FREE ESSAY ON ISLAMIC RELIGION

ISLAMIC RELIGION

Islamic Religion
Todays Muslims are branded as terrorists or fudamentalist. But their religion is a gentle

religion. On the Arabian Penninsula, home of the Arabs, was isolated and they were able
to 
develop their civilization without outside influences. It is about 1 million miles
square, that is 
located between the Red sea and the Persian Gulf. There are two distinctive regions. The
first 
has well-watered valleys between mountains and the second is arid plains and desert.
Grass 
grows quickly during the showes of the rainy season. In ancient times the Arabs were
bedouin 
(nomads that hersed sheep, goats, and camels. and lived in tents made made of felt from
camel 
or goat hair.) They ate fresh or dried dates and drank milk from their herds. On special

occasions they ate mutlon. their tribes were made of related families. They valued family
ties 
becuase because they ensured they ensured protection and survival. They had a chief
(sheikh). 
The sheikh ruled as long as the tribe allowed him. They had a counsil of elders. There
was 
warfare over waterholes and pastures. Their way of punishment is an eye for sn eye and a
tooth 
for a tooth. To improve warrior skills they had camel and horse. They had story telling
in frount 
of the campfire. They had poetry about battles, desert, camels, horses, and love.
In 500 A.D. they started a town called Makkah, which was fifty miles inland of the Red 
sea. Trade was mostly of animal producys for weopeans dates grains, spices, jewels ivory,
silk, 
and perfumes. They had caravans travel there from as for china.
Arabs had and worshipped many ditied business ties were replaceing family ties, and old 
tribal laws were not adequat Byzantine and the Persin armies were threatining to conquer
them. 
The tribes had the some language but they had no central goverment, or sense of unity,
The 
Arabs searched for new beliefs.
The prohet of Islam was muhammad. He was born in Makkah in 570 A. D. . He was 
orphaned at an early age and was adopted by his uncle. He worked as a carovan leader on a

trade route. He was know to be honest and able. His employer khadij'a ,a weakthy window
if age 
40, put him in charge of this business and proposed marriage to him.
He went to a cave outside the city in 610 A.D. to pray and fast reveloution (vision)
there.
He was told to recite. Recite in the name of your lord, the creator who created man from
clots 
of blood. Rwcite! Your lord os the most bountiful one who by the pen has taught mankind
things 
they didn't know.'' His second vision to rise and worn people. In 613 A.D. he preached to
his
family and friends that there was one god. And all that belived in him are equal.The rich
shared
with poor lots of the converts were poor. The rich merchants and the religious leaders
did not 
like,Mushamad and the Muslims were persecuated. After some theats on his life in 632 A.D.
he
sent 60 families to Yathrib.And then follewes them in secret(Known then as the Hjrah 
immirgration). 622 A.D. os know on the Musslim calandar as the frist year. Muhamad became

the rules of Yathris then it was called Medinch al-Neb orMadinah ''the city of the
priphet.''The
Madinch Compact of 624 A.D. was the foundation of Islanie state. Muhamad was the Judge
and 
commander in chief. Quxan was their bible of Ialam. They extended proection, to Jews and

christiand who accepted Islams political authoriyt. Makkems invaded Yathrib,and the
Muslims 
fought in self defense.The Makkans were defeated. And the Muslims won support of the Arab

groups outside of Madinsh. They later invaded Makkah and hod little resistance.They
accepted 
Islamic Religion and Muhammad. Islanic Religion and Muhammed. They destroyed idols, and
turned the shrine of prohet Abraham into a place of worship. Makkah was the spiritual
capital 
and Mdinth into the political capital. In 631 A.D. the Arabian Peninsula was supported by
an 
army representing each of the Arab tribes. Muhammad later died at Madinah in 632 A.D.
Beliefs
The Quran was the divine messages from God over a peroid of 22 years. It was written
down or memorized that was compiled into a written collection(Quran). is the final
matters of 
faith and lifestyles. It was written in Arabic. It is stories, teachings, and exhorations
of what is 
written in the Bible.
Values
Basic Moral values in the Quran are similar to Christanity and Judasim.Murder, lying, 
stesling and adultury are condemened.Honor parents, protect wideous and orphans, show 
kindness to neighoors and give maney to the poor. They weren't allowed to eat pork. drink

alchol; gambaling. They have rules for marriage, disorce, family life businss prastices,
and 
property inheritences. Law is not seperated from religion. There is no rated in order of
clergy. 
Sharii' ah organization moral principles into a body of law. Based on Quren and Hadith (
sayings 
of Muhammad) covered all aspects of Muslism private and public lifes.
Five pillars of Islam faith 
Confessions of faith: There is no god but God, and Muhammad is the messenger of 
God. All Muslisms are requiered to submit to god's will as given in the Quran. Muhhammad

role is stress in the Confession, that he is just the messenger and not devine.. Musliums
think that he 
is the last and the greatest of the Prophets. They see life as a preparation of Judgement
Day. 
And when they rise from the grave, they will be judge dor their actions( heaven or hell).
allah is 
also the god of the Jews, christans, Adam , Abraham, Moses, and Jeuses. They are all
given c
onsider to be prophets. Musliums have great respect for the Bible, Judasim, and
Christianity. 
They believe that the Arabs rea decendents of Ishmauel, son of Abraham.
Prayer: They pray five times a day sunrise, noon, afternoon, sunset and evening facing 
Makkah using the same motion and words. They kneel, bow, and touch their foreheads to the

ground (sign of submission). They pray no matter what. Friday at noon in a mosque(
shrine, 
court, school, and shelter). Imam(leader of the prayer) can be any male with the proper
religous 
training. 
Alms are chartity done privately and a state tax. 
Fasting: Is in the month of Ramadan ( the ninth month of the Ariabian calander).They can
not eat 
or drink from sunrise to sunset. After the fasting they have a three day feast. Children,
sick and 
pregant women are excempt. Cannon sounds for the prayers. 
Pilgemage- (Haji) everyone goes to Makkah at least once in their life. Once they go they
are 
honored in their community. Haji is two months and ten days after Ramadum fast. They have

three days of ceremony, prayer, and sacrifice. Now they worship at Kaaba, Nakkah, and 
madinah. It is a visible expression of unity and an expression of ideas.
Role of Women
Men are responsible for women. Womens postion is largely defined by her relationship 
with her male relatives and Husbends. They stopped the tribusl killing of baby girls.
They 
limited polygamy down to 4 wives. But they had to be equal to each other. Women had
control 
over her own property and she could inhert property from her father and remarry. Their
lives are 
invested into the family and household. Muisana the wife of Mu'awiyat wrote:
 The coarse cloth woven in serenity of the desert
Is more precious to me then lucuries robes of a Queen
I love the bedouins tent, caressed by the murmuring breeze and standing amid boundless 
horizons, 
More than the glided halls of marble in their royal splender.
I feel more at ease with my simple crust
than with the delicies of the court;
I prefer to rise early with the caravan
Rather than to be inthe golden glare of the sumptous escourt.
The barking of the a watchdog keeping away strangers
Pleases me more than the sounds of the trbourine played by court singers;
I prefer a desert cavlier, generous and poor
To a fat lout inn purple living behind closed doors.
-Najib Ullah, Islamic literature
Men
Men were active in politics, army, bussiness, and fields. They went to the bath houses
for 
relaxation and to work out. Boys entered school at age seven. They take writing and
reading. 
Which are Arab admires. They went to Madrasa ( theroloigical school) after they finished

regular school. 
Houses
They are plain with very little furnture. They used carpets, small objects of art, and
pillows. They 
sat on the rug and used pillows to lean on. During meals household members sit in a
circle and 
ate from large trays of bread, fruits, and meats. 
Islamics Trade spices, textiles, glass, and carpets. Men met in bazaars ( market places)
to 
converse and business. food was difficult to grow in alot of Islamic country. They
Irragated, 
rotated, and fertilized land. Large landowners who owned the more productive got grants
from 
the goverment. they hire nearby farmers to help. They produced wheat, rice, beans,
cucumbers, 
celery and perfume.
Islamic scientest translate the scintfic books into Arbaic. They invented algebraand 
equations to define curves and lines. Their work in geometry lead to invention of
trigometry. 
They accuratly predicted the solar eclipses. they accuratly measured the circumfrence and
size. 
they were unmatched until the 1990's. They produce the most accurate maps of the eatern 
Hemesphere. They developed alchemy, the branch of science that try to convert iron into
gold. 
al-Ruiz classfied chemical subsyances into animal, plant or mineral. He wrote a medical 
encyclepida and a handbook that told the differences betwees small poxs and measles.
Their 
knowledge of medicine was centuries ahead of the rest of the world. 
Bibliography
References
Channing L. Bete Co., Inc., About Being an Eastern Catholic (booklet). South Deerfield,
MA:
Channing L. Bete Co., Inc., 1982. 
Eliade, Mircea, The Encyclopedia of Religion. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 
1987. . 
The New Encyclop?dia Britannica (Microp?dia), volume 10. Chicago: Encyclop?dia 
Britannica, 1997. 
The World Almanac and Book of Facts 1997. Mahwah: The K-III Reference Corporation, 1996.