1. The History of Islam
N ATA S H A G H I C A
ERIC CHENG
MICHAEL GELLERSTEDT
LONDON BYRD

2. Early History
 Islam begins with the prophet Muhammad
 Islam started in Mecca, Saudi Arabia in the 7th
century
 When Muhammad was 40 years old in AD 160, he
claimed to be receiving messages from God that were
later recorded into the Islamic Holy book- The
Qur’an

3. The Prophets
 There are 25 prophets of Islam that Allah(the God)
sent.
 The most important being Noah, Abraham, Moses,
Jesus and Muhammad.
 The prophets were sent to offer guidance and spread
Islam and its concepts through the world
 Muhammad is the last prophet
 Muhammad is called the “Seal of the Prophets”

4. How it started
 Muhammad would share his visions and revelations with
other people and try to teach them about Allah and the
belief in one God
 It introduced the five pillars which every Muslim must
follow:
1. confession of faith in God and in Muhammad as God's
messenger
2. daily prayer at the five appointed times
3. fasting during the month of Ramadan
4. paying an alms-tax and giving charity to the poor and
5. pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca and its sacred
shrine the Kaaba

5. The Golden Age
 Islam flourished as a religion during The Golden Age
 The Golden Age took place during 750-1258 AD
 It has now become the second largest religion in the
world, after Christianity
 Many people turned to Islam due to its solid belief
system
 Islam spread wide and fast across the world and
soon became a major religion

6. Denominations: Sunni
 Islam has many denominations but the largest and
most well known are the Sunni and Shia
 Sunni is the largest sect of Islam.
 Sunni is about 80% of all Muslims).
 Sunni is the traditional path of the religion
 Sunnis believe that the first four caliphs were the
right successors to Muhammad and that a caliph
should be chosen by all the community

7. Shia
 Shia is about 10-20% of Islam
 It is the second largest branch of the religion
 They believe in the political and religious leadership
of Imam
 They believe that a caliph is appointed by divine will
 There are also many branches that pertain to Shia
Islam
 The most famous is the Twelvers who follow a
tradition called Ja'fari jurisprudence.

8. Short Timeline of Islam
 c. 570 CE Birth of Muhammad.
 c. 610 CE Muhammad receives first vision in a cave near Mecca.
 c. 610-22 CE Muhammad preaches in Mecca.
 622 CE Hijira - Muhammad and followers flee to Medina.
 624 CE Muslims successfully attack Meccan caravans at Badr.
 625 Muslims are defeated by Meccans at Uhud.
 630 Muslims capture Mecca. Ka'ba is cleansed, pilgrimage rites are
Islamicized, tribes of Arabia vow allegiance to Muhammad
 632 Death of Muhammad. Abu Bakr chosen as caliph.
 680 Death of Husayn marks beginning of the Shi'at Ali ("party of Ali") or
Shi'a sect.