The History of Islam
The history of Islam is very long, and is very important to learn when learning about Islam. To help spread this knowledge, we have created a brief but complete history of Islam here.
The Origin of Islam
The Miracle and the Prophet
The history of Islam is very long and can be traced back to the 7th Century. Its origins started with Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam. Muhammad's father, ʿAbd Allāh, or Ishmael, in some cases, was deserted with Hagar by Abraham to prove Abraham's devotion to God. When Hagar was desperately searching for water, a miracle occurred: a spring of water sprung up at ʿAbd Allāh's feet. Later, in 570 C.E., Muhammad (Mohammed) was born to Aminah bint Wahb and ʿAbd Allāh, though ʿAbd Allāh died before Muhammad's birth. 570 was also the year that a Saudi Arabian King invaded Mecca and failed, later alluded to sūrah 105 of the Qur'an.
People of the Book
Islam, Judaism, and Christianity
People that practice Islam, Judaism, and Christianity are considered "People of the Book" because of their devotion and pride in religious texts. The three religions are in some aspects similar, like the fact that Muslims consider themselves to worship the same God as Christians and Judaists, the three religions all worship God, and the beliefs all have holy texts.
Muhammad's Early Life
Early Life and Marriage
The Prophet Muhammad was born in 570 C.E., the year when a Saudi Arabian King tried to conquer Mecca (Makkah) but failed. Muhammad was born into the Hāshim clan, a clan with prestige, but not much wealth. However, his father, the Ishmael, or in Islam, ʿAbd Allāh, died before his birth. Muhammad's mother, Aminah bint Wahb, sent Muhammad to live with nomads in the desert. There, he learned about traditional Arab values like helping widows, orphans, and strangers. At age 6, he returned to Aminah, but she died. Left in the hands of his grandfather, a highly regarded leader of the Hāshim clan, Muhammad continued to learn. Already there had been many deaths, but then his grandfather left, and Muhammad was transferred to Abu Talib, a respected merchant. When Muhammad was 12, Abu Talib brought him on a trading trip to Syria. Then, as Muhammad was growing up, he took on more trading trips and became known as al-Amin, or "the trustworthy" for his honesty. At age 25, a rich woman named Khadijah employed Muhammad to oversee the transport of goods. Muhammad's skills impressed Khadijah, and when she proposed marriage, Muhammad accepted. Muhammad and Khadijah had two sons, who died young, and four daughters, the most famous being Fāṭimah, or al-Zahrāʾ in Arabic. Fatimah managed to create an extensive line of descendants, which later became the Fatimid dynasty.
The Call to Prophethood
Becoming a Prophet
For 15 years, Muhammad lived as a merchant, trading and holding his reputation. He spent large amounts of time praying and meditating in the mountains of Mecca for religious reasons. Then, in around 610 C.E., during one of Muhammad's spiritual retreats, he received a call to become a prophet, or messenger of Allah, from the Angel Gabriel. The Angel Gabriel brought many revelations or revealed teachings to Muhammad from Allah, and through Gabriel, Allah instructed Muhammad to teach others compassion, justice, and honesty. According to Muslims, the Angel Gabriel continued to bring messages to Muhammad for the next 20 years, but Muhammad only spread this knowledge to his family and close friends. Muhammad could not read or write, but the messages were imprinted in his heart, and eventually, his followers recorded them into the Qur'an, now the sacred text of Islam. The poetic style of the Qur'an also enforced the idea that these words were from God himself and also attracted new followers. Some converts were Khadijah, Muhammad's wife, became one of the first to convert to Islam and some of his friends like Muhammad's cousin Ali and his friend Abu Bakr. Some followers developed in Mecca, and they became known as Muslims, or "those who surrender to God."
Tough Years for Muhammad
Rejection, Boycotts, and Death
The Four Caliphs
Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, Ali
When Muhammad passed away, his followers had to choose a new leader. They chose Abu Bakr to ascend into the position, and in addition, Abu Bakr was Muhammad's close friend and father-in-law. Abu Bakr then became the first of the four Rashidun caliphs, or the "rightly guided caliphs." The government that followed was called the caliphate, named after the term caliph. In his reign, Abu Bakr used military force to make tribes reunite with the country, and also finished the conquest of the Arabian Peninsula. After Abu bakr's death, the second caliph, Caliph Umar (Omar), took power. He expanded the Muslim Empire by conquest, which allowed Muslims to gain valuable resources. Caliph Umar also imposed taxes on the newly conquered land, with some targeted at non-Muslims. Caliph Umar let Christians and Jews practice their religion, but forced others to convert to Islam. A treaty made by Egypt and the Muslim Empire let Egyptians practice their religion, but made Egyptians have to pay tribute to the Muslim Empire. These same terms were also established with the Nubians, also called the Kushites to the south of Egypt. The next Caliph, Caliph Uthman (Osman), was a member of the Umayyad clan, and tried to unite Muslims by making an official version of the Qur'an and burning other versions. This led to people complaining of unfair ruling, and so Caliph Uthman was killed by rebels in 656. The final Rashidun caliph, Ali ibn Abi Talib, or Caliph Ali, took power. Caliph Ali was the cousin of Muhammad, and also was the wife of Fatimah. Unlike the reigns of the other three caliphs, some Muslims challenged his rule, which led to a civil war. Two important battles were fought, and Caliph Ali won one; the other was ended through negotiation. This made Caliph Ali lose supporters, and then in 661, one of these former supporters murdered Ali. This led to the formation of Sunnis and Shia Muslims, who differed in their beliefs of who succeeded the Prophet Muhammad.
The Umayyad Dynasty
After the death of Ali, the leader of the Umayyads, Mu'awiya claimed the caliphate. At that time, there were two Muslims groups, the Sunnis, who were the majority of the Muslims, and the Shi'ite, who were the minority, the Shi'ite were known as the "party" of Ali who they believed that the caliphates should only be those who were descendants of Muhammad. Still to this day, they disagree about whether or not Mu'awiya should have been accepted as the caliphate. After calming a few revolutions from the supporters of Ali, he founded the Umayyad Dynasty, they moved their capitol to Damascus, Syria in 661, and for around the next 100 years, the caliphs ruled the Muslims empire. As time went on, the Muslim empire started to appear more Arabic. The Muslims began to be introduced to more Arabic things, and they accepted them, for example, the Arabic language and trading with Arabic coins. Some of the top officials were also Arabic. All of these changes were accepted because the Muslims believed that this acceptance would help to unite people of different cultures. Under the Umayyads, the empire began to expand, armies were sent to central Asia and northwestern India, and in 711, they began their conquest for Spain which in the end was unsuccessful. For 800 years, the Muslims kept the little bits of land that they had in Spain. Together with Christian and Jewish scholars, the Muslims made many important advances in the fields of arts, science, technology, and literature. In conclusion, the Umayyad Dynasty was and still is very controversial, and it could be seen as a good or bad thing.
Muslim Innovations and Adaptations
Islamic Civilization
Trade and Culture
In the middle of the 8th Century, conquests had taken over large areas of territory. Parts of Spain, North Africa, and West Asia were taken over. Under Muslim rulers, people made inventing many things and made numerous advancements. Muslims learned from many cultures and also spread Islam. This process is called cultural diffusion, which can occur through trade, travel, or conflict. Trade was very important, and through trade, religions, such as Islam, could spread and new ideas, technologies, and items could spread. Through cultural diffusion, some aspects of religions can change.
Islamic lands were conveniently located, between three continents: Asia, Europe, and Africa. This resulted in many traders and trade routes crossing the Arabian Peninsula, and also linked major trade routes. Traders from many different places met up in the Middle East, and spread religions, ideas, and inventions with them. For example, Muslims learned paper making from the Chinese and then passed it on to Europeans. Muslims also produced any scientific, medical, and philosophical texts based on older Greek texts. Muslim mathematicians could translate the work of Babylonian, Indian, Chinese, Greek, and Jewish math scholars through math. Also, Islam had spread far and wide, with only a minority of Muslims from Arabia. Muslims from Persia, Egypt, North Africa, Turkey, and many other contributed to this cultural blending.
Geography and Navigation
Muslim scholars were very knowledgeable about geography, and divided the world into climate zones and examined plants and animals from different places. Muslim scholars also calculates the size of the Earth based on Greek calculations, and the result was very close to the actual size. Muslim scholars could create very accurate maps due to the study of geography, and one Muslim even made an atlas of the world, which was unheard of at the time. Some Muslim works provided very useful information. For example, "The Book of Roads and Provinces" provided information about Muslim trade routes, and "The Book of Countries" gave useful facts about lands under Muslim rule. Some wrote books and works to help other travelers travel safer and quicker. For example, one such work guided and helped people to go to Mecca and fulfill the hajj.
Muslim scholars also used navigational instruments like the compass and astrolabe. They perfected ideas and inventions from other countries, like the compass from China and the astrolabe from Greece. With these improved instruments, it allowed safer and quicker traveling, which helped boost trade and cultural blending.
City Building and Architecture
New styles of architecture were inspired by the big cities that were forming in Muslim territories. From 758 to 1258, the Muslim Abbasid dynasty rose to power in the Middle East. One notable thing they did was changing the capitol from Damascus to Baghdad. The city of Baghdad took around 100,000 architects, workers, and craftspeople four years to build and design. The city was known as the "round city" because of the orientation of the city, the palace and grand mosque were in the center, around them were offices, homes of court officials and army officials this was known as the inner city, and around it was a double wall with four guarded gates. Around these gates were the shops, markets and residents. The Muslims had a very recognizable style of architecture, an important example of this is the mosques (the house of worship). The Mosques had a tower with one balcony where the muezzin (the one calling the Muslims to prayers) to chant prayers. They also had a fountain in the courtyard for cleansing before prayers. Inside of the Mosque, there is a prayer room with mats for worshippers to sit on and a minbar, which is a nook in the wall which shows that their prayers are going to Mecca.
Art and Music
Art and music was very important to the Muslims and their culture. The Muslims dislike using humans and animals in their religious paintings, instead, they used geometric shapes to make references to nature. They used art on both everyday objects as well as religious objects such as the Qur'an. They also used many different forms of art, including one called arabesque, which was where the artist would use items from nature like stems, leaves and flowers to create patterns. The highest form of art to them was calligraphy, and an example of this is when the Muslims copied the Qur'an, they used calligraphy. Calligraphy also has many different forms, some had angles letters while others had cursive, these forms were used to decorate everyday items as well as religious items. In the category of music, Muslims Spain's music was very unique. One of the main contributors to this was Ziryab, he was a very talented musician from Baghdad. He created the first college for studying music and other arts, and many people went to his conservatory. His students were hired as entertainers around the world. Music was very important to Muslim Spain's culture. Musicians, poets and vocalists worked together to create and make songs.
References
- Sinai, Nicolai, and William Montgomery Watt. Muhammad, Encyclopædia Britannica, 2020, www.britannica.com/biography/Muhammad.
- Elshaikh, Eman M. The Rise of Islamic Empires and States, Khan Academy, www.khanacademy.org/humanities/world-history/medieval-times/spread-of-islam/a/the-rise-of-islamic-empires-and-states.
- Afsaruddin, Asma. "Umayyad Dynasty." Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 20 July 1998, www.britannica.com/topic/Umayyad-dynasty-Islamic-history.
- "Spread of Islam, The." In Atlas of the World's Religions, Second Edition. Ed. Ninian Smart, Frederick Denny. Oxford Islamic Studies Online. 18-Nov-2020. https://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t253/e17.