A Brief Introduction To Islam

Mohammed (whose name means "highly praised") was born in Mecca in 570 or 571 A.D. At the time, Mecca was a major religious center for the worship of some 360 deities (one for each day of the lunar calendar year). The central shrine was a huge black stone (thought to be a meteorite) known as The Kaaba. The once great power (as well as law and order) of the Roman Empire had begun to disintegrate. Non-Roman, but mostly Christian tribes (usually called barbarians) were migrating into the borders of the empire in huge numbers to escape the raids of non-Christian tribes (The Huns) from the Far East. The Roman Empire was mostly in chaos because of four battling Christian factions, the Catholic Western Church, the Orthodox Eastern Church, the Arian Christians (western, non-Roman Christians who believed that Christ was created by God, not forever co-existent with God), and the Nestorian Christians (eastern, non-Roman Christians who believed that Christ had two distinct natures, one divine and one human).

Mecca, on the frontier of the Roman Empire, had long been a boom-town because of trade and religion. It was also a decadent, anything goes place with a well earned reputation for libertinism.

Mohammed's father died a few days (some say months) before he was born. He and his mother were thrown upon the mercy of his grandfather. His mother died when he was six. His grandfather died when he was nine. He was then handed off to one of his uncles who put him to the hard and tedious task of tending sheep in the desert.

Sometime in his teens, Mohammed joined the caravan business, most likely as a camel driver. When he was 25, he became employed by a wealthy widow named Khadija, who ran caravans from Mecca. Mohammed's wisdom and integrity impressed Khadija so that she gave him increasing responsibilities. They became friends and married, although Khadija was 15 years older than Mohammed.

Sometime around his 40th year, Mohammed became increasingly troubled with his own life and with the religious, social, political and economic chaos of Mecca. He began going to a cave in Mt. Hira to pray and to meditate. On "The Night of Power and Excellence," the voice of the Angel Gabriel spoke to Mohammed and commanded him three times to "Cry Out!!!" Mohammed replied, "What shall I cry?" The voice said, "Cry - in the name of your Lord! Who created man from coagulated blood. Cry! Your Lord is wondrous kind who by the pen has taught mankind things they did not know (being blind). Mohammed went home, suffered seizures, thought that he had gone insane; however, it was Khadija who calmed him and who became his first follower.

Mohammed began to preach in the open markets and in the streets. His focus was always on God. He said to those who asked for signs and wonders, "God has not sent me to work wonders; he has sent me to preach to you. My Lord be praised! Am I more than a man sent as an apostle?" He brought a message of radical monotheism, there is no God but Allah, the most high God (the Meccans already believed in Allah, but in hundreds of other gods, too). He preached against idolatry in any form. He preached 3 abstentions, against gambling, drinking alcohol, and eating pork. And, he preached a radical equalitarianism that threw down the walls of social class and racial distinction.

The people of Mecca responded by persecuting Mohammed and his followers; showering them with dirt, road apples, sticks and stones; they were thrown in jail; merchants refused to sell them food and clothes. One, who is sometimes called the first muezzin to call the faithful to prayer, was tied in the desert with a large stone on his chest and was told, "there you shall remain until you are dead or have denied Islam." The muezzin's reply was, "One God, One God, One God." After 3 years, Mohammed had 40 followers in Mecca; after 10 years, he had several hundred families.

The leaders of Mecca were about to permanently silence Mohammed when a delegation from the city of Yathrib (later called Medina) came and asked him to lead their city. Some of Mohammed's followers in Mecca began moving to Yathrib; the leaders of Mecca then tried to stop Mohammed from leaving. In 622 C.E., Mohammed left Mecca in what has become known as the Hijrah (Hegira), "the flight." It took 3 days of hiding and eluding Meccan soldiers for Mohammed to make it to Yathrib (from now on called, Medina). The Islamic calendar begins in 622 C.E. and each year is A.H. (after Hijrah … this is year 1379 A.H).

In Medina, the presence of Islam was violently resisted by two large tribes of Jews. However, after much bloodshed, those tribes were included in a 5 tribe confederacy that ran the city. Mohammed was not quick to embrace violence, but often he was not given a choice. The Meccan's attacked Medina several times and Mohammed led the defense of that city. Finally, Mohammed went on the attack and successfully captured Mecca. From there, his armies moved across the desert. Within 100 years, Islam had spread from the Straits of Gibraltar in the West to the Indus Valley in the East.

For more information, please see Huston Smith's book, "The Religions of Man" or visit:
www.encycopedia.com/articles/064961IslamicBeliefs.html