Analyzing the Foundations of Islam

History of Islam

Islam is a religion that was founded on the revelation brought to humanity by Prophet Mohammad. (570 C.E - 632 C.E) Islam was taught as the latest version in the ongoing religion of God which can be tracked back through Jesus to Moses and Abraham. Thus, Islam accepts Christianity and Judaism as the true religions that were sent to human-beings by God. Although this is the situation, teaching of Islam claims to supersede these other two important religions' truths with a new divine revelation. The word Islam comes from the Semitic root "slm" which means submission to a higher power or the peace that comes from that submission.

Mohammad, the last prophet of Allah that means God in Arabic, was born in 570 in a small clan of Quraysh tribe in Mecca. In 610, when he was 40 years old, he began to have visions and in one of them, he saw angel Gabriel. Gabriel gave him God's first orders. After a while, Mohammad realized that he was receiving messages from God. He began to take these messages to the people of Mecca. Mohammad claimed of a one and a transcendent God which was not easy to be accepted by the clan of Quraysh, because at that time they were worshipping 365 idols that were set in a cubic building called Ka'bah. Ka'bah is believed to be built by Adam and rebuilt by Abraham.

After 10 years, the Muslim community grew slowly and naturally tension increased between Muslims and non-Muslims who continued to worship the idols in Ka'bah. Pressures on Muslims came to an irresistible point. In 615, Mohammad sent some of his followers to Abyssinia, where the Christian King offered them refuge. In 622, Prophet and his 200 followers had to leave Mecca and go to Medina because of ongoing violence towards him and his followers. This event is called Hijra and marks the beginning of Islam as a religion. During the years in Medina, Islam grew quickly and it had followers migrating to this city from all over Arabia. There had been two important wars between the Quraysh tribe and Muslims which are known as Badr in 624 and Uhud in 625. Finally in 630, Prophet Mohammad and almost 10,000 followers entered Mecca without any resistance from the Quraysh tribe. All the idols in Ka'bah were destroyed and it was used for the worship of one true God, Allah. From that time Mecca became the center of Islamic Arabia.

In the next two years, most of Arabia accepted Mohammad as their prophet and nominally became Muslim. On June, 8th 632, at the age of 65, Mohammad died leaving a great religion behind him. After the death of Prophet, system of caliphate period for Muslims began. Caliphate comes from the word caliph which means the successor of the Prophet. First caliph was the first male convert to Islam, Aba Bakr. After the death of Aba Bakr, Umar was declared as the second caliph. Uthman was the third and Ali was the fourth caliph. These caliphs were strongly related to Mohammad and they were first converts to Islam when Mohammad revealed the new religion to people of Mecca. During the leading periods of 4 successors of Prophet and Islam grew quickly it spread to other countries and continents during the other caliphate periods of Ummayid (661 C.E - 750 C.E), Abbasid (750 C.E - 1258 C.E) and Ottoman Empires (1299 C.E - 1923 C.E).

Chronology of Islam

DateEvent

570 C.EBirth of Prophet Mohammad.

595 C.EMarriage of Mohammad with Hadrat Khadija.

610 C.EFirst revelation of God in a cave on Mt. Hira in Mecca.

Mohammad was commissioned as the messenger of God.

613 C.E Mohammad's declaration at Mt. Sara inviting the general public to Islam

615 C.EPersecution of Muslims by the Qurasyh tribe.

Some of the followers of Mohammad were told to leave for Abyssinia.

617 C.ESocial boycott of Muslims and Prophet by Quraysh tribe.

Muslims were forced to live outside of Mecca.

619 C.EDeath of Mohammad's uncle Abu Talib who raised him.

Death of Mohammad's wife Khadija.

622 C.E Mohammad and his followers migrated to the town of Medina that was known as Hijra, beginning of Muslim era.

624 C.E Battle of Badr with Quraysh tribe.

625 C.EBattle of Uhud with Quraysh tribe.

630 C.E Conquest of Mecca by Mohammad and his followers.

632 C.EDeath of Prophet Mohammad

Start of caliphate with Aba Bakr.

Umar became the second caliph after death of Aba Bakr.

638 C.E Roman's were defeated at the battle of Yarmouk.

Muslims entered Palestine.

Islam spread to Syria, Lebanon, Persia and Iraq

641 C.EIslam spreads into Egypt.

644 C.E Umar died and Uthman became the third caliph.

654 C.E Islam spread to whole Northern Africa.

656 C.EUthman is murdered.

Ali, Mohammad's cousin, became the fourth caliph.

661 C.E Ali is murdered by Uthman's followers.

Caliphate passes to Ummayad dynasty.

Damascus in Syria becomes the new capital city.

710 C.E Muslims entered Spain.

750 C.E Abbasids overtook the rule of Islamic world.

Capital was moved to Baghdad in Iraq.

768 C.E Oral record of Mohammad was first written down by the historian Ishaq Ibn Yasar.

1258 C.E End of Abbasid period.

1453 C.E Ottoman Empire defeated the Byzantine Empire and took over Istanbul (Constantinople) which was the capital of Orthodox Christianity.

Islam spread and continued expanding in to Balkans in Europe.

Geography of Islam

Arabia is the world's largest peninsula and it is called as the Island of Arabia by Arabs themselves. Bounded on the east by the Persian Gulf, on the south by the Arabian Sea, and on the west by the Red Sea, it is bounded on the north by the Syrian Desert. Islam was born and grew on this land and it was fully grown when it came out of it. Islamic identity evolved in the Arabian cities of Mecca and Medina.

Mecca was a great trade city and it was a stopping place for merchants and businessmen of all races from different religions and countries during the times when Mohammad first received the message of God. Moreover, revelation of Islam by God and the first converts to Islam took place in Mecca. Medina was the city where Mohammad and his followers found refuge in. During the years in Medina, Islam had so many followers from all over Arabia. Moreover, Damascus in Syria, Baghdad in Iraq and Istanbul in Turkey were the other cities from where Islam was ruled.

After the death of Mohammad, four caliphates and great Muslim empires such as Ummayads, Abbasids, Seljuks and Ottomans helped Islam to spread quicker than it was expected. During the period after death of Prophet, Muslims defeated two great empires, Byzantine and Persian and they expanded Islam as far north as Austria, Vienna by conquering Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Persia, Iraq, all of Northern Africa, Spain and Balkans.

Scriptures of Islam

The most important scriptures that are holy to Islam were collected in a book called Qur'an by Prophet Mohammad. Qur'an was sent to Mohammad by Allah through the messenger angel Gabriel to guide the people of the world in true way of living. It was given to Mohammad in pieces over a period of 23 years from 610 C.E till 632 C.E. Qur'an consists of 114 chapters called Surahs consisting of 6,236 ayats or in other words verses. It is a unique book in the way that it remained unchanged till the present time for over 14 centuries and according to the teachings of Islam, it is the last message of God.

Qur'an is one concept of two which form the basis of Islam. The second concept is the Sunnah of the Prophet which means the way Mohammad lived his life in Arabic. A Muslim can not practice Islam without applying both of them to his life. There are also Hadiths that is a narration about the life of the Prophet and are very important for Muslim world. The quick expansion of Islam in the 7th and 8th centuries made the Islamic scholars preserve the knowledge of Sunnah of Prophet Mohammad. Thus, the science of Hadith evolution was born.

In addition to these concepts of Holy Scriptures of Islam, there is also Shariah which is known as the sacred law of Islam. It sets out the way of worship prescribed in Qur'an and Prophet's practice of life. It encompasses the whole human life; individual and social.

Rituals in Islam

In Islam there are worships that every Muslim is required to practice in their entire lives in order to be near God during the afterlife period. Practices in Islam are generally called as the five pillars of Islam. However, without faith, these required practices are not enough to be a true Muslim. First of all, a Muslim should have faith in Allah, his angels such as Gabriel and Michael, his messengers such as Moses, Jesus and Mohammad, his books such as the true New Testament, true Torah and Qur'an. Moreover, a true Muslim should have faith in last day or judgment day and divine preordainments good or bad. After having faith in these six articles, a Muslim is required to practice the five pillars of Islam. These practices are;

ØRepeating Shahada: Every Muslim or a person who decides to convert to Islam should repeat the statement "There is no God but God and Mohammad is the prophet of God."

ØSalat or obligatory pray: This practice involves confession of sins which begins with the purification of body and ends with the purification of the soul. It is practiced five times a day; between dawn and sunrise, at noon, in late afternoon, immediately after sunset and at night before midnight. Worshippers pray facing the point of adoration that is qiblah in Arabic and it points Ka'bah in Mecca.

ØZakat or almsgiving: This is a charity given to the poor and it benefits poor while it helps the giver by moving him towards submission of Allah.

ØSawm or fasting: All Muslims fast an entire month, which is known as the month of Ramadhan, starting from the sunrise until the sunset everyday. During fasting, a Muslim can not eat, drink or commit sexual intercourse.

ØHajj or pilgrimage: Pilgrimage to Mecca has to be done by every healthy and wealthy Muslim at least once in a life time.

Core Doctrines of Islam

Similar to Christianity and Judaism, Islam has also core doctrines within itself. Some of them are as follows:

• There is only one God.
• God sees everything and is present everywhere.
• Allah is not a trinity, but is one.
• Allah is all knowing and all powerful.
• Allah will judge all people on the Day of Judgment.
• There is an eternal hell for those who are not Muslims.
• There will be a physical resurrection of all people on the judgment day.
• There is an afterlife.
• There is a devil called Iblis in Arabic.
• Qur'an is God's word.
• Drinking alcohol, sexual intercourse before marriage, gambling, eating pork are forbidden.
• Mohammad is God's greatest and last prophet and his message is completion of past prophets, such as Abraham, Moses, David and Jesus.

• Belief of afterlife in Islam

The concepts of resurrection, heaven and hell have been part of Islam since Mohammad. Both Qur'an and Hadiths refer to the afterlife. According to Islam, when a human dies, he remains in a sort of interworld which is called as barzakh until the day of resurrection. Upon death, both body and spirit die and spend a period in the grave where they undergo a personal judgment by two angels and a divine judge. The day of resurrection is believed to last thousands years.

On the day of resurrection, the souls rejoin with their bodies and are assigned eternal life either in heaven or in hell depending on their merits. Heaven is located at the macrocosmic center of light and it is composed of eight levels. It is said in Qur'an that heaven is a place where it stores all kinds of delights are for the saved ones. Outer part of the macrocosm has the hell arranged in seven layers where the soul is punished by burning in fire. It is stated in Qur'an that hell is a place of which its fuel is stone and soul.