History of Islam and Its Personalities

According to Muslims, Adam was the first human being created by Allah and was also the first prophet. Being the first man to walk the face of the earth, he got married to Hawa (May peace be upon her) who was sent from Heaven so they would be together. Many of the revelations delivered by the 48 prophets in Judaism and many prophets of Christianity are mentioned as such in the Quran but usually in slightly different forms. Nonetheless, according to Alli, 2017, after Prophet Adam there have been many Prophets preaching Islam and its faith since then. Before we continue, the lives of two Prophets are worth mentioning for a better understanding of how Islam developed through time.

Prophet Moses (May peace be upon him ) 1391–1271 BCE, was according to Beegle 2017, born at the time Pharaohs ruled Egypt. The revelation of Islam was made to him when he was on a mountain, it was revealed to him that he has been sent as a messenger of God and that God is just one. The commonly supposed founder is Muhammad who came on the scene in 540 AD. However at the time of the Arab conquests there is no mention of him. Rather we find the references to an Ebionite Christian idea of religion. The Ummayyad Caliphs used crucifixes on their coins and nowhere to refer to Islam, Muhammad, or the Quran. The word Muhammad means “the praiseworthy one” and is a tutor not a name.

It is used five times in the Quran and is used to reference Jesus, but a more Gnostic kind of Jesus. Only later in the 8th century do we hear of the Quran or this Arabian prophet. Initially Muslims bowed to Jerusalem, keeping in mind that they were a Christian heresy it makes eminent sense. Later they bowed to Petra before finally bowing to Mecca when the various myths of different Arabian warlords were merged to create an idea of a separate prophet. So, in reality, the founders of Islam are a bunch of people ranging from the Syriac Christian monks who wrote the Quran (which means lectionary or Christian prayer book) in the sixth century to various writers in the eighth century who consciously set out to create an Arabian prophet

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Islam developed in the Middle East in the 7th century C.E. First-ever Islamic State was founded in Madina by our Hol Prophet Muhammad saw in the 7th century. Islam, which means ‘surrender’ or ‘submission,’ was founded on the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad as an expression of surrender to the will of Allah, the creator, and sustainer of the world, (Bassiouni, 2012). One of the unifying characteristics of Islam is the Five Pillars, the fundamental practices of Islam. These five practices include ritual profession of faith, ritual prayer (Namaz), the zakat (charity), fasting( One month), the hajj (a pilgrimage to Makkah). Many Muslims are characterized by their commitment to praying to Allah five times a day. One of the defining characteristics of Islam is the primacy of sacred places including Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem. Muslims gather at mosques to worship Allah, pray, and study scripture.

To understand the history of Islam completely, we will have to take a step back to the 6th century AD, when small groups of Arab looters and mavericks roamed the deserts. The Eastern Roman Empire was at its full bloom under Justinian, who announced himself the head of the Church as well as the state.

Justinian

According to Hussey, unlike the Western Roman Empire, where the papacy was firmly established with its center in Rome (where the Pope resided), The Eastern counterpart followed the orthodox Christian traditions strictly. Here, there was One God – Jesus Christ, One King – the Emperor and One true Belief – that the Emperor was the head of everything… The Eastern Roman Empire or the Byzantine Roman Empire had a series of conflicts with the Sassanid Empire of Persia and both of them tried to assert their control over the Arabian land in between. The Arabians, on the other hand, were almost like living on an island. They were a Semitic race like the Jews and acknowledged Abraham and his son, Ishmael (of the Jews) to be their predecessors. Interestingly, the Arabs, initially, were “stone-worshippers”, that is, their Gods had a definite form, unlike the Byzantines who denounced idolatry and the Sassanids (or Persians) who were Zoroastrians or fire-worshippers.

The Zoroastrian Tradition

Based on the Zoroastrian tradition, Zoroaster had a divine vision of a supreme being while partaking in a pagan purification rite at age 30. Following this vision, he began teaching followers to worship a single god called Ahura Mazda (History.com Editors, 2018). To protect themselves from Justinian’s stringent regulations, several Byzantians fled to Arab where they could practice idol-worship without any hindrance. Thus Arab grew up to be a hub of the idol-worshippers. However, the Arabian people were divided into several small tribes and clans who fought continuously among themselves and relied on plundering wealthy merchants (both Romans and Persians) or Kafilas, who passed their lands, for their livelihood.

As per religion is concerned, they had a central holy place where all their venerated stones were kept and that place was Kaaba of Mecca. It was dedicated to the Moon-God, Hubal and interestingly, it had several goddesses as well, like Al-Lat, Al-Qaum, Al-Ujja, etc. Almost 5 years after Justinian’s death in 565 AD, a child was born in the influential Quraysh tribe of Arabia, who would change the history of the world as we know it. Abū al-Qāsim Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib ibn Hāshim was born about the year 570 AD. and his birthday is believed to be in the month of Rabi’ al-awwal. He belonged to the Banu Hashim clan, part of the Quraysh tribe.

The Quraysh tribes were already influential group in Mecca, but Muhammad was raised by his uncle because he lost his parents quite early in his childhood. A shepherd and later a small merchant, by profession, Muhammad went to Syria, several times for business purposes. In Syria, probably, he came in touch with Christianity and its principles. The concept of One God, One King and One Religion of the East Roman empire influenced him so much, that he started to weave thoughts about the new religion of his own – a religion, which was essentially Arabic, but possess all the important values to keep the warring clans unified. Artist’s impression of Muhammad receiving teachings from archangel Gabriel.

Thus he conceived a new religion for his men, with the “enlightenment” story of his receiving messages from Allah or God in a cave. But the religion was: Monotheistic – that is, emphasized on the idea of a single God. Had the Spiritual Leader as the King or leader of the clan, so that no future claims can arise. Accepted the key figures of the other popular religions like Noah, Moses, Jesus (called Issa) of Christianity, and Abraham, Ishamael of Judaism. This avoided any conflicts between the existing powerful religions and this newborn one. Apart from these, Muhammad delivered a master-stroke, which speaks of his political acumen. He took lessons from Christianity which was adulterated by beliefs and ideas of the later Christians (for example, the Papacy, the social division, etc.). Hence he declared himself as the last Nabi (messenger of God). Thus nobody can come up and alter the basic tenets in the future.

The Bloody Conflict

Meanwhile there ensued a bloody episode of civil war between the different Arabian tribes in Yathrib (later called Medina). The struggle between Banu Aos and Banu Khajraj was especially the most violent one. Muhammad arrived in Medina and proposed an alliance between the warring Arabian tribes. His far-sighted and liberal doctrines and his charisma finally brought peace among them and they accepted him as their religious leader. Not only the Arabs but also the Christians and the Jews residing in Medina acknowledged his position.

Thus Medina laid the foundation stone for Muhammad to spread Islam. An avid politician, he composed a set of rules called “Medina Doctrines” which is regarded as the oldest form of Constitution (PBS, 2002). It had clear instructions about tax collection, public welfare, criminal punishment, and other elements that are common today. But it must be kept in mind, at that time (seventh century AD), it was rather the norm of the rulers to exercise Autocracy. The common people also had no idea what “democracy” meant and hence found the ruler’s whims to be justified. In such a time, Muhammad’s “constitution” was a revolution in itself.

Panel of six tiles depicting the holy sanctuary of the mosque at Mecca. This continued till his death in 632 AD. But after that, human nature and the lust for power again raised its ugly head which led to elaborate conflicts, bloody wars, and aggressive expansions, which can be covered in another article. Thus, keeping in mind the “modern” and “progressive” origin of Islam and the orthodox and fundamentalist shadow of it which we see today.

Period of the Four Caliphs

The word “caliph” means a ruler. In ISLAM Caliph is responsible for all of the ISLAMIC activities. ISLAM doesn’t like or allow rulers from the same family because ISLAM gives people the right to choose their caliph. Meaning after father’s death a son cannot be the king or the caliph by default unless people want it. So after the demise of Prophet MUHAMMAD PBUH, Muslims were in a state of confusion whom to appoint as the successor of Prophet MUHAMMAD PBUH. Prophet MUHAMMAD PBUH did not name anyone to be his successor during his blessed time. People in Medina were willing to have someone from their city since Prophet MUHAMMAD PBUH migrated to Medina but Quraish on the other hand side wanted someone from them since Prophet MUHAMMAD PBUH was from Quraish tribe (Nelson, 2020).

Hazrat Abu Bakr Siddique(632-634): According to Khan (2020), Hazrat Umar (RA) was one of the mightiest companions of the Prophet MUHAMMAD PBUH. He stood up and gave allegiance to Hazrat Abu Bakr Siddique (RA) who was the closest friend of Prophet MUHAMMAD PBUH. So everyone agreed maybe except one or two but this is how the first caliph of ISLAM was chosen.

Hazrat Umar(634-644): Hazrat Abu Bakr (RA) appointed Hazrat Umar (RA) as his successor after he passed away. Hazrat Umar (RA) ruled over 10 years and those were the golden era of ISLAM. Hazrat Umar conquered Jerusalem and obtained the keys of the city. ISLAM spread a lot during his era. He was the second caliph of ISLAM.

Hazrat Usman(644-656): Hazrat Umar appointed six-person and left the decision upon people to choose from these 6 men. The majority voted for Hazrat Usman (RA) who was the son in law of Prophet MUHAMMAD PBUH. Since ISLAM was spread all over people started reading the Holy Quran in different dialects outside Arabia. So he ordered all those copies of the Holy Quran and burnt them and made one standard copy with one dialect and spread it over. Muslims still follow that same copy. People claim that Hazrat Usman (RA) changed the Quran etc which is all non-sense. So he was the third caliph of ISLAM.

Hazrat Ali(656-661): After the death of Hazrat Usman, people elected Hazrat Ali (RA) as a caliph. During the era of Hazrat Ali (RA) ISLAM started having political issues and civil wars but Hazrat Ali (RA) never departed from the right path. So these four caliphs are also called “Khulafai e Rashideen”. The rightly guided ones.

Umayyads (661-750) and Abbasids (750-1258)

Despite the similarity of faith (both the Umayyad and Abbasid Dynasty shared Muslim faith), there were many differences in the two dynasties that were to lay the foundation of the future of Islam in the world. While the tenets of Islam took root in the phase of Umayyad’s, all the expansion of Islam around the world took place in the times of Abbasids. For one, Umayyad has a much greater interest in the Mediterranean coast while Abbasids focused on the plains of Iran and Iraq. This was the reason why Syria, Israel, Lebanon, and Egypt were important in the time of the Umayyad Dynasty; the focus shifted to Iran and Iraq during the Abbasid Dynasty.

Thus, one big difference between the two dynasties lies in their orientation towards the sea and land. While the capital of the Islamic world under the Umayyad Dynasty was Damascus, the capital of Syria, it shifted to Baghdad under the Abbasid Dynasty. The role and power of women during the Umayyad Dynasty was significant. Women had advantages and a higher status in the Umayyad Caliphate as compared to the Abbasid Caliphate. They were treated with respect and not secluded like wives and concubines and slaves as was the case in the Abbasid Dynasty. Women did not wear veils, and their advice was considered important in the Umayyad Dynasty, while their position in the society degraded during the Abbasid Dynasty (Yalman, 2001).

Andalusia (756-1492)

The Arab presence in Spain lasted officially from 711-1492. Toward the beginning of this period, the Arab-controlled area spanned across basically all of the Iberian Peninsula, including all of modern-day Portugal and the vast-majority of modern-day Spain (except for the far-northern Kingdom of Asturias). (Pharies, 2015) Throughout this 700-year contact, the people of the Iberian Peninsula fought against the Arab domination in a process known as La Reconquista, or the “Re-conquest.”

The Arab name for the conquered region was al-Andalus which changed in size throughout this period and does not correspond to the modern-day Andalusia. From the linguistic standpoint, the most widely discussed feature of this contact is the lexical (dealing with vocabulary) influence of Arabic on Spanish, particularly with nouns. Prior responses have addressed this and provided some links to lists of Arabic words used in Spanish. However, we can get closer to these answers to see specifically which parts of the lexicon have been affected by this contact (BBC, 2009).

Samians (819-1005)

The Samanid Empire is part of the Iranian Intermezzo, which saw the creation of a Persianate culture and identity that brought Iranian speech and traditions into the fold of the Islamic world. This would later lead to the formation of the Turko-Persian culture1. The Samanids promoted the arts, giving rise to the advancement of science and literature, and thus attracted scholars such as Rudaki, Ferdowsi, and Avicenna. While under Samanid control, Bukhara was a rival to Baghdad in its glory.

Safavids (1502-1732)

Safavid Empire is a Persian Empire, also it is considered Shi’a. Many Empires have governed in Iran. Many of them were not Persian. But they are counted as the Iranian reign. They were Turk originally, but using their background, which received to the Sheikh Safi-ad-din Ardabili, Sufi Muslim, they could overcome the chaos of the time and made the whole country united, under a flag. They chose Shi’a Islam, as the official religion of Iran, and tried their best to develop this school. From their base in Ardabil, the Safavids established control over parts of Greater Iran and reasserted the Iranian identity of the region.

Karahanli State (840-1212)

The Karahanli State is a Turkish state that ruled over the lands of Central Asia and present-day East Turkestan between 840 and 1212. Its founder is Bilge Kul Kadir Han. After Bilge Kul’s death, his sons Bazirand Ogulcak took over the State.

Ghaznavids (963-1186)

Although the dynasty was of Central Asian Turkic origin, it was thoroughly Persian in terms of language, culture, literature, and habits and hence is regarded as a ‘’Persian dynasty’’.

Great Seljuk State (1037-1157)

A Seljuk converted to Islam. Seljuks were/are a Turkic tribe originating from Central Asia who moved towards south and west in the 11th century bringing them into conflict with Ghaznavids of Afghanistan and eastern Persia, and the Byzantines to west. Seljuks succeeded in prevailing over both, which resulted in the weakening of Ghaznavids and the successful Turkic colonization of Anatolia.

Anatolian Seljuk State (1077-1308)

Anatolia (Means where the sun is born in Greek Anatole- East, originally sunrise) was available. Greek population went down in many centuries and when the Turks arrived, the land was there and waiting to be populated. The Byzantine- Persian wars and later on mismanagement of agriculture in Anatolia turned Anatolia less populated. Originally, the Turkish state (Seljuk) plans did not involve any conquest of Anatolia. Seljuks were happy in Iran and they did not bother to fight with Byzantines until 1071. The migration of independent Turkic tribes increased so rapidly that Byzantine emperor Romanos Diogenes felt forced to intervene. When Seljuks intervened on the side of fellow Muslims eventual clash between two armies had been realized. (Bunting, 2017)

Conclusion

Muslims believe that Islam is the complete and universal version of a primordial faith that was revealed many times before through prophets like Adam, Abraham, Moses and Jesus. They consider the Quran in Arabic to be the unaltered and final revelation of God. The prophet Mahammad according to Islamic doctrine, was sent to preach and confirm the monotheistic teaching preceded by Adam, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and others. During the medieval period, Muslim-majority and Muslim-ruled societies underwent massive transformations. They went from being united under a centralized Arab-dominated caliphates like the Umayyads and Abbasids to being ruled by smaller, decentralized regional powers. In the Middle Ages, the ‘Islamic world’ was not a single state, but the different countries which formed it had many things in common:

• It was united – the Umma was the community of all Muslim believers and shared a commitment to Islam.
• Religion and government were much more closely connected in the Muslim states than in feudal Europe.

The ulama, the experts in Sharia law, were important religious scholars who advised the caliph, the leader of the umma. Until the 9th century the caliph was the religious and political leader of all Muslims. Later on, military leaders, known as amirs or sultans, dominated the caliphs, but the caliphs kept their spiritual role.

In summary, Islam was created by the Arab conquests of the 7th and 8th centuries. From the eleventh to the sixteenth centuries, a large number of Turks and Mongols moved over the tremendous fields of Central Asia into the Middle East. They also embraced Islam which then, extended from India to Spain. Muslim merchants ventured out to places as far separated as the Sahara, South Africa, China, Scandinavia and Russia. Muslims exchanged great products, for example, silk, rugs, ivory and flavors and to add, Islamic world was definitely more modern than in Western Europe in the field like science and medication.

Cordoba in Muslim Spain was a city of over a large portion of a million occupants with road lighting and running water. Simultaneously 10,000 Londoners lived in timber-surrounded houses and utilized the stream as their sewer. Muslims were going to excellence parlors, utilizing antiperspirants and drinking from glasses, when English books of conduct were all the while advising page-young men not to pick their nose over their food, spit on the table, or toss uneaten food onto the floor.