THE RISE OF ISLAM

Warm Up Rome 1.All knowledge about Jesus comes from the 2.people who die for their faith and thus inspire others to believe 3.Edict of Milan 4.First Christian Emperor: 5.Year of the fall of Rome: 6.Empire that rises out of Eastern half of Rome:

The Arabian People Arabs are a nomadic people who live in the Arabian Peninsula – The Arabian Peninsula is a harsh land with a vast desert interior – Must move constantly to find water Farming was limited, but participated heavily in trade – Trade routes converged at the Arabian Peninsula – Domesticated camels to expand the caravan trade One of the most important trade towns was called Mecca – Mecca contained a structure called the Kaaba, an ancient building that was considered sacred

Muhammad While traveling on business, Muhammad met followers of Judaism and Christianity – These faiths influenced his thinking Muhammad was a religious man who often left his home to live in a cave for extended periods – One of the times at the cave, Muhammad awoke to find himself in the presence of an angel, who commanded him to speak messages from Allah

– Decides God has chosen him to be a prophet to spread messages Allah was the one and only true God Instructions on how to live to please Allah and live in paradise after death – Begins to preach in public and gains a number of followers Some Meccans, however, did not accept his teachings Muhammad moves from Mecca to Yathrib, which came to be called Medina, “the Prophet’s city” – This journey came to be known as the hegira, or hijra – The year the hegira took place became year one on the Islamic calendar (622)

This new faith was called Islam, meaning “achieving peace through submission to God” – Followers were called Muslims, claim ancestry to Abraham and his son Eventually Muhammad defeats the people of Mecca and his influence becomes great

Basic Religious Teachings Monotheistic, the Qur’an is the sacred text of Islam – Written down by the followers of Muhammad – Muslims believe that only in its original Arabic language can one know the full meaning of the Qur’an – The Qur’an also lays out five basic acts that are central to Islam The Five Pillars of Islam – Belief – profession of faith “There is no god but God (Allah) and Muhammad is the messenger of God”

Also makes clear that Muhammad is a prophet, not a deity – Prayer – perform five daily prayers, always facing Mecca – Giving of alms or charity – Fasting = going without food or drink Do this from dawn to dusk during the month of Ramadan, the month when Muhammad began to report the messages

– Pilgrimage, called the hajj, to Mecca Pilgrims gather by the thousands to pray in the city’s large mosque Mosque = building in which Muslims worship – Obeying Allah’s will means following the Five Pillars Guidelines for good behavior outlined in the Qur’an – Muslims are forbidden to drink alcohol or eat pork

The Qur’an teaches that Allah is the same God that the Jews and Christians worship – Muhammad considered Abraham, Moses, and Jesus to be messengers of God, but saw himself as the last prophet – Muslims are to respect Jews and Christians as “people of the book”

Spread of Islam When Muhammad died, he had not named a successor – Abu Bakr was chosen – one of Muhammad’s closest companions and one of the first converts, he gained the title caliph = successor to Muhammad Creation of an Arab Empire – Warred against neighboring people and expanded – Conquered most of the Middle East and part of North Africa and even Spain – The expansion into Europe was stopped at the Battle of Tours in 732 by Charles Martel – Attacked Constantinople, but was defeated

The attack on Constantinople led to the Crusades – Crusades = a holy war to regain the holy land – Many Crusades will be fought against Muslim power – The Crusades will have little impact on Southwest Asia except to breed centuries of mistrust between Christians and Muslims Split in Islam – After the death of Abu Bakr, the title of caliph passed to the Umayyad dynasty, who made the office of caliph hereditary – Some Muslims, however, favored Ali, who was Muhammad’s son-in-law – A civil war broke out and Ali was killed

– Leads to a split in Islam into two groups: Sunni – “way of the prophet”, say that the Umayyads are the true caliphs – most Muslims are this Shiite – “party of Ali”, say that the descendants of Ali are the true caliphs – mostly found in Iran and a part of Iraq

Muslim Society Women – According to the Qur’an, women are equal to men before Allah – Women had to have a male guardian and were expected to stay at home and out of sight – Kept from social contact with men outside their families, had to be covered at all times Slavery – Slavery was common throughout Muslim lands – The Qur’an required slaves to be treated fairly