Islam : Introduction To The Region

Bismillab ar-Rahtnani ar-Rahim. In the Name of God, the merciful and the compassionate. The Arabic word islam means in its general sense ‘"submission,” and Islam the religion is the faithful submission to God’s will.
Islam has its roots in revelations received from 610 to 622 AD by Muhammad, who was informed by the Angel Gabriel of his prophetic calling. These revelations form the core of Islam, the Qur’an (recitation). Muslims believe the Arabic text to be perfect, immutable, and untranslatable-the words of God embodied in human language. Consequently, the Qur’an appears throughout the Muslim world-the majority of which is non-Arabic speaking-in Arabic. Muhammad is seen as the “seal of the prophets,” the last of a chain of God’s messengers which included Jewish and Christian figures such as Abraham, Moses, and Jesus, and the Qur’an incorporates many of the biblical traditions associated with these prophets.

Muhammad slowly gathered followers to his evolving faith. Staunchly monotheistic, Islam was met with ample opposition in polytheist Arabia, leading to persecution in Muhammad’s native city of Mecca in Arabia. In 622, he and his followers fled to the nearby city of Medina, where he was welcomed as mediator of a long-standing blood feud. This Hijrah (flight, or emigration) marks the beginning of the Muslim community and of the Muslim calendar. For the next eight years, Muhammad and his community at first defended themselves against raids and later battled the Meccans and neighboring nomadic tribes, until in 630 Mecca surrendered to the Muslims, making Muhammad the most powerful man in Arabia. After the surrender, numerous Meccans converted to the new faith voluntarily.

This established the pattern for jihad (struggle), referring first and foremost to the spiritual struggle against one’s own desires, then to the struggle to make one’s own Muslim community as righteous as possible, and lastly to the struggle against outsiders wishing to harm die Muslim community; it is the last which is most familiar to the West.

Islam continued to grow after the Prophet’s death, flourishing in the “Age of Conquest.” The four Rightly Guided Caliphs who succeeded Muhammad led wars against apostate nomadic tribes, and by the year 640 the Muslims had defeated the Bvzantine and Persian empires. The fourth Caliph, Muhammad’s nephew and son- jn-law Al), was the catalyst for the major split in the Muslim world. AH slowly lost oower. and was murdered in 66l. The Sbi’atAli (Partisans of Ali or Shi’i) believe Ali, as a blood relative of the Prophet, to be the only legitimate successor to Muham- mad, thus separating themselves from Sunni (orthodox) Islam. Contrary to popular Western perception, Shi’ism is not a creed of fanaticism or fundamentalism, but is Islam with a sharp focus on divinely chosen leaders (or Imams’) who are blood descendants of the Prophet through Ali and his wife, the Prophet’s daughter Fatima. Anv place where Muslims pray is a mosque or masjid, best translated as “place of prostration.” The imam (leader of prayer, not to be confused with the Shi’i leaders) gives a sermon (khutba) on Friday. There are no religious restrictions on non-Muslims entering mosques, but other restrictions may have been adopted for practical reasons in tourist-heavy areas. For more on Mosque design see Architecture, below.