The Dawn of Islam

The Dawn of Islam

Islam is the last of the three major monotheistic faiths which influenced the Western World, and like the first two (Judaism and Christianity), it would have important repercussions for all people living in the area that we now call Europe. Islam developed on the Arabian Peninsula, an area which had seen remarkable interaction between Jews, Christians, and the Bedouin tribes that lived in the desert.

The messenger of Islam was Muhammad, who was born around 570 AD and who grew up in the city of Mecca, one of the most important trading cities on the Arabian Peninsula. Married to a widow named Khadijah, who was considerably his senior, Muhammad lived a prosperous and, according to all sources, successful life as a businessman. He was so trusted by his peers that he was often asked to mediate disputes between other businessmen. In his early 40s, he began to have visions during his mediations outside of the city (many men had begun to meditate, largely following the hermit example of going outside of the occupied areas of the city). He believed that the visions depicted the archangel Gabriel, and that he was being asked to be a messenger of God. Muhammad received 114 revelations over the course of the next 20 years, which were eventually written down and became the Qu’ran (Koran).

Muhammad told those to whom he preached that the God of Islam (which means “submission” or “surrender” depending on the translation) was the same God as the God of the Jews and Christians, and that the three faiths shared a common background. However, he stated that Jesus was a prophet who had been ignored by the Jews, and that the Christians had embellished the message of the Gospels (the major component of the New Testament) by making the theology too complex. As a result, according to the visions, Allah (God) had chosen Muhammad to be his last, and greatest, Prophet, the title by which Muhammad would thereafter be known by. The faith that Muhammad professed was Islam, and those who adhered to it were Muslims (often spelled Moslem).

The Five Pillars and the Spread of Islam

Governing those who professed the Islamic faith were the Five Pillars of Faith:

• Profession of Faith (there is but one God, Allah, and Muhammad is his Prophet);
• Prayer 5 times daily (originally this was done in the direction of Jerusalem, to emphasize the faith’s background in Judaism and Christianity; later, it was changed to Mecca);
• Almsgiving, which is to be done on a regular basis, but without any set amount or percentage (as opposed to Christians, who will be expected to tithe, or give 10% of their earnings, to the Church);
• Celebration of the fast of Ramadan, which commemorates the month that the Qu’ran was revealed to Allah; this is based on a lunar calendar, so the month changes yearly. During this time, devout Muslims do not eat or drink, nor do they engage in sexual relations, during the daytime; the fast is broken at sundown. Ramadan became a major issue several years ago, when Hakeem Olajuwon, who played for the Houston Rockets, announced that he would keep the fast during the NBA playoffs. (And yes, the Rockets did win the championship during that year). The purpose of Ramadan is, in part, to focus on prayer and spiritual matters; in addition, almsgiving is supposed to increase during the period.
• The Haj (alternatively, Haj’j), which is a pilgrimage to Mecca to be done once in the lifetime of a devout Muslim. Ideally, pilgrims make the journey during the designated pilgrimage month. The journey commemorates Muhammad’s Hijra (or Hegira) which will be discussed below.

All dedicated and devout Muslims are expected to follow all five pillars throughout their lifetimes.

Initially, Muhammad could find few people interested in his message; Khadijah and many of his relatives converted almost immediately, but most of the rest of Mecca was not interested in listening to the preaching of a new prophet. In 622, Muhammad and some of his followers left Mecca for Yathrib, a city about 250 miles to the north. The flight of Muhammad is called the Hijra, and it is considered the beginning of Islam; the Islamic calendar is dated from the Hijra. Between 622 and 628, using Yathrib (later renamed Medinat al-Nabi, the City of the Prophet, or Medina for short), Muhammad began to convert the surrounding Bedouin tribes from their animistic faith to Islam. In 629 (again, your book is wrong here), he returned to Mecca peacefully, and agreed to allow the Ka’bah, the great black stone that had been the center of worship in the city for centuries, to remain, stating that it was sacred to Allah (it is grey now, from what those who have gone on Haj have said). With this, much of Mecca converted, and by the time of his death in 632, the Islamic state controlled a territory that encompassed much of the western coast of the Arabian Peninsula.

Following Muhammad's Death

Upon Muhammad’s death, however, questions arose: who would lead the faithful? How would the faithful remember the revelations? Would the religious and political leadership be under the same individual? The initial successors to Muhammad were the so-called Companions of the Prophet, those who had been his closest friends and advisors. The first caliph, or successor, to the Prophet, was Abu Bakr, who was one of Muhammad’s first converts and, according to many Muslims, the man who had accompanied Muhammad on the Hijra. Abu Bakr is also credited with collecting the information that was later used to compile the Qu’ran. He ruled for two years (632-4), and was succeeded by Umar, who spent the ten years of his reign expanding the territory controlled by the Islamic state (much of the expansion shown on page 213 was completed during his reign). Umar was stabbed to death in 644, and was succeeded by Uthman, a member of the Umayyad clan. Uthman was a pious man but loved luxury and surrounded himself with his friends and family, leading to charges that he was a nepotist and had lost sight of the vision of Islam. In 656, a group of disgruntled rebels, who believed that Ali (the cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad) was a better choice to be the caliph, stormed Uthman’s home and stabbed him to death. Ali was then proclaimed caliph, although his reign is marred by the accusations of his being behind Uthman’s assassination along with the fact that he was not a skilled politician or diplomat. Ali also faced opposition from the Prophet’s widow, Aisha, who loathed him. Ali was married to the Prophet’s favorite daughter, Fatima, which might explain some of the hatred between the two. Eventually, his leadership was challenged by Uthman’s relatives, including his nephew, Muyawijah, who was the governor of Syria. Ali was forced to sign an unfavorable truce to avoid direct conflict, and was eventually assassinated in 661.

The murder of Ali would have major repercussions for the Islamic world. Those who believed that he was the true caliph supported claims that only those descended from Ali (and therefore from the Prophet) could be the caliph; these followers called themselves the Shi’a Ali (Partisans of Ali), or Shi’a (or Shi’ites). They advocated the continued combination of spiritual and political power in the hands of the caliph. They were opposed by the Sunni, who believed that the role of the caliph should be political, with the religious and spiritual authority vested in other sources. The initial Sunni were members of the Umayyad clan, who appointed Muyawijah as the new caliph, initiating a dynasty which would rule for nearly 100 years and expand Islam considerably outside of the Arabian Peninsula, including the invasion of Spain in 711 (to be discussed in the lecture on Charlemagne). As Lewis explains in detail, the division of the Shi’a into various sects will impact virtually all aspects of Muslim life, from leadership to the interpretation of the Qu’ran.

In 750, the Umayyad dynasty was overthrown by another major family, the ‘Abbasids, who wished to restore a more spiritual authority to the caliphate; this does not, however, mean that they abandoned the expansion and conquests of the previous caliphs. The ‘Abbasids moved the capital city to Damascus; by the 10th century, Damascus was second only to Constantinople in terms of economic and cultural influence. The ‘Abbasids would oversee a remarkable period in terms of learning, cultural development, and science, far surpassing the efforts of the Europeans during the same period.