Spreading the Message of Islam In Medina, Muhammad continued to receive divine revelations and built an ever-expanding community around the new faith. The conflict with the Quraish continued, but after several years of violent clashes, Mecca surrendered. Muhammad and his followers soon returned and took over the city, destroying all its pagan idols and spreading their belief in one God.
One night, while the Prophet was sleeping, the Archangel Gabriel came and led him on a journey. There he prayed with other prophets such as Moses, Abraham, and Jesus, and ascended to the skies, where he was led by Gabriel through Paradise and Hell, and finally came face to face with God. He then returned to earth to continue spreading the message of Islam.
According to Islamic belief, Muhammad was the only person to see Heaven and Hell while still alive. One faction, the Shi'a, believed that only individuals with direct lineage to the Prophet could guide the Muslim community righteously.
They thought that 'Ali, Muhammad's closest surviving blood male relative, should be their next leader caliph. The other faction, the Sunnis, believed that the Prophet's successor should be determined by consensus and successively elected three of his most trusted companions, commonly referred to as the Rightly Guided Caliphs Abu Bakr, 'Umar, and 'Uthman , as leaders of the Muslim community; 'Ali succeeded them as the fourth caliph.
Today the Islamic community remains divided into Sunni and Shi'i branches. Sunnis revere all four caliphs, while Shi'is regard 'Ali as the first spiritual leader. Adultery can carry the penalty of death by stoning. However, many Muslims do not support such extreme measures.
The prophet Muhammad is credited with building the first mosque in the courtyard of his house in Medina. Mosques today follow some of the same principles he established in A. Muslim prayer is often conducted in a mosque's large open space or outdoor courtyard.
A mihrab is a decorative feature or niche in the mosque that indicates the direction to Mecca, and therefore the direction to face during prayer.
Men and women pray separately, and Muslims may visit a mosque five times a day for each of the prayer sessions. In addition to hosting prayers, mosques often function as public gathering places and social centers. While some Muslims use their faith to justify terrorism, the vast majority do not. In fact, Muslims are frequently victims of violence themselves. Recent surveys have found that in countries with high Muslim populations, the majority of Muslims have overwhelmingly negative views of terrorist groups like ISIS.
While Muslims aim to clear up misconceptions about their faith, the religion continues to spread rapidly. Experts predict Islam will surpass Christianity as the largest religion by the end of the century. Islam, BBC. What is Sharia Law and How is it Applied? Pew Research Center. The Islamic Calendar: TimeandDate. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us!
Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present. Zoroastrianism is an ancient Persian religion that may have originated as early as 4, years ago. Zoroastrianism was the state religion of three Persian dynasties, until the Today, with about million followers, Hinduism is the third-largest religion behind Christianity and Islam.
Followers of Judaism believe in one God who revealed himself through ancient prophets. The history of Judaism is essential to understanding the Jewish faith, which has a rich heritage of law, With about million followers, scholars consider Buddhism one of the major world religions. Its practice has historically been most prominent in East and Southeast Wicca is a modern-day, nature-based pagan religion. This event marks the beginning of the Muslim calendar.
Muhammad settled in Medina, building his Muslim community and gradually gathering acceptance and more followers. Between and , the Muslims were involved in a series of battles for their survival.
In the final major confrontation, The Battle of the Trench and Siege of Medina, Muhammad and his followers prevailed and a treaty was signed. The treaty was broken by the Meccan allies a year later.
By now, Muhammad had plenty of forces and the balance of power had shifted away from the Meccan leaders to him. In , the Muslim army marched into Mecca, taking the city with minimum casualties.
Muhammad gave amnesty to many of the Meccan leaders who had opposed him and pardoned many others. Most of the Meccan population converted to Islam. Muhammad and his followers then proceeded to destroy all of the statues of pagan gods in and around the Kaaba. After the conflict with Mecca was finally settled, Muhammad took his first true Islamic pilgrimage to that city and in March, , he delivered his last sermon at Mount Arafat. He died on June 8, , at the age of 62, and was buried at al-Masjid an-Nabawi the Mosque of the Prophet one of the first mosques built by Muhammad in Medina.
We strive for accuracy and fairness. If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us! Upset by the rate at which Muhammad was gaining new followers, the Quraysh proposed adopting a common form of worship, which was denounced by the Quran.
Muhammad himself was protected from physical harm as long as he belonged to the Banu Hashim clan, but his followers were not so lucky. Sumayyah bint Khabbab, a slave of the prominent Meccan leader Abu Jahl, is famous as the first martyr of Islam; her master killed her with a spear when she refused to give up her faith.
Bilal, another Muslim slave, was tortured by Umayyah ibn Khalaf, who placed more and more rocks on his chest to force his conversion, until he died. Muhammad took this opportunity to look for a new home for himself and his followers. After several unsuccessful negotiations, he found hope with some men from Yathrib later called Medina.
The Arab population of Yathrib were familiar with monotheism and were prepared for the appearance of a prophet because a Jewish community existed there as well. They also hoped, by the means of Muhammad and the new faith, to gain supremacy over Mecca; the Yathrib were jealous of its importance as the place of pilgrimage.
Converts to Islam came from nearly all Arab tribes in Medina; by June of the subsequent year, seventy-five Muslims came to Mecca for pilgrimage and to meet Muhammad. A delegation from Medina, consisting of the representatives of the twelve important clans of Medina, invited Muhammad as a neutral outsider to serve as the chief arbitrator for the entire community.
There was fighting in Yathrib Medina mainly involving its Arab and Jewish inhabitants for around a hundred years before The delegation from Medina pledged themselves and their fellow citizens to accept Muhammad into their community and physically protect him as one of their own. The Hijra is the migration of Muhammad and his followers from Mecca to Medina, kilometers miles north, in CE. Muhammad instructed his followers to emigrate to Medina until nearly all of them left Mecca.
According to tradition, the Meccans, alarmed at the departure, plotted to assassinate Muhammad. In June , when he was warned of the plot, Muhammad slipped out of Mecca with his companion, Abu Bakr. It is said that when Muhammad emerged from his house, he recited the a verse from the Quran and threw a handful of dust in the direction of the besiegers, which prevented them seeing him. He stopped at a place called Quba, some miles from the main city, and established a mosque there.
After a fourteen-days stay at Quba, Muhammad started for Medina, participating in his first Friday prayer on the way, and upon reaching the city was greeted cordially by its people. The community defined in the Constitution of Medina, Ummah , had a religious outlook, also shaped by practical considerations, and substantially preserved the legal forms of the old Arab tribes. The first group of pagan converts to Islam in Medina were the clans who had not produced great leaders for themselves but had suffered from warlike leaders from other clans.
This was followed by the general acceptance of Islam by the pagan population of Medina, with some exceptions. Around CE, the nascent Islamic state was somewhat consolidated when Muhammad left Medina to perform pilgrimage at Mecca.
The Quraysh intercepted him en route and made a treaty with the Muslims. Though the terms of the Hudaybiyyah treaty may have been unfavorable to the Muslims of Medina, the Quran declared it a clear victory.
Muslim historians suggest that the treaty mobilized the contact between the Meccan pagans and the Muslims of Medina. The treaty demonstrated that the Quraysh recognized Muhammad as their equal and Islam as a rising power. After eight years of warring with Mecca and finally conquering the city in CE, Muhammad united Arabia into a single Islamic state.
Upon his arrival in Medina, Muhammad unified the tribes by drafting the Constitution of Medina, which was a formal agreement between Muhammad and all of the significant tribes and families of Medina, including Muslims, Jews, Christians, and pagans.
This constitution instituted rights and responsibilities and united the different Medina communities into the first Islamic state, the Ummah. An important feature of the Constitution of Medina is the redefinition of ties between Muslims. It set faith relationships above blood ties and emphasized individual responsibility. This contrasts with the norms of pre-Islamic Arabia, which was a thoroughly tribal society. This was an important event in the development of the small group of Muslims in Medina to the larger Muslim community and empire.
While praying in the Masjid al-Qiblatain in Medina in CE, Muhammad received revelations that he should be facing Mecca rather than Jerusalem during prayer. Muhammad adjusted to the new direction, and his companions praying with him followed his lead, beginning the tradition of facing Mecca during prayer.
The Masjid al-Qiblatain, where Muhammad established the new Qibla, or direction of prayer: Muhammad received revelations that he should face Mecca, rather than Jerusalem, in CE. Economically uprooted by their Meccan persecutors and with no available profession, the Muslim migrants turned to raiding Meccan caravans.
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