Early history of Islam Essay

Islam is a religion story upon the surrender to God who is one. The very name of the religion, al-islam in Arabic, means at once submission and peace, for it is in submitting to Gods Will that human beings achieve peace in their lives in this human being and in the hereafter. The mental object of Islam concerns God, who in Arabic is called Allah, and it addresses itself to humanitys most deep nature. It concerns men and women as they were created by Godnot as fallen beings. Islam for that reason considers itself to be not an innovation but a reassertion of the universal truth of all revelation which is Gods Oneness.Moreover, beginning as the faith of a small community of worshipers in Arabia in the seventh century, Islam quickly becomes one of the main world religions. The core of this faith is the faith that Muhammad (c. 570-632), a respected businessman in Mecca, a commercial and unearthly center in western Arabia, received revelations from God that have been conserved in the leger. The heart of this revealed message is the confirmation that there is no god but Allah (The God), and Muhammad is the messenger of God. The term Islam comes from the Arabic word-root s-l-m, which has a unwashed reference to peace and submission.Particularly, Islam means submission to the will of God, and a Muslim is one who makes that submission. This submission or act of Islam means living a life of devotion and practice as defined in the Koran and participating in the life of the community of believers. The core of this Muslim life is typically verbalize to be the Five Pillars of Islam openly bearing witness to the basic affirmation of faith saying electropositive prayers five times a day fasting during the month of Ramadan giving a tithe or alms for support of the poor and making a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once throughout the believers lifetime, if this is possible.In addition, Muslims believe that Islam is the essential monotheistic faith proclaimed by prophets thr oughout history. The Koran is not seen as presenting a new revelation but rather as providing a complete, precise, and hence final record of the message that had previously been given to Abraham, Jesus, and other earlier prophets. As the basis for a historical community and tradition of faith, nevertheless, Islam begins in Mecca with the life and work of Muhammad in the early seventh century.Islam possesses a religious law called al-Shariah in Arabic which govern the life of Muslims and which Muslims regard as to be the incarnation of the Will of God. The Shariah is contained in principle in the Koran as elaborated and complemented by the Sunnah. On the basis of these principles the schools of law which are followed by all Muslims to this day were developed early in Islamic history. This Law, temporary hookup being rooted in the sources of the Islamic revelation, is a living body of law which caters to the desires of Islamic society.Islamic laws are fundamentally preventive and are not based on unkind punishment boot out as a last measure. The faith of the Muslim causes him to have respect for the rights of others and Islamic Law is such(prenominal) that it prevents misbehavior from taking place in most instances. That is why what great deal consider to be blue punishments are so seldom in need of being applied. Furthermore, the spread of Islam was not restricted to its staggering early expansion outside of Arabia. During later centuries the Turks embraced Islam serenely as did a large number of the people of the Indian subcontinent and the Malay-speaking world.In Africa as hearty, Islam has spread during the past two centuries even under the strong originator of European colonial rulers. Nowadays Islam continues to grow not only in Africa but as well in Europe and America where Muslims now comprise a prominent minority. References Exploring the Ancient world Cultures, Retrieved on November 29, 2006 at http//eawc. evansville. edu/ispage. htm Historio graphy of early Islam, Retrieved on November 29, 2006 at http//en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Historiography_of_early_Islam