Muhammad Proclaimsa New Faith

A brilliant and militant new civilization rises out of the Arabian desert

Triumphant return

• 630 CE: Muhammad and his “Muslim” followers enter Mecca – after their 8 year exile in

Yathrib• aka Medina

Key words

• Islam• Muslim (Moslem)• Prophet• Quran (Koran)• Mecca• Medina (Yathrib)• Pillars of Islam• Hijrah (Hegira)• Kaaba (ka’ba, etc.)• caliph

• jihad– Greater– Lesser

• Sunni• Shi’ite• Umayyad

– Damascus• Abbasid

– Baghdad • Sharia

Holy city

• Right: Mecca– as it would have

appeared around the time of his birth (below)

Mecca (cont.)

• Note the ka’aba in the background– at the center of the city

First marriage

• c. 595• Khadijah

Divine intervention

• c. 610• Muhammad and the

angel Gabriel

The Hegira

• Flight to Yathrib– 16 July 622 (Year One)

• Note that Muhammad’s head is covered….

The first Muslims

• Early followers of the Prophet pondering his words at Yathrib – aka Medina

• Muhammad gave daily recitations of the messages he believed came from Allah– which his followers

faithfully recorded

The Book of Books

• The Qur’an– 114 chapters (suras)

An intense monotheism

• Right: the Koranic script representing the one God

• “There is one God, and Muhammad is his prophet.”

Daily prayer

• Islam’s “Second Pillar”

Military leader

• The Muslim army is here seen advancing toward battle with the Meccans at Badr (624)

• Other battles– Mount Uhud– Battle of the Ditch

Jihad

• A very powerful concept

Return to Mecca

• What policies did Muhammad adopt that allowed him to gain the general support of the people of the city?– including the leading merchant

families

Dome of the Rock

• Muhammad is believed to have risen to heaven from this spot

Successors

• Muhammad and the “rightly guided caliphs”– Abu Bakr– Umar (Omar)– Uthman– Ali

• Sunni and Shi’ite

Muhammad’s Arabia

The Islamic Empire