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CHAPTER 9
THE WORLDS OF ISLAM:
AFRO-EURASIAN CONNECTIONS
600 – 1500
What experience persuaded Malcom X, the American black racial leader, to abandon his commitment to
militant black separatism?
How is Malcom X’s view similar in spirit to the painting of “The Hajj” on p. 410 in your book?
As the 21st century dawned, Islam had acquired a presence in the US, with 1200 mosques and 8 million
Muslims, a sign of the growing international significance of the Islamic world. What other factors
focused global attention on the Islamic world in the second half of the 20th century?
What factors, in the new millennium, signaled the growing role of Islamic civilization in world affairs?
How are today’s Muslim societies similar to today’s China?
What inspires Muslims?
What, in general, is the significance of the realm of Islam in the third-wave world?
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The spread of Islam continued into the modern era. What was its status by the beginning of the 21st
century?
THE BIRTH OF A NEW RELIGION
Most of the major religions or cultural traditions of the second-wave era (Confucianism, Daoism,
Hinduism, Buddhism, Greek rationalism, Zoroastrianism) emerged from the core of established
civilizations. How were Christianity and Islam different than the pattern of the others?
THE HOMELAND OF ISLAM
Who inhabited the central region of the Arabian Peninsula and how did they live?
There was more to Arabia than cattle-herding nomads. Explain.
Arabia also sat astride increasingly important trade routes that connected the Indian Ocean world with
that of the Mediterranean Sea. What was the effect?
One of those cities, mecca, came to occupy a distinctive role in Arabia.
It was the site of the Kaaba. What was the Kaaba and what was its significance?
Its dominant tribe was the Quraysh. Describe them.
What was Mecca like by the sixth century?
Arabia was located on the periphery of which two established civilizations?
This location, coupled with long-distance trade, ensured some familiarity with the larger world,
particularly in the cities and settled farming regions of the peninsula. Many Jews, Christians, as well as
some Zoroastrians, lived among the Arabs, and their monotheistic views were widely known.
By the time of Muhammad, what did most Arabs believe?
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What were a few beginning to explore?
To an outsider it may have seemed that:
Any such expectations were confounded by dramatic events of the 7th century.
THE MESSENGER AND THE MESSAGE
The catalyst for events of the 7th century and for the birth of this new religion was a single individual,
Muhammad Ibn Abdullah (570-632 CE), who was born in Mecca to a Quraysh family.
Describe his life to age 25.
What troubled him and what did he do in response?
What ultimately resulted?
According to Muslim tradition, the revelations began in 610 and continued periodically over the next 22
years. What is the significance of those revelations?
The Quran is intended to be recited rather than read for information. What do Muslims claim is the
effect and why?
In its Arabian setting, the Quran’s message, delivered through Muhammad, was revolutionary.
Religiously, it was:
Allah was:
This exalted conception of Deity drew heavily on:
As “the Messenger of God,” how did Muhammad present himself?
Islam was presented not so much as a call to a new faith, but as an invitation to return to the old and
pure religion of Abraham from which Jews, Christians, and Arabs alike had deviated.
What were the described deviations of the following?
Jews:
Christians:
Arabs:
To all of this, the message of the Quran was a corrective.
Submission to Allah was the primary obligation of believers and the means of achieving a God-conscious
life in this world and a place in paradise after death.
The term Muslim means:
According to the Quran, however, submission:
Over and over, the Quran denounced:
For example:
Like the Jewish prophets of the Old Testament:
It sought to:
The message of the Quran challenged:
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The just and moral society of Islam was the umma. What is the umma?
Describe this community.
The core message of the Quran – the remembrance of God – was effectively summarized as a set of five
requirements for believers, known as The Pillars of Islam. Identify these five pillars and explain them.
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A further requirement for believers, sometimes called the sixth pillar, was “struggle,” or jihad in Arabic.
Its more general meaning is:
In its lesser form, the “jihad of the sword” the Quran authorized:
The understanding and use of the jihad concept has varied widely over the many centuries of Islamic
history and remains a matter of much controversy among Muslims in the 21st century.
THE TRANSFORMATION OF ARABIA
As the revelations granted to Muhammad became known in Mecca, who did they attract?
Who was opposed and why?
What happened in 622 as a result of the fierce opposition in Mecca?
Describe Yathrib.
The emigration to Yathrib came to be known as:
What is its significance?
Describe the new umma that emerged in Medina, which was very different from the traditional tribes of
Arab society.
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In Medina, Muhammad not only began to create a new society but also declared his movement’s
independence from its earlier affiliation with Judaism. Why?
The Prophet now:
From its base in Medina, the Islamic community rapidly extended its reach throughout Arabia. Explain.
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What key development occurred in 630?
What was the status of the religion when Muhammad died in 632?
How did the birth of Islam differ sharply from that of Christianity?
Describe the young Islamic community, in contrast.
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In little more than 20 years (610-632), a profound transformation had occurred in the Arabian Peninsula.
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