The Rise and Spread of Islam

Islam

While the Byzantines were ruling Asia Minor, a new empire, the Arab empire was taking shape in the south and east.

This new empire was fueled by a new religion: Islam.

This new empire quickly conquered vast territories in Southwest Asia and Africa.

This civilization began in Arabia.

We can locate this new kingdom south of the Fertile Crescent, in the great Arabian Peninsula.

There, herders called Bedouins lived as nomads, moving their herds from place to place.

They were organized in clans ruled by a Sheikh.

Towns began to appear in the coastal areas and the townspeople became traders.

The port of Jidda on the red sea received goods from Asia and Africa and transported them overland to Mecca.

Muhammad (PBUH)

The prophet of Islam, Muhammad, was born in Mecca in 570 (CE).

He was orphaned at the age of six. He lived with his grandfather and uncle.

He was from a respected tribe, but from a poor family.

He was, like many others in Mecca, a caravan trader.

As a trader, Muhammed came in contact with the monotheistic religions around him.

The original arabs were mostly polytheistic.

There were some that were not polytheistic, they weren't christian or Jewish, they just practiced meditation and believed in a single deity. They were called 'Hanifs'.

When Muhammed was 40 years old, he had a great religious experience.

Muhammed was visited (so says the Islamic faith) by the angel Jibreel (or Gabriel, in English).

The angel ordered Muhammed to teach the word of Allah, the One God, to the Arabs.

The rulers of Mecca bitterly opposed the teachings of Muhammed.

Part of this rejection had to do because the rulers of Mecca profited from pilgrimages to the Ka'bah, a famous building which hosted statues of many gods.

This opposition became prosecution and Muhammed sent his followers to preach to the city of Yathrib, later called Medina (Al-Madinah).

The rulers of the city embraced the prophet's ideas and he was invited to settle there.

This event is known in islamic faith as Hijra (the flight).

Many in Yathrib embraced the prophet's ideas and Muhammed became a political and religious leader.

Muhammed's followers, later known as Muslims, began to expand, converting desert tribes to Islam.

Muhammed used these tribes to raid desert caravans going to Mecca, which he had become determined to conquer and convert.

In 630, Muhammed entered Mecca, facing little resistance.

Muhammed used prudent policies, tolerance and, of course, force, to convert the bedouins to Islam.

In 632, Muhammed died. By then, a large part of the peninsula had become monotheistic and muslim.

Faith

What do Muslims believe in?

The central belief is that there is only one god: "Say God is One; God the Eternal: He did not beget children.

The main book of the muslim faith is the Qur'an (Koran), these are considered by muslims to have been dictated by god.

The People of the book

You'd be surprised that the Quran includes the ancient books of the jewish people and even the teachings of Jesus.

At first, the muslims referred to christians and jews as 'people of the book' and were considered brothers.