NBPG 2

• Islam


  A theological system that emerged from the writings of Muhammad, an Arab religious, social, and political leader
• Islam


  • Combines several features of Arab paganism, Zoroastrianism, and Judeo-Christian beliefs
• Muhammad


  The last prophet and messenger of Allah (the Arabic word for 'God'), from whom Muhammad received a divine revelation through an angel around 613 CE
• Quran


  The central religious text of Islam, containing the revelations received by Muhammad
• Muslims


  Adherents to Islam, regardless of race
• Islam


  • Monotheistic in nature, aims to convert infidels (non-believers), and usher in several social, political, and economic policy reforms
• Ummah


  The belief-based entity (a sort of theological state) of believers in Islam
• Five Pillars


  The religious laws of Islam that Muslims were to adhere to
• Muslims were to upload the integrity, and expansion of, the ummah through whatever means necessary
• Muhammad began to preach his teachings, emphasizing the complete submission of people to the 'One God' Allah, and conversion to Islam

  613 CE
• Mecca


  The primary regional Arab city where Muhammad attempted to spread his teachings, only to be chased out by Meccan polytheists
• Medina


  The city where Muhammad withdrew to, converted several Arab tribes, and rallied their support against Mecca
• Muhammad captured Mecca and continued conquest and conversion into the greater Arabian Peninsula


  629 CE
• By the time of Muhammad's death, nearly the entirety of the Arabian Peninsula, and its previously-disunited tribes, had been converted and organized into what would be later known as the Rashidun Caliphate


  631 CE
• Hajj


  A lifetime pilgrimage to the Kaaba (a sacred building in Mecca), which continued the legacy of Arab paganism through Islam
• Caliph


  A civil and religious leader who determined state and religious policy following the death of Muhammad
• Rashidun Caliphate


  The period of the first four caliphs that ruled in succession following Muhammad (632-661 CE), a period of rapid Arab expansion
• Dhimmis


  Non-Muslim monotheists (Zoroastrians, Jews, and Christians) who were generally protected by the Muslim state but treated as second-class citizens with political, economic, and military restrictions
• Jizya tax


  A substantial tax payable to the Rashidun Caliphate that could be avoided upon conversion to Islam
• Such policies would be lasting characteristics of future Muslim states—even when Arabs lost their primacy a few centuries later to the Persians, Mamluks, Mongols, and Turks