45 Muhammad and the Early Years of Islam

We have already heard about two religions that began in the part of the world we now call the Middle East. These are Judaism and Christianity. In this story, I’ll tell you about a third religion that began in the same area. This religion is called Islam.

Every hundred years is called a century, but a thing that seems a little strange is this—the hundred years from 500 to 600 is called the sixth century, not the fifth; the hundred years from 600 to 700 is called the seventh century, not the sixth, and so on. Well, we have now reached the seventh century, the six hundreds, and we are to learn of a man who was to make a change in the whole world.

There lived in Arabia a man named Muhammad. He was born into humble circumstances. Because his parents died when he was young, he was raised by an uncle. His uncle operated camel caravans, which transported passengers and goods much as trains or trucks do today. The Arabian city of Mecca, where Muhammad lived, was the center of the caravan trade. These camel caravans traveled across the Arabian Desert to North Africa and to the lands along the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea. Although Muhammad had little formal education, he traveled to many wonderful places with the caravans and met many different kinds of people. While working for his uncle, he met a wealthy Arabian woman named Khadija. They were soon married and lived happily together. Muhammad and Khadija had four daughters.

A remarkable thing happened to Muhammad when he was around forty years old. According to Muslim tradition, the story is told that he was visiting a mountain in the desert, where he often went to study and think. One day the angel Gabriel appeared and delivered a message from God. Muhammad listened to this message and set out to teach it to others. But Muhammad did not intend to start a whole new religion.

He believed in the same God that the Jews and Christians worshiped. In Arabia there were Jews and Christians, as well as others who still worshiped idols. These groups often fought over their religious differences. Muhammad hoped that his teachings would make them more understanding of one another.

Muhammad saw a lot of unjust and bad behavior around him. He taught that people should change their selfish ways of living and be more concerned for those less fortunate. But, of course, it is impossible to get everyone to agree to change. A new religion began, instead, among those people who believed in Muhammad’s teachings. His followers became known as Muslims, and their religion is called Islam. Islam means “submission” to God.

Khadija was the first to follow her husband’s teachings. Soon others in Mecca followed, but there were some who wanted to stop Muhammad’s teachings. In 622 A.D. Muhammad and his followers moved from Mecca to the city of Medina. This first migration is called the Hegira. Some years later, they returned to Mecca, but Muslims today still teach the story of the angel Gabriel appearing before Muhammad and of the Hegira.

The Muslims began their calendar with the year of the Hegira, calling 622 A.D. the Year 1, just as Christians began their calendar from the year of Jesus’s birth and the Romans from the year of the founding of their city. Have you noticed that the Christians, the Romans, and the Muslims each have a different Year 1 ?

Muhammad lived only ten years after the Hegira; that is, until 632 A.D. The new Muslim leaders were called caliphs. The caliphs continued to spread Muhammad’s teachings. The first caliph was Abu Bakr; the second was named Omar. These teachings from God were written down and became the Qur’an (sometimes spelled as Koran), the Muslim holy book. “Qur’an” comes from a word that means “to recite” because Muslims learn to recite the Qur’an when they are young.

“Allah” is the Arabic word for God. When Muslims pray to Allah, they are praying to the same God that Christians and Jews worship. Muslims believe that Muhammad was the last of God’s prophets. They also believe that Abraham, Moses, and Jesus were also God’s prophets.

Muslims worship in a building called a mosque, just as Christians worship in a church, and Jews worship in a synagogue or temple. They also pray five times each day, if possible, wherever they may be. A man called a muezzin goes out on the balcony of a minaret, or tower, of a mosque and calls aloud, “Come to prayer. Come to prayer. There is but one God, and He is Allah.”

When Muslims pray, they face toward the city of Mecca because the holiest shrine of Muslims, called the Ka’ba, is located there. At least once in their lifetime, Muslims try to make the pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca.

During the early years of Islam, its leaders were building an empire, much of it in the lands that had once been a part of the Roman Empire. Muslim armies traveled around the Mediterranean, through the Middle East, all the way to Constantinople.

At Constantinople, the gateway from Asia to Europe, they were turned back by Christians, who poured hot tar and burning oil from the walls of the city. The Muslims tried many times to capture Constantinople but without success. Muslim armies also went westward through North Africa, across the Strait of Gibraltar into Spain and across the Pyrenees Mountains into southern France. In 732 A.D., just one hundred years after the death of Muhammad, they met their match near the town of Tours in France.

The king of France had a right-hand man named Charles, who had been nicknamed Charles the Hammer because he could strike such terrific blows. Charles was also called Mayor of the Palace, which meant that he was the chief servant of the king. Charles the Hammer and his French soldiers defeated the Muslims and kept them from moving farther into Europe.

In just a century, Islam had spread far and wide. People in countries bordering the Mediterranean, from Constantinople, all the way around North Africa on the southern edge, and north through Spain into France, lived under Muslim rulers. Many ordinary people had become Muslim. Even today, Islam is the main religion in the Middle East and North Africa. vWjzw/QCMrN2dMfH83uQlBuZFypKVaxa4MqarTuO762xbTfGOMcqCJoUb6gygK7U