Unit 3 Flashcards
A monotheistic religion begun by Muhammad, developed during the 600s. Its followers, called Muslims, spread Islam through Southwest and Central Asia, parts of Africa, and Europe.
Islam
Islam
a monotheistic religion begun by Muhammad, developed during the 600s. Its followers, called Muslims, spread Islam through Southwest and Central Asia, parts of Africa, and Europe.
Islam is a a monotheistic religion begun by ______, developed during the ______.
Muhammad, 600s
The followers of Islam, called ______, spread Islam through Southwest and Central Asia, parts of Africa, and Europe
Muslims
EMPIRE BUILDING
The leaders following Muhammad built a huge empire that by A.D. 750 included millions of people from diverse ethnic, language, and religious groups.
CULTURAL INTERACTION
Tolerance of conquered peoples and an emphasis on learning helped to blend the cultural traits of people under Muslim rule.
In 642, Alexandria and the rest of Egypt fell to the _____ army. Alexandria had been part of the Byzantine Empire.
Muslim
By 646, however, the city was firmly under Muslim rule.
_________ (shown below), with its cultural blend of ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome. Now, as Islam spreads, the Muslim Empire is borrowing from conquered cultures and enriching its desert culture. As you look around Alexandria, you consider the cultural elements you might bring to your desert home in Mecca.
Alexandria
_______unified the Arab people both politically and through the religion of Islam.
Muhammad
Muhammad unified the Arab people both _______ and ______________.
Politically; through the religion of Islam
As the world’s fastest-growing major religion, _______ has a strong impact on the lives of millions today.
Islam
In this desert, the Arab nomads, called ________, were organized into tribes and groups called clans.
Bedouins (BEHD•oo•ihnz)
During certain holy months, caravans stopped in ________, a city in western Arabia.
Mecca
The concept of belief in one God, called ______.
Allah (AL•uh)
Muhammad (mu•HAM•id)
Muhammad (mu•HAM•id) was born into the clan of a powerful Meccan family. Orphaned at the age of six, Muhammad was raised by his grandfather and uncle. He received little schooling and began working in the caravan trade as a very young man. At the age of 25, Muhammad became a trader and business manager for Khadijah (kah•DEE•juh), a wealthy businesswoman of about 40. Later, Muhammad and Khadijah married. Theirs was both a good marriage and a good business partnership.
People who agreed to this basic principle of Islam were called _______.
Muslims
In Arabic, Islam (ihs•LAHM) means ___________.
“submission to the will of Allah.”
Muslim (MUHZ•lihm) means________
“one who has submitted.”
After some of his followers had been attacked, Muhammad decided to leave Mecca in 622. Following a small band of supporters he sent ahead, Muhammad moved to the town of Yathrib, over 200 miles to the north of Mecca. This migration became known as the ___________.
Hijrah s (HIHJ•ruh).
The __________, located in Jerusalem, is the earliest surviving Islamic monument.
Dome of the Rock
It was completed in 691 and is part of a larger complex, which is the third most holy place in Islam. It is situated on Mount Moriah, the site of the Jewish temple destroyed by Romans in A.D. 70.
The rock on the site is the spot from which Muslims say Muhammad ascended to heaven to learn of Allah’s will. With Allah’s blessing, Muhammad returned to earth to bring God’s message to all people. Jews identify the same rock as the site where Abraham was prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac.
Beliefs and Practices of Islam
The main teaching of Islam is that there is only one God, Allah. All other beliefs and practices follow from this teaching. Islam teaches that there is good and evil, and that each individual is responsible for the actions of his or her life.
What are the five pillars of Islam?
The Five Pillars To be a Muslim, all believers have to carry out five duties. These duties are known as the Five Pillars of Islam.
• Faith To become a Muslim, a person has to testify to the following statement of faith: “There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.” This simple statement is heard again and again in Islamic rituals and in Muslim daily life.
• Prayer Five times a day, Muslims face toward Mecca to pray. They may assemble at a mosque (mahsk), an Islamic house of worship, or wherever they find themselves.
• Alms Muhammad taught that all Muslims have a responsibility to support the less fortunate. Muslims meet that social responsibility by giving alms, or money for the poor, through a special religious tax.
• Fasting During the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, Muslims fast between dawn and sunset. A simple meal is eaten at the end of the day. Fasting serves to remind Muslims that their spiritual needs are greater than their physical needs.
• Pilgrimage All Muslims who are physically and financially able perform the hajj (haj), or pilgrimage to Mecca, at least once. Pilgrims wear identical garments so that all stand as equals before Allah.
This book is the _______, the holy book of the Muslims.
Qur’an (kuh•RAN)
___________, or Muhammad’s example, is the best model for proper living.
Sunna (SOON•uh)
The guidance of the Qur’an and Sunna was assembled in a body of law known as __________. This system of law regulates the family life, moral conduct, and business and community life of Muslims.
shari’a (shah•REE•ah).
Links to Judaism and Christianity
To Muslims, Allah is the same God that is worshiped in Christianity and Judaism. However, Muslims view Jesus as a prophet, not as the Son of God. They regard the Qur’an as the word of Allah as revealed to Muhammad, in the same way that Jews and Christians believe the Torah and the Gospels were revealed to Moses and the New Testament writers. Muslims believe that the Qur’an perfects the earlier revelations. To them, it is the final book, and Muhammad was the final prophet. All three religions believe in heaven and hell and a day of judgment. The Muslims trace their ancestry to Abraham, as do the Jews and Christians.
Muslims refer to Christians and Jews as “people of the book” because each religion has a holy book with teachings similar to those of the Qur’an. Shari’a law requires Muslim leaders to extend religious tolerance to Christians and Jews. A huge Muslim empire, as you will learn in Section 2, grew to include people of many different cultures and religions.
Muslim Prayer
Five times a day-dawn, noon, mid-afternoon, sunset, and evening-Muslims face toward Mecca to pray. Worshipers are called to prayer by a muezzin. The call to prayer sometimes is given from a minaret and even over public address systems or the radio in large cities.
Because they believe that standing before Allah places them on holy ground, Muslims perform a ritual cleansing before praying. They also remove their shoes.
Around 600 AD, an new __________ religion began called _________.
Monotheistic
Islam
The Islamic faith was founded by the prophet _____________.
Muhammad
Muhammed’s followers were called_____.
Muslims
