Islam

• Qurayshit are a group of Arab clans that inhabited and controlled the city of Mecca and Ka'aba.
• Mohammad was born into the Hashim clan in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.
• The Hashim clan were merchants who dominated commerce between the Indian Ocean and East Africa.
• The roots of Islam lay in the Arabian peninsula, the largest in the world.
• The holy city of Mecca is located on the western side of the peninsula of Arabia.
• Once a year, nomad poets gathered in the market town of 'Ukaz.
• The poets of Mecca included: Antara Bin Shaddad (love poet), Tarafa (satirist), Nabigha Aal-Dhubyani (royal poet) and Imru'u 'I Qays (leading poet).
• Ka'aba means "square shaped building". The Ka'aba was a house of Gods. Once a year, Arab tribes went there on pilgrimage.
• Manat Deitie is one of the oldest goddesses and controls human fortune.
• Al-lat is a widely popular sun deity whose name means "The Goddess".
• Al-Uzza, the "Mighty One" was favored by the Meccans, and was worshiped in the Ka'aba.
• The goddess Hubal was the tutelary goddess of the Ka'aba.
• The worship of these deities involved animal sacrifice.
• In Ramadan July 610 C.E, Mohammad sat in a cave in Mount Hura', two miles north of Mecca.
• Allah revealed his words to Mohammad through the Angel Gabriel (Jibril).
• Mohammad was Ummi, meaning "unlettered". He could not read or write. He recited the verses of God (ayat ul-Lah) not man-made words.
• That night of revelation is called "The Night of Glory".
• The Night of Glory: "In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful,

  Recite in the name of your Lord who created

  Created man from clots of blood.

  Recite! Your Lord is the Most Bountiful One,

  Who by the pen taught man what he did not know" Koran 96:1-5
• The Muslim year was measured by the lunar cycle.
• The crescent became the symbol of Islam.
• In Medina, the Koran revealed the Shari'a, the Holy Law of the Islamic Theocracy.
• Umma - A group bond does not depend on blood but on faith in Allah
• Justice - The Koran praised the Muslim who accepted a penalty on the criminal which was less than the act penalized, or who forgave altogether. The Koran distinguished between deliberate and involuntary killing. If someone deliberately killed, he would be punished in hell, if accidentally, he would pay blood money.
• Manumission - Extend compassion to all weak and dependent persons, particularly slaves. Koran mitigated slavery by urging Muslims to free the slave once the latter accepted Islam.
• "You shall not kill your children for fear of want. We will provide for them and for you. To kill them is a great sin" Koran 17:31
• Marriage in the Koran


  A legal agreement, not a sacrament
• The Koran granted the woman rights that had previously been denied her</b>
• Rights granted to women in marriage in the Koran

  • Receive the dowry herself
  • Inherit her husband
  • Own property
  • Engage in financial affairs
• The Koran prohibited Muslim women from marrying outside Islam
• The Koran allowed Muslim men to marry Jewish and Christian women
• Wives of Muslim men could retain and practice their faith, but their children were to be raised Muslim
• Polygyny


  Permitted in the Koran (Koran 4:3), but an option not an injunction, and strictly predicated on the individual's ability to be just
• The Koran instituted marriage as a legal agreement to regulate family life
• The Koran permitted polygyny in order to protect orphaned girls and widows
• Call to prayer. The Muslims used to assemble around the Prophet for prayer. As their numbers grew, there was need to call them together, and the Prophet chose as the first muezzin (caller to prayer) a slae from Africa. Bilal, who had been freed after accepting Islam, climbed the roof of a house near the mosque which the Prophet had helped build, and recited the Adhan.
• To the present day, the muezzin used these words in his call to prayer:

  "Allah u Akbar.

  God is greater.

  God is greater.

  I witness that there is no god but God.

  I witness that Mohammad is the prophet of God.

  Rise to prayer.

  Rise to felicity.

  God is greater.

  God is greater.

  There is no god but God."
• Direction of prayer. At the beginning of the revelation, Muslims were invoked to turn in the direction of Jerusalem during prayer. But in the Medina, the Koran turned the believers towards the Ka'aba in Mecca (Koran 2:144). The reason for this change in Qibla was the opposition of the Jews to the Prophet and to the Koranic message. Here after, Islamic devotion would focus on the "Sacred Mosque" wherein the Ka'aba is located.
• Toleration - The Koran prescribed toleration to the People of the Book - The Jews and Christians. The Koran sactified Gods prophetic revelation to these two communities in the Torah and the New Testament, but accused Jews and Christians of straying from the Straight Path.

  The ppl of the book were part of the Umma and were to be protected in their religious freedom, rights and properties. Because they were not allowed to participate in the military, they were to pay an extra tax.
• Islam rests of 5 precepts: Shahadah, Salat, Zakat, Sawm, and Hajj.
• Shahada: The essence of Islam is submission to God and admission that Mohammad is His messenger.