Introduction:

Islam means the submission of one’s will to God `, Muslim means the one who submits his will to the Almighty Allah. Nowadays, Muslims represent about 22% of the world. About 18% of the Muslims are Arabs, the rest are not Arabs but they are mainly in the Middle East area. There are about 8 millions Muslims living in the United States today. Islam started in the peninsula of Saudi Arabia where Arab tribes live there for thousands of years. Before Islam, the Arabian Peninsula was inhabited by primitive tribes who use to fight a lot and worship many deities, the stars, the trees, and caves. They use to trade through the red see, the gulf, and inland.

Mohammad the prophet of Islam:

He was born 571 A.D., little known about his childhood except that his father died while he was in his mother’s womb, his mother died when he was a baby, so his uncle took him as his own child and raise him up. When he was a boy, he started to work as s driver for a caravan. Later on, he worked for a wealthy lady and married her, from whom he got six children; four of them lived.

At the age of forty, he got his first revelation from God Almighty or Allah through the archangel Gabriel. The revelation lasted for twenty three years until few days before his death at the age of sixty two. The revelation of Mohammad or what is known now to be the “holy Qur’an” includes instruction on the worship of one God or The Almighty Allah, social justice, the resurrection of the body, and the final judgment. Of course, his new religion was rejected by the Arabs for many reasons, economically, politically and traditionally. They did not want any changes in their traditions, religion, Gods, or in their social structures.

At 619 A.D., Both Mohammad’s uncle and wife died, and he had no support form any one, that is why he took his followers and moved to Medina, about 200 miles away from Mecca, where he lived freely with his followers for ten years. In Medina, the number of his followers increased. But he was rejected by the Jews; that is why he deported them out of Medina, confiscated their property, and sold them into slavery. After that, he returned to Mecca victorious and settled there for the rest of his life. In Mecca, he destroyed the idols around Kaaba. Before his death, the whole Arabian Peninsula became a Muslim sea; not only that, but the Muslim army conquered the Byzantine Empire spreading Islam beyond the Arabian Peninsula.

The Holy Qur’an;

The holy Quran was revealed to Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him) during a period of twenty-three years, six hundred years after Jesus (P.B.U.H.). The first verse was revealed to him when he was forty, and the last verse was revealed to him when he was sixty-two, right before his death 632 A.D.

Between the year 644: 665, Othman bin Affan or the fourth Khalifa collected and put the revelation of Mohammad into one book known as the “Holy Qur’an”. The Quran discusses abundance of subjects like creation, astronomy, the earth and space, animals, the vegetable kingdom, and of course spirituality. The Quran discusses your relationship with God, with your fellow human, and with the nature around you.

The Holy Qur’an assures that every Muslim must live in a certain way, and follow and apply the five pillars of Islam in his life; the five pillars of Islam are;

1. The witnessing, the Shahada, or proclaiming the creed, by believing in your heart, mind and soul: “la ilah ila Allah, Mohammad Rasoulullah”; There is no God but Allah, and Mohammad is his final prophet and seal.
2. Five daily prayers, every Muslim must pray five daily prayers. And actually, that is the main activity that differentiate between a Muslim and non Muslim.
3. Fasting Ramadan, every Muslim must fast the month of Ramadan, “30 days” every year. Sick, women on period, old men, and travelers do not have to fast, but they can recompensate the days with others during the same year.
4. Alms giving, every Muslim must give his alms annually; and there are some Islamic Shari’a or laws concerning how to do that.
5. Performing the hajj or pilgrimage, every Muslim must visit Mecca, Ka’ba, and Medina once a life time, poor and sick are exempted.

Also, every Muslim believes in the six creeds of Islam;

1.  
   • Belief in the Almighty Allah as the only creator and king of the universe, without any partners, nor sons
   • Belief in his angels, who are unseen creatures; whose duty is to serve and obey the Almighty Allah
   • Belief in his holy books which were revealed to other prophets like the bible and the torah
   • Belief in his previous messengers like Jesus and Moses
   • Belief in the Day of Judgment and resurrection
   • Belief in the destiny either good or bad

Throughout the early Islamic history, science and art flourished. Baghdad and Cordoba were the center of knowledge and science. The Caliphs invited many scientists and scholars from different parts of the world to their capitals to teach their science and disciplines to the local Arab Muslims. One of the largest libraries in the ancient world was in Cordova; as it contained almost half million of books and manuscripts.

Calligraphy also flourished in the early Islamic history, especially in writing the holy Qur’an around and inside the mosques. Islam prohibits the use of painting and statues in life in general and in the mosques in particular; that is why we do not see them in the holy places.

As for the Islamic law schools; there are few Islamic law schools, one of them is the Hanifite law school which is popular in the east and north of the Arabian Peninsula.

The Hanbali law school; it is popular within the Arabian Peninsula itself. Shafite and Hanafite are popular in north east Africa. Malikite is popular in North West Africa.

The Shi’a do not follow the Sunni laws, they always have their own laws.

The glory of Islam continued until the invasion of Napoleon at the end of the 18^th century. To the Islamic world, that invasion invoked Islamic movements trying to revive the glory of Islam once more; one of them was the Washbasin in Saudi Arabia which is a reform movement, and later on, spread in many parts of the Muslim world.

Other movements are the Muslim Brotherhood (Ikhwan Muslemeen) in Egypt, and Mahdeia movement in the Sudan. They are still active trying to revive the glory of Islam and live strict orthodox Muslim life governed by the Shari’a “the Islamic laws” in every single aspect of their lives.

Here are the most important dates in the Islamic history;

I hope I have covered the main points about Islam.

Work cited

1-     Carmody, Denise. Ways to the center. California. 2002

2-     Van Voorst, Robert. Anthology of world scriptures. California. 2003

3-     General knowledge, acquainted throughout life as a Muslim.