The History of Islam

The caliphate lasted for centuries and developed into the Ottoman Empire, which controlled a large region of the Middle East from 1517 to 1917 when World War I ended Ottoman rule.

With 1.8 billion Muslims, Islam is the second largest religion in the world after Christianity. Unlike many religions, there is not a single image or symbol of Islam that is accepted by all Muslims.

Islam is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the teachings of Prophet Muhammad ibn Abdullah (A.D. 570-632), whose name is Muslim and who added “peace be upon him” to the scriptures of the Book. The followers of Islam call themselves Muslims, and there are now about two billion people in the world, second only to Christians. Like Christianity and Judaism, Islam is a continuation of the teachings of Abraham, who appears in the Jewish and Christian scriptures and is considered a prophet of Islam. “Peace be upon him.”. However, Islam differs in relation to these two religions.

The history of Islam as a culture and community as it regards the political, social, economic and cultural development of Islam. The following short timeline highlights some of the most important events in the development of Islam and the geographical spread of the religion in the countries shown in the film. The beginning of Islam is marked in 610 after the first revelation of Prophet Mohammed at the age of 40. Mohammed and his followers spread the teachings of Islam throughout the Arabian Peninsula.

Most accept that Islam as a culture and community has its origins in Mecca and Medina from the 7th century AD. Muslims see it as a return to the original faith of prophets such as Suleman, David, Musa, Ibrahim, Nuh and Adam and a submission to the will of God by Islam.

According to tradition, the Islamic prophet Mohammed received what Muslims regard as divine revelations in 610 A.D. in anticipation of an imminent judgment and the care of the poor and needy, in anticipation of a divine revelations to each other and to God. After the death of Mohammed in 632 AD the leadership of Muslim Ummah (community) was assumed by Abu Bakr who assumed the title of Caliph (successor) of Mohammed.

Since the dawn of Islam, Muhammad has instilled in his followers a sense of brotherhood and a bond of faith, which has helped to develop in them a sense of close relationship, reinforced by their experience of persecution in the nascent community of Mecca. The strong attachment to the teachings of the Koran and the Anic revelations as well as the striking socio-economic content of Islamic religious practices further cemented this bond.

In 622 AD, Muhammad emigrated to Medina, where his sermons were accepted by the community and the state of Islam was established. Islam’s essential egalitarianism – the community was faithful to the religion, and there was no official discrimination against followers of other religions – quickly won converts.

After sustained persecution in Mecca, Muhammad and his followers emigrated to the nearby city of Yathrib, now known as Medina, where people accepted Islam. In Medina, Muhammad established an Islamic state based on the laws revealed in the Koran and inspired by the guidance given to him by God.

The Muslim community elects his father-in-law and close confidant Abu Bakr as caliph (successor). For the first time, the Muslim community chooses a caliph freely, not from a faction.

Ali, Muhammad’s son-in-law, won the first battle of Basra in 656 with an army backed by Muhammad’s widow Aisha. Elected caliph by rebels, Ali spent most of his rule in conflict with other Muslims. Ali’s caliphate provoked the only major religious divide in the history of Islam between Sunnis and Shiites (see Shiites).

By the 7th century Arabia had become the cradle of the third great monotheistic religion in the world. The first was Judaism in the region stretching from the Red Sea to Palestine, Christianity at the northern end of the region and Islam in the south, with Mecca near the sea. The Umayyad dynasty (Ommiad, name comes from Umayya ibn Abd-Shams, great-grandfather of the first Umayyad caliph) ruled from 661 to 750.

The later arrivals were the third great monotheistic religion in the world that claimed to build on the message of their immediate family of religious predecessors and bring a better, more accurate version of the truth of the One God revealed in this case by the Messenger of God Muhammad. The history of the Islamic faith on the African continent spans fourteen centuries. For the first time in a single volume, this history of Islam on the African continent presents a detailed historical map of the religions cultural, political, geographical and religious past on a continental scale.

The history of the Islamic world from 600 to 1800 offers a fresh and unique overview of the formation of the faith and the most important developments that characterized the history of the wider regions from late antiquity to the beginning of modern times. What follows is a short history of Islam in the United States, the country whose founding today was to guide the Muslim American community, how it grew and how it exists today.

Islam practiced in the Muslim mosque in Highland Park is not an exotic or strange thing or a spectacle. It is an American faith tradition that cannot be found in nearby churches or synagogues. The mosque built by Muslim migrants to serve as a place of worship was supposed to represent Islam to American observers, like the Cairo Street mosque, but the Muslims in Highland Park hoped to give a different impression of their faith. It wasn’t an exotic, strange thing or spectacle.

Mohammed (also spelled Mohammed or Mohammad) was born in 570 AD in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, and Muslims believe that he is the last prophet sent to reveal his faith to humanity. According to Islamic texts and traditions, a certain angel called Gabriel visited Muhammad in 610 AD while meditating in a cave. Important Islamic shrines are the Kaaba Shrine in Mecca and Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem as well as the mosque of Prophet Muhammad in Medina.