1. Islam: Religion & Civilization

2. 1/5 of the world’s population are Muslims today.
The word Islam means submission or surrender. Muslim means a submitter.
Most Muslims live in the Indian subcontinent including India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
However, the country with the most Muslims today is Indonesia.

3. Early life of Muhammad Who is Muhammad? Answer: the Prophet of Islam
When & where was he born?
Answer: Mecca, a city in Saudi Arabia, in A.D. 570
Describe his early life:
Answer: He was an orphan, poor, lived as a trader in a caravan across the Saudi Arabian desert

5. What type of religious experience did Muhammad have when he was 40 yrs
What type of religious experience did Muhammad have when he was 40 yrs. old?
Answer: He had a vision of the angel Gabriel. Gabriel told him to teach that Allah was the one & only god.
Why was this a problem?
Answer: The people worshipped many gods and did not want to hear this message.

6. There he destroyed the idols (religious statues) in the Kaaba.
Muhammad led his followers to the city of Medina. There many people became Muslims and finally in A.D. 630 Muhammad was able to return to Mecca.
There he destroyed the idols (religious statues) in the Kaaba.
Now, the Kaaba is Islam’s holiest shrine. It is the destination for Muslims on their pilgrimage (Haji) to Mecca.
Kaaba

7. The pilgrimage to Mecca to the Kaaba is one of the Five Pillars of Islam. What are the Pillars?
1) Faith
2) Pray 5 times a day toward Mecca
3) Give alms (charity) to the poor
4) Fast during Ramadan (sun up to sundown; 9th month of Muslim calendar)
5) Pilgrimage (holy journey) to Mecca once in your life

8. Qur’an (or Koran) The holy book of Islam is the Qur’an.
Islam teaches that this book presents god’s teachings as revealed to Muhammad.
It includes teachings of the Bible & the Torah (Judaism)
It tells the teachings of Jesus and Abraham
Qur’an
(Written in Arabic)

9. Key Terms:
Jihad:
The struggle to defend the faith; also can mean an individual’s struggle to stay faithful. Muhammad taught that anyone who died in this struggle would receive the blessings of God.
Mosque:
This is the place of worship for Muslims. There are no religious pictures/statues or elaborate ceremonies.

10. Expansion of Islam

11. Divisions within the Muslim Community
Key Term: Caliph
Definition: Successor to the Prophet; Supreme military, government and religious Muslim leader.
Early after Muhammad’s death in A.D. 632 a dispute developed over who should be his successor and leader of the Muslims. A split developed which has lasted until today.
Sunnis believe the successor should be chosen by the community
Shi’ah believe only true descendants of Muhammad should rule
Today 10% of Muslims are Shi’ah and 90% Sunni

13. Muslim Society
Women had more rights under the Muslim empire than most women of the time.
Architecture became one of the greatest forms of art in the Islamic world.
They adopted the best ideas of the people they conquered and traded with.
They preserved the scientific and philosophical ideas of the Greeks, Romans, and Asians
They learned the art of papermaking from the Chinese
They transmitted math from India to the west