The Emergence of Islam
Islam is a major world religion founded in Arabia and based on the teachings of the prophet Muhammad. The Arabic word Islam means, "to surrender," but as a religious term in the Qur'an, it means "to surrender to the will or law of God." All devout Muslims, no matter what race they are, learn to read Arabic so they may read the Qur'an in it's native tongue. Muslims also have they're own calender based on the phases of the moon. You find no racism in Islam because all people are equal in the eyes of Allah. This, along with the Arabic language, unifies Muslims across the globe. Islam has flourished in diverse climatic, cultural, and ethnic regions and although exact statistics are not available, the Muslim world population is estimated at more than 1 billion. In Europe, Islam is the second largest religion after Christianity. So how did Islam come to be so universal? What makes Islam such a major world religion? To understand Islam better, one must first know something about the Prophet Muhammad. The founder of Islam was Muhammad. The Qur'an describes Muhammad as the "Seal of all Prophets" meaning that the prophethood was finished with him. The exac
Before Islam became dominant, religion in Arabia was based on idolatry and polytheism. Although they did hold beliefs about an afterlife they were not very clear. This made it easy for Islam to convert people who wished for a more structured religion. The religions that came before Islam had no strict dogma at all and Idolatry was a major part of worship. The central sanctuary at Mecca had once held around 360 idols. Islam incorporated many of Arabia's native beliefs into it religion. Such things as the pilgrimage to Mecca were absorbed, in modified form, from Arabic paganism. People had already been making pilgrimages to Mecca for a long time before Muhammad brought Islam to them and the pilgrimage of Hajj. The circumambulation that Muslims performed at Hajj was an old pagan tradition. They had used it as part of the ceremonies to the gods. Even the name Allah is taken from a pagan god. Allah is the general Arabic term for the supreme being rather than the name of a particular deity. Rather than introducing a new god, Muhammad denied the existence of the gods worshipped before his prophethood and proclaimed the omnipotence of Allah. This helped the pagans convert to Islam more easily. They could recognise the name and it didn't feel like complete abandonment of their religion. Not much is known about Pre Islamic Arabia. One of the few facts that is agreed on is the diversity of the Arabian society prior to Islam. It was comprised of diverse communities with different customs, languages and lifestyles. There was also no political unity. This time before Islam is called Jahiliyyah, or the age of ignorance. It is impossible
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1152
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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