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Table of Contents
 Allah’ s prophet
 After Muhammad’s death
 The different confessions of Islam
 The Islamic faith
 Faith articles
 Relationship with other religions
 Judaism
 Christianity
Il profeta di Allah
 Muhammad (Muhàmmad, “priseworthy” 570-632 d.C.),
born in Mecca
 Bedouin provenience
 At the age of 40 he started to have religious visions and to
proclaim Allah’s faith
 Allah (in in Arab:‫ﷲ‬, Allāh) is the word throughout which God
defines himself in Koran
 He gains popularity in the middle and poor class while finds
opposition in the merchant class
 The local population, threatened economically by the
adoption of a monotheistic religion make him leave
 He escapes to Yatrib in 622 a.d. : the Islamic calendar begins
 Mecca is newfound
 His preaching is diffused by Caliphs who contribute to the
expansion of Islam
After Muhammad’s death
 Three different types of orientation
 Prophet’s fellows: the caliph (khaliffa “succession”) must be
picked between the first followers of the prophet
 Legitimists: they refused the preceding principle, they wanted
to pick one of the closest relatives of the prophet
 Omayades: esponents of the richer class of the city (Mecca),
they wanted to decide who to pick between their members
 The first two caliphs (Abu Bakr e Omar) belong to the first
group, the third, Utman, gets killed by Alì, Muhammad’s cousin
and brother in law
 Schism: election of an anti-caliph (Mu’awiya, from Omayades),
655 d.C.
 Sciites – literaly “Alì’s party”
 Sunnites – Mu’awiya’s party
The different confessions
of Islam
All the Muslim people observe Kuran and the 5 pillars: the shahadah
(creed), (2) daily prayers (salat), (3) almsgiving (zakah), (4) fasting during
Ramadan and (5) the pilgrimage to Mecca (hajj). However several
divisions came out after the dispute in determining the first Caliph
 Sunnites
 83% of Muslims; the governments funds on
the popular consensus, with the mediation
of the Caliph. Apparently do not support
extremism.
 Wahhabiti; the more extreme faction of the
Sunnites
 Sciites
 10% of Muslims. The Imam rules, a successor
of ‘Alì. They represent the most radical and
intolerant group. They exalt the value of
martyrdom.
The Islamic faith
 The Islamic faith is centred on Allah, unique god,
creator and judge, compassionate and selfless
 “Social” religion: the observance of the rules is
worthier than the personal experience
 Sharia: means route, indicates a law or a ritual rule
and corresponds to god’s will
 Sources:
 Kuran: reunites all the revelations god
Muhammad; it is divided in 114 sure
 Sunna : oral transmission of prophet’s deeds
gave
Faith articles
 Believe in Allah, only creator and judge, guide and
support, preserver and destroyer, selfless and benevolent
 Believe in the existence of the angels, supernatural
creatures, made of light
 Believe in the books: the Kuran is the integral text of the
truth of Islam
 Believe in the prophetic mission of Muhammad’s and his
predecessor
 Believe in the life after death and in predestination
Islam and Judaism
 Islam pretends to be the last revelation,
and therefore, the final monotheistic
religions
 Islam incorporates Jewish history in its
own
 Moses is considered a prophet
 There are Judaic references in Kuran
 Both consider Abraham a prophet
 Both considered their texts as revelations
 They have in common principles of charity
and fasting
 Food laws (some foods are prohibited)
 Idolatry is strictly forbidden
 The concept of original sin is not taken
into consideration
Islam and Christianity

They both are monotheistic religions
 According to Muslims Jesus is a prophet
but not a god
 Abraham is considered a prophet
 God is creator of man whose goal is to
reach a final state of love
 Different interpretation of life after death
 The Kuran is the writing of god’s will
directly while the New testament is
“filtered”
 In the Islamic religion there’s a closer bond
between social law and religion