Answer/Explanation:
- Islam began around 622 CE in Southwest Asia.
- In Arabic, Islam means “surrender to the will of Allah” (God).
- Followers of Islam are called Muslims, and the founder is
- Muhammad.
- Muslims believe that there is only one god (Allah) and that
- Muhammad is the last and greatest prophet of Islam.
- Other prophets include Abraham, Moses, & Jesus.In 610 CE, Muhammad was an Arab merchant in Mecca who was concerned about how rich merchants refused to help the needy.
- • He went to meditate on this in the Cave of Hira.
While there, Muhammad received a message from the angel Gabriel, the messenger of Allah.Eventually, others began to listen to Muhammad’s messages and this angered Mecca’s rulers.
They threatened to kill Muhammad, so he & several
hundred of his followers fled to nearby Medina.
Muhammad became a political and spiritual leader in Medina.
Eventually, all of the Arabian Peninsula came to accept Muhammad’s teachings and turned to Islam. Muhammad died in 632 CE, but Islam continued to spread.
Muslim armies conquered empires throughout Southwest Asia, Northern Africa, and the Iberian Peninsula (Europe).
Today, there are 1.2 billion Muslims worldwide.
1 in every 5 people in the world is Muslim.
The majority of the population of Southwest Asia is Muslim.
It’s the second largest religion in the world, behind
Christianity.The Muslim holy book is the Qur’an or Koran.
It states how people should live their lives.
It describes the Five Pillars of Faith, which are the
obligations all Muslims must fulfill in their lifetime.
- Prayer,
- Giving to charity
- Belief in and submission to one God (Allah)
- Fasting during the month of Ramadan,
- and a trip (hajj) to Mecca once in a lifetime.
Ramadan celebrates the time when the Qur’an was revealed to Muhammad.
It’s the 9th month of the Islamic calendar, and lasts for 29-30 days.
Muslims fast during daylight hours during this month.
Prayer, reading the Qur’an, and charity are important parts of Ramadan.
Unlike the other religions, in Islam the Qur’an gives instructions on how laws should be enacted.The governments of Muslim countries follow the Shari'a, or religious law. This creates a theocracy, a type of government in which religious leaders are in control.
~Learn with Lenvy~