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Glossary - 14229_92
ORIGIN OF ISLAM IN THE UNITED STATES

Religious Program Specialist 3 & 2, Module 01-Personnel Support
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B   A   C   K   G   R   O   U   N   D Islam first grew up in Arabia. The Arabs were organized into tribes which formed   two   distinct   groups—northern   and   southern.   By   100   B.   C.,   the southern   tribe   had   become   powerful   enough   to   establish   several   Arab kingdoms.  The  northern  tribes,  led  by  the  Quraysh  tribe,  gained  control  of the  Hejaz  (now  a  province  of  Saudi  Arabia).  They  settled  in  Mecca  on  the main trade highway and established a powerful commercial city republic. At that time the Arabs worshiped nature and idols. Their chief gods were Allah, Uzza,  and  Manat.  Allah’s  chief  shrine,  the  Kaaba,  stood  in  Mecca.  Mecca attracted religious pilgrims, traders, and settlers from all of Arabia and from neighboring countries. Jews and Christians mixed freely with the Arabs, and, in  time,  converted  some  of  them  to  Judaism  and  Christianity. Mohammed,  whose  family  belonged  to  the  Quraysh  tribe  was  born  in A.D. 570 and grew up in Mecca. He was repelled by idol worship. At the age of  25  he  began  to  wander  into  the  desert  to  contemplate  and  pray.  He received  revelations  from  an  angel  on  Mount  Hira.  He  became  convinced that there was only one God and that He had revealed Himself in the Bible. Mohammed  felt  that  God  had  called  him  as  His  prophet  to  destroy  idolatry and  to  bring  the  Arabs  to  worship  one  God. At  the  age  of  40,  Mohammed  began  to  preach  the  new  faith  of  Islam which was gradually being revealed to him on his sojourns in the desert. The Meccans,  afraid  and  angered  at  Mohammed’s  preachings,  plotted  to  kill him.  In  A.D.  622,  Mohammed  and  his  followers  escaped  to  Medina,  a  town near Mecca, whose leaders had already accepted him as a prophet and leader. Mohammed’s  flight  to  Medina  is  known  as  the  “Hegira”  and  dates  the beginning   of   the   Islamic   era.   The   Islamic   calendar   is   dated   from   this date—A.D.   622. In  A.D.  628  the  Meccans  agreed  to  let  Mohammed  and  his  followers make their pilgrimages to the Kaaba—a sacred shrine. They believed this was where   Abraham   prepared   to   sacrifice   his   son   Ishmael. Mohammed  made  several  raids  against  Mecca.  In  A.D.  630  he  returned and  conquered  the  city.  In  A.D.  632  Mohammed  led  a  pilgrimage  to  Mecca (Makkah).  He  declared  “I  have  perfected  your  religion  and  completed  my favors  for  you.”  Three months later he fell ill in Medina and died. After  Mohammed’s  death,  rulers,  called  Caliphs  (“successors”),  led  the Moslems. The first four Caliphs and several Arab generals were responsible for  the  first  major  expansion  of  the  Moslem  world.  This  expansion  resulted from both political and religious motives. It represented the first stirrings of Arab  nationalism,  which  received  its  drive  through  the  unifying  force  of Islam. In the years A.D. 632—750 various Caliphs led the Arab Moslems to new victories  and  Islam  spread  into  the  Byzantine  areas  of  Syria,  Palestine, Spain,  Iraq,  Egypt,  and  North  Africa.  They  fought  the  Turkish  tribes  in Central Asia, moved across the Indus River in India, and reached the borders of  China.  In  A.D.  711  a  Moslem  army  crossed  the  Pyrenaes  mountains  and marched  through  southern  France  but  Charles  Martel  turned  them  back  in 732 at Tours. Many historians regard this battle as one of the most important ever fought because it determined that Christianity rather than Islam would dominate Europe. Beginning about A.D. 750, conversions to Islam increased until Islam became the predominant religion in most of the conquered lands. 2-65







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