A Short History Of Islam

The teachings of Islam were passed down to humanity through Mohammed who is commonly thought of as the last, so far, in the line of Middle Eastern prophets. The first was Abraham of Judaism renown, then there was Jesus for Christianity and then came Mohammed. Mohammed was born in about 570 AD in Mecca, western Saudi Arabia and passed away 62 years later in 632 in Medina.

The Koran, or the 'Recitation' in English, consists of 144 chapters and was related to Mohammed by God. These teachings were written down by his scribes during the course of 23 years.

Like its predecessor religions, Islam is a monotheistic religion and its narrative includes stories or references to Abraham, Moses (and the Ten Commandments) and Jesus, but does not accept Christianity's declaration of his divinity.

Another major difference from the Middle Eastern religions before it, is that Jews trace their lineage through Abraham's son Isaac, whereas Muslims trace their history through Abraham's son Ishmael by another wife.

The root of the word Islam - 's-l-m' - means 'peace' and 'submission' (to God). A Muslim's association with God is determined by the 'Five Pillars of Islam'. These five pillars are: Shahadah (profession of faith); public and collective prayer five times daily; charity to the poor; fasting throughout the holy month of Ramadan and a pilgrimage to Mecca, the holiest of places to Muslims, at least one time in their lifetime.

Islam has strict dietary laws, notably about eating pork, and prohibitions against promiscuity, stealing, gambling and deceit. Muslims worship in Mosques and the services are held by Imams. The most critical time to pray is at midday on a Friday, which is the Muslim Sabbath.

The vast majority of Muslims are Sunnites, who are the traditionalists, and the rest are Shi'ites or 'partisans'. This could generally be compared with the relationship between Judaism and Christianity. The distinctions between the two sects in the both religions have caused untold misery over the centuries and there is no sign of it stopping any time soon.

There is considerably more known about Mohammed than about Jesus. Mohammed was brought up by his uncle and at the age of 25 he was a trader. At the age of 40, in 610, an angel instructed him to spread the word of God. He was not accepted in Mecca but the authorities invited him to quell the city of Medina in 622, which he accomplished.

His condition for accepting this task was that the people accept the word of God. This they did - this move is called the Hegim and it is the date from which Muslims record contemporary history - like the Western world uses the birth of Jesus.

By 632 Mohammed was dead, but by then the overwhelming majority of Arabs were Muslims. For one reason or another, Islam spread east and west from Saudi Arabia taken mostly by Arab traders probably. Islam never actually got a foothold in Europe (except Spain) but it did move East fairly extensively.