ORIGINS OF ISLAM 600s, city of Mecca - important stopping

point for religious pilgrims, who visited a religious site dedicated to the worship of Abraham

ORIGINS OF ISLAM Muhammad was born

in Mecca

became a businessman

married a wealthy woman named Khadijah

interested in religion & spent a lot of time in prayer and meditation

ORIGINS OF ISLAM Muslim belief - one night while

Muhammad was meditating, an angel appeared & told him that he was a chosen messenger of god, Allah

The Muslim word for god is Allah.

ORIGINS OF ISLAM Muhammad began to teach that Allah

was the only god.

People who followed Muhammad were called Muslims & practiced the religion of Islam, meaning “submission to Allah.”

BASIC RELIGIOUS BELIEFSPAGE 267

The 5 Pillars: 1. Faith – All Muslims make a testament of

faith, that there is only one god, Allah, and Muhammad is his messenger.

2. Prayer – Face to Mecca and pray 5 times each day.

3. Alms – Give money to the poor. 4. Fasting – Do not eat during daylight

hours in the holy month of Ramadan. 5. Pilgrimage – Travel to Mecca at least

once in your life if you are physically and financially able.

BASIC RELIGIOUS BELIEFS The Qur’an is the holy book of Islamic

belief. Only the Arabic language is spoken in

Muslim prayer.

ISLAMIC SPLIT In 656, a Muslim caliph named Uthman was murdered.

His successor, Ali was also murdered. A family named the Umayyads came to power. They

Moved the capital of the Islamic empire from Mecca, to Damascus.

ISLAMIC SPLIT A group of Muslims who did not like the

rule of the Umayyad family broke away from them. This split Muslims into two groups:

GROWTH OF THE ISLAMIC EMPIRE Abu-Bakr became the caliph, or

religious leader, of the Muslims after Muhammad’s death in 632.

Abu-Bakr declared jihad (religious war), against people who did not follow Islam. Jihad – used to expand the Islamic empire.

A disciplined military & expert commanders aided the Islamic empire in conquest.

Muslims allowed all conquered people to retain religious freedom.

GROWTH OF THE ISLAMIC EMPIRE Abassids (Islamic group) came to power in 750 moved the capital of Islam to Baghdad (Iraq) developed a strong bureaucracy to help manage affairs of

the empire had separate government departments for the treasury, the

management of the military, & foreign affairs created taxes to help fund their empire

TRADE ROUTES Arabian Peninsula - crossroads between Africa, Asia, &

Europe New capital at Baghdad had easy access to

Mediterranean, Indian Oceans, & Silk Road trading route that connected Europe w/ China

Arabian Peninsula used a common language, Arabic, & a common currency

ISLAMIC SCHOLARSMuhammad believed strongly in the power for

learning: (Medicine) Ibn Sina began working as a

doctor at age 18 & became one of Islam’s leading medical scholars. He wrote several books, the most famous of which are The Book of Healing and The Canon of Medicine

(Geography) Ibn Battuta was a famous Muslim explorer. He traveled throughout the known world (farther even than Marco Polo). He recorded his journeys in his book Rihla (meaning “voyage”)