Did you

know?
At least 42
nations are
almost
completely
Islamic.
 There are 1 billion
Muslims in the world.
 Only 20% of the
worlds Muslims are
 Arabia before
Muhammad (born
570 AD)

Madinah(Medina)

Makkah (Mecca)
 Arabia was occupied
by warring clans of
nomads.

Madinah(Medina
)
Makkah (Mecca)
 Most worshiped idols,
especially in Mecca at the
Kaaba, the large stone
shrine to a goddess from
heaven, though a few still
believed in one God.
 There were Jews and
Christians in Arabia,
too, but Christians
didnt translate the
Bible into Arabic until
after 700 AD.
There was a political
and religious void that
Islam was about to fill.
Muhammad
Born in
Mecca in 570
AD, orphaned
at age 6,
taken in by
grandfather
 Muhammad met Jews
and Christians on his
travels, learned
stories from the Old
and New Testaments.
 Married Khadijah, a
wealthy widow, in 595
AD, and was freed from
the life of a traveling
merchant.
 In 610 AD, Muhammad
claims that the
archangel Gabriel
appeared to him and
told him to recite
(quran in Arabic)
everything he said.
These were the first
alleged revelations from
 His messages
attacked idolatry.
By 622 he had
gathered enough
followers that they
Madinah(Medina
were forced to )
Makkah (Mecca)
leave Mecca for
Medina. Muslims
refer to this event
as the Hijra; it is
the year 0 on the
 By 630 the believing
community was large
enough to return to
Mecca in triumph and
establish Islam as the
official religion.
 Muhammad died
suddenly in 632 before
appointing a successor.
Arguments over the
rightful heir to his
leadership caused the
divisions within Islam
that persist to this day.
 Sunnis
believe the
true Caliph
should be
chosen by
those close to
Muhammad;
did not have
to be a
relative of
 Shias (word means
division) believe
Muhammad appointed Ali,
his son-in-law, before he died,
even included the choice in
the Quran, but others
secretly burned those
copies. They maintain that
the true Caliph must be a
 The disagreement led
to internal battles
and assassinations of
leaders, but Islam
spread rapidly
throughout the Middle
East and into Europe,
stopped in France at
the Battle of Tours in
Tours
 What made Islam
so appealing?

Christians were
perceived by non-
Christians as
prejudiced; Muslims
were not.
 Islam
was a
simple
religion.
 Arabs were
traders; it became
profitable for non-
Muslims to convert
for business
purposes.
 Muslim armies were
adept at desert
fighting.
 Quran
Called the book of
heaven,
supposedly dictated
to Muhammad by
angel Gabriel.
 Divided
into 114
chapters
called suras,
arranged
from longest
to shortest; a
little shorter
 The Quran
refers to the
Torah, Psalms,
and Gospel
(only the
sayings of
Jesus) as
Scripture.
 The
Quran
mentions
Jesus many
times, but
declares that
Jesus is only
a prophet
People of the Book, go not
beyond the bounds in your
religion, and say not as to God
but the truth. The Messiah,
Jesus son of Mary, was only
the Messenger of God, and His
Word that He committed to
Mary, and a Spirit from Him.
So believe in God and His
Messengers, and say not,
 It was
composed
throughout
Muhammad
s life,
sometimes
at
convenient
 Muslims
consider the
Hadith, the
words and
deeds of
Muhammad,
to be
authoritativ
What are the main
concepts in the
Quran?
Submission.
The word
Islam means
submission;
a Muslim is
one who
 The greatness of
God. Allah-hu-akbar
means God is great!
 The oneness of God.
Muslims confess
throughout the day,
There is no God but
Allah, Muhammad is His
prophet. (The
What are the
main
practices?

They are called

the five pillars of
1. Say the Shahada
throughout the day.
2. Pray five times daily,
facing Mecca.

Each prayer begins

with a recitation of
the opening chapter
from the Quran.
 In the Name of God, the
Merciful, the Compassionate
Praise belongs to God, the Lord
of all Being, the All-merciful, the
All-compassionate, the Master of
the Day of Doom.
Thee only we serve; to Thee
alone we pray for succour. Guide
us in the straight path, the path
of those whom Thou hast
blessed, not of those against
 Prayers must wash in
the prescribed way
before they pray.
 Prayers are formal and
memorized and prayed
in various postures, from
bowing to kneeling. The
word mosque means
 Muslim communities
gather for collective
prayer mostly on
3. Alms: Muslims are
required to give 2.5% of
their income to the
poor.
4. Pilgrimage to Mecca
(Hajj)
Every able bodied
Muslim must make this
 Activities during hajj
re-enact important
events in life of
Muhammad
 Focal point of the
pilgrimage is the Kaaba,
recast as an Islamic, not
a pagan shrine. (Muslims
believe the Kaaba
houses the stone Allah
gave Ibrahim when he
almost sacrificed
Ishmael.)
 Fasting in the daylight
hours during Ramadan,
the month the Quran
came down.
 What about the
Nation of Islam in
America?
Wallace Fard
started
Nation of
Islam in Detroit
in 1920s to
fight white
 Elijah Poole
(Muhammad),
son of a
Baptist
preacher, took
the lead when
Fard
disappeared in
 Malcolm Little (alias Malik
Shabazz or Malcom X)
became a prominent
leader, but fell out of favor
after the Kennedy
assassination, returned from
the pilgrimage to Mecca
and advocated reforms to
make Nation of Islam
more Islamic. He was
 Warith Muhammad
succeeded his father
Elijah in 1975, and
aligned Nation of
Islam with Sunni Islam
worldwide, changed
name to American
 Louis
Farrakhan
revived
Nation of
Islam in
1978 as a
separate,
racist
movement.
 What do orthodox
Muslims say about Jihad
or Holy War?
1. Physical violence must
never be used to
advance Islam.
2. Islam should be
propagated only by
reason and persuasion.
3. An Islamic nation may
defend itself when
attacked by another
nation.
4. If a non-Muslim nation
uses physical force to
oppress Muslims,
Muslims may respond
5. Former Muslim nations
that are overtaken by
non-Muslims must
never be allowed to
revert to non-Muslims.
6. The Islamic holy lands
must never be violated
by non- Muslims. Any
violations give just
 What are Islamic
extremists main
complaints against
America?
American support of
Israel which, in their
view, unlawfully
invaded and occupied
Palestine, a former
 American military
presence in Saudi
Arabia, Islams Holy
Land.
American moral
decadence despite its
reputation as a
Christian nation.
Whats wrong with
this equation?

God =
Allah
Bible =
Quran
Jesus = Muhamm