after 'uhammed had received his revelation, the 'uslim world 1
Dar ul Islam 1 was an empire in it6s own right.
The third aliph, 8thman ben Affan, authori:ed the definitive version of the Quran the revelation
'uhammed received from Allah.,. ;ater aliphs collected the other sayings and decrees of 'uhammed
into a collection 2nown as the Hadith, which remains an important source of 'uslim law and teaching
to this day.
9y %40 <ar ul Islam stretched from the Pyrennes mountains in Europe to the borders of India, and deep
into central Asia.
Oriins
=4 systems had been characteri:ed in Arabia in the /
th
century.
= Religious System
= people had a belief in various of gods 2nown as polytheism
= idolatry too2 place, worship of different ob#ects in the form of art
= by the time 'uhammad was born >$%&E?, 'uslims believed the Ka'bah
= 5a@bah is a cube shape building that Abraham built to honor +od
= Social System
divided into tribes
tribes emerged bAc the nomadic nature of desert life
tribal life led to the establishment of a tradition of rivalry and bloodshed that
characteri:ed Arbia before the advent of Islam
women were considered to be at the bottom of the social ladder.
=Economic System
meccan merchants earned their livelihood though trade with people
rich loaned money and other things of life to the poor and the needy at an
increasingly high rate of interest, which made it impossible for the poor to
pay it off, the rich would ma2e the poor their slaves and would wor2 for
them to pay off the debts, this is 2nown as economic tyranny.

!uhamma"
central figure in Islam was the prophet 'uhammad
he had received direct revelation from god through the angel gabriel
'uhammad would have lead Arabia away from idolatry and into the belief in the oneness of
god.
'uslims had called 'uhammad BPeace be upon himC, bAc of his great reverence.
'uhammad was born in $%& E, into the Duraysh tribe > most respected tribe in 'ecca?
father had died before 'uhammad was born and his mother had died when 'uhammad was /
years old.
-is grandfather Abd al-Mutalib had ta2en care who was the head of the Duraysh tribe
;ater on, Abu alib! his uncle, had ta2en care of him. -e was a distinguished Euarysh merchant
'uhammad was 2nown as a honest and effective businessman as he made business trips with
his uncle
'uhammad went through a number of significant spiritual e.periences. -e had always
demonstrated a clear preference for monotheism along with aversion to idolatry.
Saw idolatry as the poison that was inhibiting the spiritual growth of humanity
at age 0&, 'uhammad gained respect of a wealthy widow named Khadjiah! And later on
married her even though she was F$ years older than him.
Revelation#
in /F&, in the month of Ramadan, 'uhammad was on retreat in order to mediate at the cave on
'ount -ira.
-e had felt an unusual presence, it was angel +abriel, who had appeared to him, and as2ed him
to read a passage
'uhammad had said he could not read but +abriel had insisted.
3inally in the 4
rd
reEuest, 'uhammad agreed
for the ne.t 04 years, 'uhammad received a series of revelation, and these were form to ma2e
up the Qu'ran
the reelations had changed 'uhammad, he began preaching around 'ecca and he would share
the revelations, memebers of his tribe saw this 'uhammad as a threat to their superior social
status as a leader of their community.
In the year of /FG, both his wife and his uncle had died. This year was 2now as "ear o# sorro$
he had immigrated to 'edinah, he had traveled in night. This movement is called Hijrah that
means migration
'uhammad went through 0 special e.periences called BHight !ourney and AscensionC
= The night #ourney involved 'uhammad accompanied by +abriel traveling on a winged
horse named %ura&, from 'ecca to !erusalem
= after arriving in !erusalem, 'uhammad and +abriel ascended through the % heavens. The
ascension is 2nown as the Mi'raj' In the F
st
heaven, they met Adam, in the 0
nd
it was !ohn and
!esus, went through !oseph, Enoch, Aaron, 'oses and lastly Abhraham.
Prophet Islam PO$ %ewish PO$ Christian PO$
&oah Hoah warned people of
the error of their sinful
ways, built an arc,
survived the flood,
rebuilt civili:ation and
shared new rules
Same as islam Same as islam
Abraham F of % prophets who had
received scriptures from
+od. 'entioned Euite
often in the Eu@ran.
Taught people to
abandon idolatry. (ent
through arab lineage
Seen as the patriarch of
the #ewish faith. Taught
people to worship F +od
and abandon idolatry.
(ent through -ebrew
lineage
Same as #ewish
!oses Sent to proclaim the one
god of the idolatress of
Agrees with islamic
position. Sent by god to
Same as #ewish
Egypt. 'entioned 0&&
times in the Euran. 8sed
miracles to demonstrate
gods power over the
Egyptians. Received
gods law in the form of
F& commandments
free the hewbews out of
slavery. ;eading them
into the promise land.
+ive the #ews gods law
trough the F&
commandments
%esus
9orn through virgin
mary, and over his life
performed many
miracles. Duran denies
that #esus was the son of
god and didnt die on the
cross. Instead he has
never died and ascended
into heaven and will
return to aid in the
future.
-old no view of #esus Son of god and part of
the holy trinity. 9orn to
virgin mary. Suffered
persecution, was
crucified and died and
rose again after 4 days.
Ascended into heaven
and will return to #udge
the living and dead.
!uhamma"
Bseal of the prophetsC
hes the last prophet in
the line of the prophets ,
sent by Allah >+od? to
deliver his divine
message. -ighest
spiritual prominence.
;ast prophet who
conpeted the teaching of
all the prophets.
-olds no view of
'uhammad
-olds no view of
'uhammad
!uhamma" in !a"inah#
(ihad- holy war , strive to follow gods commands.
4 9attles had occurred*
Battle# 'ynopsis#
9adr ='uhammads army of 4F4 defeats, 'ecca@s army
of F&&&
8hud =meccans return with an army of 4&&& to score a
victory. <espite their apparent victory, the
meccans return home instead of proceeding 4 2ms
more and sac2ing madinah.
9attle of the Trench =meccans return with an army of F& &&&.
muhammad orders his men to build a trench
around 'adinah. 'eccas were unable to ta2e
down the city, thwarted by the trench and hot
climate desert climate
'eccans had return home
the teachings had been ta2en through the people of madinah
/4& E, 'uhammad led a group of F& &&& into 'ecca, referred as the BonEuest of 'eccaC,
few people had opposed to this.
'uhammad ta2es no revenge and lets the rulers stay as rulers
'uhammad goes into the 5a@bah and destorys all the idols.
In the year /40, 'uhammad with F)& &&& muslims visit the 'ecca to perform the last
pilgrimage.
-e had said everybody is eEual including both men and women and the distribution of wealth.
'uslim place of worship is Mos&ue'
<ied in !une /40 at the age of /4.
Caliph (ears of Caliph Important Contrib)
Abu Bakr /40=4/) =leader after muhammad died.
=F
st
successor, formed the
chapters in the Eu@ran
=hes muhammads father in
law
='uhammad had married Aisha
=continued the e.pansion of
islam
Umar /4)=/)) =continued the e.pansion into the
middle east
Uthman /))=/$/ =e.panded into africa and india
=assassinated, victim of his own
2indness, favoriting to his
relatives.
Ali /$/=//F =family descent of 'uhammad
=assumed leadership of divided
muslim community
=assassinated in //F
=F
st
battle againist muslim vs
muslim
the caliphs are 2nown as the B rightly=guided cailphs or )ashidin
Beliefs#
beliefs are purely personal affair
their belief is summari:ed in the muslim creed *hahadah , B there is no god but god and
muhammad is the messenger of godC
'uslims owe their religious faith to 'uhammad, the messenger of +od
'uslims call +od Allah
belief in its omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent.
+od is central to the muslim faith
god is one, but even though he is one, he is capable of doing all sorts of things.
+od is not only the creator but the master of all
god rules over heaven and earth, nothing moves without his 2nowledge and permission.
Islam belief everything has a soul and life
*ay of %u"ment#
every person living on earth has a soul that lives on earth for F lifetime and upon death will
move towards afterlife
believe when a soul passes into afterlife, +od will reconfigure the persons physical body so he
or she could stand before -im on !udgement <ay, it is then he or she will be sent to Paradise or
-ell
Paradise is described as eternal abode of beauty and ma#estry
god does not want to send anyone to hell but if a person choses to live a evil life god has no
choice
+od will #udge peoples action by their intentions and motives
+ Pillars#
Shahadah= declaration of faith
consists of 0 declaration, there is no god but god and muhammad is the messenger of god
is muslims announcement to the world that they sincerely believes in and follows the Eu@ran
Salat= mandatory prayer $IAday
$ times a day prayer is mandatory, before dawn, mid=day, late afternoon, after sunset, and
after dar2.
Recite prayers and perform series of movements
before prayer perform ritual cleaning $udu meaning ma2ing pure or radiant
cleaning the entire body is called +husi! mandatory after se., childbirth, menstrual
"a2at= mandatory donation
paying in :a2at alms is compliance to a divine in#unction to care for other muslims
means to purify or increase
states to give 0.$ J of their wealth over a period of F year
Sawn=mandatory fasting
entire month of ramadan, muslims cannot eat, drin2, smo2e or have se. from dawn to dus2
act of worship wherein muslim community dedicates a month to considering the benevolence of
god and abstaining from some of the pleasures of life in order to develop spiritual purity
ends with one day festival called Eid al=3itr
-a##= pilgrimage to 'ecca
underta2en by any muslim in the world, man or female who has the health and means to ma2e
the pilgrimage
last day of the ha## commemorates the god as2ed Abraham to sacrifice his son Ismael at mina.
Pilgrims throw % pebbles at 4 tall stone pillars that represent Satan