- Today, Islam is the world’s fastest growing religion with more than 1 billion followers throughout the world
What was Arabia like before Muhammad? Islam - Islam is a monotheistic religion that began in city of Mecca located on the Arabian Peninsula near the Byzantine Empire
- Arabians were polytheistic & came to visit Mecca to pray to the Kabba, a shrine containing idols of 360 different gods (including Allah)
Islam - Mohammad was born in Mecca & was interested in monotheism of Jews & Christians who traded in Mecca
- At age 40, Mohammad had a vision that told him he was a messenger of Allah (Arabic word for “god”; the same god as Christians & Jews)
- Muhammad called his religion Islam (“surrender to God”) & destroyed the other idols in the Kabba
Islam - Mohammad identified rules all Muslims should live by, called the Five Pillars of Islam:
- Faith—believe in 1 god, Allah
- Prayer—five times every day
- Alms—give money to the needy
- Fasting—eat no food from sunrise to sunset for 1 month (Ramadan)
- Pilgrimage—one in life, go to Mecca
Islam - Islam
- became
- a very
- popular
- religion in
- Mecca and
- Medina.
Expansion of Islam - Muslims began to expand; idea of jihad taught that Muslims would go straight to heaven if died fighting for Allah; so they fought very hard to expand.
- Holy wars were considered okay in God's eyes.
- Islam expanded into a huge empire including Spain, Northern Africa, Persia, and Arabia.
Expansion of Islam - Expanded Arabic language and cultural innovations.
- Islamic rulers proved mostly tolerant, they offered new subjects three choices:
- convert to Islam
- pay a tax or
- die
Islam - Like Christianity, Islam split into 2 sects; after Muhammad died, caliphs (followers of Muhammad) lead Islamic faith, but confusion over the “correct” leadership (caliph):
- Sunni—caliphs should be chosen by vote (95% Muslims are Sunni today)
- Shiite—caliphs should come directly from Muhammad’s family tree (more radical; 3% of all Muslims today)
- Percentage Today of Sunni & Shi’a Muslims Worldwide
Ottoman Turks - Turks are nomads from Asia; contact with Muslim Empire led to conversion of Turks to Islam
- Ottoman Turks—Most powerful group of Turks began to grow strong as Byzantine Empire and Islamic Empire began to weaken
- Defeated both Islamic Empire & Byzantine Empire; created Ottoman Empire
- Seige of Constantinople (1453 A.D.)
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