Origin of Islam in Southwest Asia

Origin of Islam

Like other universalizing religions, Islam arose from the teachings of a historical founder. The core of Islamic belief involves performing five acts, known as the Five Pillars of Islam:

1. Shahadah, which means that Muslims frequently recite their belief that there is no deity worthy of worship except the one God, the source of all creation, as well as their belief that Muhammad is the messenger of God.

2. Salat, which means that five times daily, a Muslim prays, facing the city of Makkah (Mecca), as a direct link to God.

3. Zakat, which means that a Muslim gives generously to charity as an act of purification and growth.

4. Sawm of Ramadan, which means that a Muslim fasts during the month of Ramadan as an act of self-purification.

5. Hajj, which means that if physically and financially able, a Muslim makes a pilgrimage to Makkah.

Islam traces its origin to the same narrative as Judaism and Christianity. All three religions consider Adam to have been the first man and Abraham to have been one of his descendants. According to the Jewish Torah and Christian Old Testament, Abraham married Sarah, who did not bear children. As polygamy (having more than one wife) was a custom of the culture, Abraham then married Hagar, who bore a son, Ishmael. Sarah was later able to conceive, and she bore a son, Isaac.

Jews and Christians trace their story through Abraham’s original wife Sarah and her son Isaac. Muslims trace their story through his second wife, Hagar, and her son Ishmael. The Islamic tradition tells that Abraham brought Hagar and Ishmael to Makkah, in present-day Saudi Arabia. Centuries later, according to the Islamic narrative, one of Ishmael’s descendants, Muhammad, became the Prophet of Islam.

Muhammad, The Prophet of Islam

Muhammad was born in Makkah about 570. At age 40, while engaged in a meditative retreat, Muhammad is believed by Muslims to have received his first revelation from God through the angel Gabriel. The Quran, the holiest book in Islam, is accepted by Muslims to be a record of God’s words, as revealed to the Prophet Muhammad through Gabriel. Arabic is a lingua franca, or language of communication, within the Islamic world, because it is the language in which the Quran is written.

Islam teaches that as he began to preach the truth that God had revealed to him, Muhammad and his followers suffered persecution, and in 622 he was commanded by God to emigrate. His migration from Makkah to the city of Yathrib—an event known as the Hijra (from the Arabic word for “migration,” sometimes spelled hegira)—marks the beginning of the Islamic calendar. Yathrib was subsequently renamed Madinah, Arabic for “the City” (Figure 6-25). After several years, Muhammad and his followers returned to Makkah and established Islam as the city’s religion. By Muhammad’s death, in 632 at about age 63, Islam had spread through most of present-day Saudi Arabia.

Pause & Reflect 6.2.1

The government of Saudi Arabia spells some place names differently than is common in English (such as Makkah instead of Mecca). Given your knowledge of the principal language used in predominantly Islamic countries including Saudi Arabia, what might account for this preference?

Shite and Sunni Branches

Differences between the two main branches of Islam—Shiite and Sunni—go back to the earliest days of the religion and reflect disagreement over the line of succession in Islamic leadership. Muhammad had no surviving son and no agreed-upon successor. His successor was his father-in-law, Abu Bakr (573–634), an early supporter from Makkah, who became known as caliph (“successor of the prophet”). The next two caliphs, Umar (584–644) and Uthman (579–656), expanded the territory under Islamic influence to Egypt and Persia.

Uthman was a member of a powerful Makkah clan that had initially opposed Muhammad before the clan’s conversion to Islam. The more ardent converts criticized Uthman for seeking compromises with other formerly pagan families in Makkah. Uthman’s opponents found a leader in Ali (601–661), a cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad, and thus Muhammad’s nearest male heir. When Uthman was murdered, in 656, Ali became caliph, although five years later he, too, was assassinated.

Ali’s descendants claim leadership of Islam, and Shiites support this claim. But Shiites disagree among themselves about the precise line of succession from Ali to modern times. They acknowledge that the chain of leadership was broken, but they dispute the date and events surrounding the disruption.