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Power concedes nothing without a demand. Name: Date: Mr. Carey/Mr. Clarke Rise of Islam Rise of Islam I. Overview In recent times, the man Muslim societies (believers in the religion Islam) of the Middle East have been seeking to overcome several hundred years of humiliating European intrusion and to find their place in the modern world. In doing so, many Muslims have found inspiration and encouragement in the early history of their civilization and their faith. For a thousand years (roughly 600-1600), peoples claiming allegiance to Islam represented a highly successful, prosperous, and expansive civilization, which included parts of Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. During the postclassical period, the Islamic civilization decisively shaped the history of the entire Afro-Eurasian world. The significance of Islamic civilization during the postclassical period was enormous. To begin, Islam tossed the previously small and nomadic Arab people—who were the first people to believe in the religious teachings of the original Islamic prophet, Muhammad (see left)—into a central role in world history. The sudden emergence and rapid spread of Islam in the 600s was accompanied by the creation of a huge empire that stretched from Spain to India. Both within that empire and beyond it, a new and innovative Islamic civilization took shape, drawing on Arab, Persian, Turkish, Greco-Roman, South Asian, and African cultures. It was clearly the largest and most influential of the postclassical civilizations. Finally, the broad reach of Islam created many of the great cultural encounters of 600-1450, as Islamic civilization challenged Christianity, transformed African cultures, and also took root in India, Central Asia, and Southeast Asia. The spread of Islam continued in the modern era so that by 2013, some 1.6 billion people, or 23 percent of the world’s population, identified as Muslims. It was second only to Christianity as the world’s most widely practiced religion, and it extended far beyond the Arab lands where it had originated. Directions: Actively read and annotate the provided text on the origins of the religion Islam and the Islamic community. Then, actively read and annotate the provided two documents. While you read, keep in mind the questions below. When you have finished reading, respond to these questions in the “Homework” section of your AP World History notebooks. 1. 2. Using the text, “The Birth of a New Religion,” identify the prophet behind the origins of Islam, as well as the birthplace of Islam itself, and explain how the Arabic view of this new religion changed over time. Your response should include at least three pieces of textual evidence. Using the provided documents, make an inference (textual evidence + background knowledge) as to why Islam spread so quickly. Your response should include evidence from both documents. II. The Birth of a New Religion In 610 CE, a merchant trader from Mecca (see map) made one of his frequent visits to a cave on nearby Mount Hira. For Muhammad ibn Abdallah, it was a time to pray, to get away from the scramble for money and wealth he felt was causing his people to lose their way. According to Muhammad, it was on this visit to Mt. Hira that the archangel Gabriel squeezed him hard and caused words to flow from his mouth. The words said that Allah was the one God. No doubt a bit shaken, Muhammad reported the event to his wife and her cousin but otherwise stayed silent. The words continued to come. (1) In 610, Mecca was a bustling Arabian trade town with camel caravans arriving regularly from points north and south. It Power concedes nothing without a demand. was also the site of an annual pilgrimage1 where Arab pagans (people who did not believe in a monotheistic God) came to perform rituals at the sacred Ka’ba (holy shrine in Mecca). The Meccan population included a number of Jewish families and some Christians, too. There may have been a feeling among the pagan Arabs that their religious world was less sophisticated than that of the Jews and the Christians. They had nothing to match the Jewish Torah or Christian Bible. They had no Abraham or Moses or Jesus. But all that was about to change. (2) After receiving Allah’s words for two years, Muhammad decided it was time to talk. Encouraged by the support of close friends and his wife, Kadija, Muhammad began to recite the received words in public. He spoke of the one god, Allah, and the importance of charity—sharing wealth with the weak and poor. Together, these teachings would form the foundation of the religion Islam, the Arabic word for “submission.” A follower of Islam was to be called a Muslim, meaning one who “submits to the will of Allah.” After Muhammad’s death in 632, Allah’s words that Muhammad was reciting would be written down and called the Qur’an. (3) 1 A pilgrimage is a journey to a specific location that believers in a religion take. The location that they travel to usually holds spiritual meaning for them. At first, many in Mecca resisted Muhammad’s preaching. What would happen to the gods the Arabs originally worshipped? Surely, some Arabs believed, pilgrimages to Mecca would stop, and business would therefore suffer. By 622, resistance was so strong that Muhammad decided to leave. Together with 70 families, he migrated 250 miles north. There, in the town of Medina, he established a new base. He also made a symbolic break with the past. While Muhammad had respect for Jews and Christians, at a prayer meeting in 624, he symbolically turned his body to the south—away from Jerusalem, the holy site of Judaism and Christianity—and toward Mecca. It was as much as saying that a new religion had been born. (4) In 628, Muhammad made the hard decision to return to Mecca. Despite opposition, he was allowed back in the city. He soon had enough support to order that the idols (statues of gods) in the Ka’ba be destroyed and the shrine dedicated to Allah instead. Pilgrimages to the Ka’ba became one of the Five Pillars, or essential duties, of Islam. These duties—1) confession of belief, 2) prayer five times a day, 3) an annual month-long fast known as Ramadan, 4) giving alms to the poor, and the 5) pilgrimage to Mecca—would become the major practices of Islam. (5) III. Spread of Islam Note: From its modest beginning in west-central Arabia in the 7th century CE, Islam rapidly exploded in size. Within 100 years of Muhammad’s death, it had reached Europe and Asia. Soon, followers of Islam had created an empire that stretched from the Middle East, through North Africa, and into Europe. Documents on next page. Power concedes nothing without a demand. Document 1 Document 2 Power concedes nothing without a demand.