islam

• Geographical Context of the Birth of Islam

  • Limited carrying capacity of the territory
  • Deserts inhabited by camel-riding nomadic Bedouins
  • Coastal cities (along the incense route) with traders and craftsmen
• Crisis in the 6th Century

  • Overpopulation: Population growth exceeding the territory's carrying capacity
  • Rapid growth of wealth disparity and sharpening of the rich-poor divide in cities
• Overpopulation

  Population growth exceeding the territory's carrying capacity, leading to the closure of migration routes by the Sassanid Empire and Byzantium
• Islam provided assistance in mitigating crisis phenomena by

  1. Establishing the ideology of conquests (defence of faith) to alleviate overpopulation

  2. Advocating for the creation of a new community that disregards wealth differences to mitigate social disparities
• Life of Muhammad (approx. 570-632)
• Life of Muhammad

  1. Born in Mecca into a poor lineage of the Quraysh tribe

  2. Orphaned at an early age, worked as a camel herder and caravan leader

  3. At the age of 40, had visions and began preaching in Mecca about a religious community based on tribal unity, devoid of wealth distinctions

  4. In 622, rejected by Mecca's elite people, expelled from the city and moved to Yathrib, later known as Medina (City of the Prophet) = This event, the Hijrah, marked the beginning of the Islamic calendar

  5. In 630, leading soldiers, returned to Mecca and reached an agreement with Mecca's leaders, promising to uphold the reverence for the Kaaba stone, thereby maintaining the city's status as a cultic centre

  6. Died in 632; buried in Medina
• The teachings of Islam
• Teachings of Islam

  • Islam means obedience, devotion, and submission to the will of Allah
  • Islam originated from Jewish, Eastern Christian, Persian religions, and pagan cults
• Three main dogmas in Islam

  • The religion revolves around one God, Allah (MONOTHEISM)
  • Allah's revelation is found in the Quran, consisting of 114 chapters (suras)
  • The doctrine of the Last Judgment: Based on Allah's decision, sinners go to hell, while the faithful enter paradise
• Five Pillars of Faith

  • Belief in the one God, Allah, and His prophet, Muhammad
  • Performing five daily prayers facing Mecca
  • Observing fasting during Ramadan
  • Almsgiving to the poor - Zakat
  • Making a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in a lifetime
• Life rules and obligations in Islam

  • Prohibition of consuming pork
  • Prohibition of drinking wine and intoxicating beverages (alcohol)
  • Defence of the Islamic faith, later extended to the expansion of Islamic territories (Jihad = Holy War)
• Everyday rules in Islam

  • Prohibition of gambling, consumption of alcohol, pork, and mind-altering drugs
  • Women must cover their hair in front of any male with a scarf or a hijab
  • Women can’t wear provocative clothes
  • Prohibition of fortune-telling, killing, lying, stealing, cheating, abusing others, being greedy or stingy, engaging in sex outside of marriage, disrespecting parents, and mistreating relatives
• Places of worship in Islam
• Men must cover their hair in front of any male with a scarf or a hijab


  Women can't wear provocative clothes
• Forbidden actions in Islam

  • Fortune-telling
  • Killing
  • Lying
  • Stealing
  • Cheating
  • Abusing others
  • Being greedy or stingy
  • Engaging in sex outside of marriage
  • Disrespecting parents and mistreating relatives, orphans, or neighbours
• Muhammad had no legitimate heir, and his successors were the caliphs (=deputies)
• The first four caliphs were from Muhammad's family
• The fourth caliph, Ali, who was a blood relative of Muhammad (his paternal cousin), was deposed from the throne
• This led to the rise of the Umayyad family in 661, causing Islam to split into various sects
• Branches of Islam

  • Sunnis
  • Shiites
  • Kharijites
• Sunnis compiled traditions about Muhammad's life, called the Sunnah, which they recognized as equivalent to the Quran
• Shiites are followers of Ali, who did not recognize the Umayyad rule or the Sunnah compiled during their era
• Shiites considered the descendants of Ali (Imams) as their rightful leaders
• Depending on the recognition of different Imams, sects like the Ismailis, Twelvers, and Seveners (Ismailis) emerged
• Kharijites are dissenters who did not take sides in the Sunni-Shiite dispute
• According to Kharijites, the leader of the Islamic world, the caliph, should not be elected by the community of believers
• In the Arab Empire, the leader of the state was the caliph


  The rulers of provinces were emirs
• Islam unified previously warring Arab tribes, unleashing tremendous power that, in the name of jihad, swept across the Middle East, rapidly occupying territories
• The success of the Arab conquest was facilitated by the exhaustion of the Byzantium and the Sassanian Empire in the first half of the 6th century
• The region fell into Arab hands like ripe fruit
• The discontent of heavily taxed masses contributed to the quick conquest, viewing the Arabs almost as liberators, and cities willingly opened their gates
• Within just a century, the Arab Empire stretching from Hispania to India was established
• The first caliphs conquered Damascus, Jerusalem, Persia, Mesopotamia, and Egypt in the first half of the 7th century
• The Umayyad era lasted from 661 to 750 with Damascus as the empire's centre (Umayyad Caliphate)
• The Umayyad era included unsuccessful sieges of Byzantium, conquest of Central Asia and the Indus Valley, occupation of North Africa, occupation of Spain, and advancement towards Gaul halted by Charles Martel in 732 at Poitiers
• The Abbasid or Baghdadi Caliphate lasted from 750 to 1258
• The Abbasid or Baghdadi Caliphate involved the overthrow of the last Umayyad ruler and the establishment of the new caliphate based in Baghdad (Bloody Abbasid)
• The only surviving Umayyad prince fled to Spain, founding the Cordoban Umayyad Emirate which later became independent and a caliphate in 929
• The late 8th century to early 9th century was the Golden age of the Baghdadi Caliphate
• The later decline of the Baghdadi Caliphate included the secession of peripheral regions, decrease in the caliph’s power, and the beginning of the empire's fragmentation