Lesson 9: The Origins and Spread of Islam

• Mecca


  • Muhammad's birthplace
  • Islam's most sacred city
  • where Islam was first proclaimed
• Islam


  the religion of Muslims
• Muhammad


  a man who taught the faith of Islam
• Polytheism


  belief in more than one god
• The Qur'an describes Mecca as a 


  flourishing settlement that also served as a religious center
• Before the founding of Islam, most Arabs followed


  polytheism
• Mecca around the time of Muhammad's birth:


  • prosperous
  • local merchants brought in goods from Yemen (southern Arabia), Syria, and kingdoms in Africa
  • religious center with Ka'bah shrine
• Ka'bah during Muhammad's birth:


  • honored God
  • housed hundreds of statues of hundreds of different gods
• Ties that most Arabs shared during Muhammad's birth:


  • no central government = loyalty to clans and larger tribes
  • families avenged deaths
  • cultural ties through language
• Mecca gained its wealth through


  trade
• Over time, a handful of clans, or families, had come to rule Mecca, refusing to share


  their fortune with the weaker, poorer clans who lived there
• Pilgrims from all over Arabia came to 


  worship at Mecca
• Many Arabs lived a _______ life in the desert.


  nomadic
• Arab tribes sometimes fought to capture


  territory, animals, goods, watering places, and even wives
• Arabic poetry:


  • celebrated the history of the Arab people, beauty of their land, way of life
  • poets and singers completed at gatherings at markets and during pilgrimages
• Muhammad's early life was


  ordinary
• Muhammad's clan


  Hashim
• Muhammad gained the nickname "al-Amin" meaning


  "the Trustworthy"
• Muhammad's father died before birth and his clan was poor expect for the


  prestige it held belonging to the leading tribe in the Mecca
• Following custom, Muhammad's mother sent him to live with a family of nomads in the desert as a baby where he learned


  traditional Arab values
• Abu Talib


  a respected merchant, a highly regarded leader of the Hashim clan, and Muhammad's grandfather who became his guardian when Muhammad's mother died when he came back to the city at age 6
• As a boy, Muhammad tended to 


  flocks of sheep and goats
• Muhammad became a merchant and fainted the title of "al-Amin" through 


  the taking-up of more duties and trading journeys
• Khadijah (Muhammad's wife):


  • he managed caravans for the widow who ran a trading business
  • impressed her with his abilities and honesty
  • he married her at 25
  • had several children together (Fatima continued bloodline)
• Arabic word for God


  Allah
• Followers of Islamic faith


  Muslims
• Gabriel informed Muhammad that Muhammad was the


  prophet (messenger of God)
• Khadijah was the first to convert to


  Islam
• The messages from Muhammad were recorded in the 


  Koran
• Where was Muhammad when he heard the call from Gabriel?


  at a spiritual retreat in a cave in the mountains (610 C.E.)
• Prophet


  a person who speaks or interprets the words of God
• Monotheism


  the belief in a single God
• Muhammad taught that God was


  the same God of Abraham, Moses, and Jesus
• Gabriel continued to bring God's messages for the next


  20 years
• Before a small group of Muslims developed at Mecca, Muhammad only confided in


  his family and friends
• To Muslims, Islam was


  a way of life and the basis for creating a just society
• The poetic style of the Koran helped lend 


  credibility to Muhammad's claim that it contained the words or God and attracted new believers to Islam
• Meccans attempted to discredit the teachings of Muhammad:


  • established a business boycott on Muslims
  • called Muhammad a liar
  • persecuted Muslims
• Muhammad's teachings:


  • people must worship the one God
  • all believers in God were equal
  • the rich should share their wealth
• The intentions of Mecca's leaders in trying to prevent the spread of the prophet's message:


  • feared if Muhammad grew stronger he would seize political power
  • would decrease the business of merchants by decreasing the likelihood of people coming to trade while worshiping at shrines