Islam World History

Allah

Allah is the Arabic word for God and refers to the one, all-powerful Abrahamic God worshipped in Islam.

Muhammed

Founder of Islam and is believed by Muslims to be the final prophet sent by God.

Islam

Monotheistic religion based on belief in one God and the teachings revealed to Muhammed.

Muslim

Follower of Islam who submits to the will of Allah.

Hijrah

Muhammad’s migration from Mecca to Medina in 622 CE, marking the beginning of the Islamic calendar.

Mosque

Muslim place of worship where people gather for prayer and community activities.

Hajj

Pilgrimage to Mecca that every Muslim is expected to make at least once in their lifetime.

Qur’an

The holy book of Islam and contains the word of God as revealed to Muhammed.

Sunna

A collection of Muhammad’s teachings and actions that guide Muslims in daily life.

Shari’a

Islamic law based on the Qur’an and Sunna that guides moral, religious, and legal behavior.

Mecca

An important trade center and religious city, home to the Kaaba.

Five Pillars of Islam

Faith (Shahada), Prayer (Salat), Charity (Zakat), Fasting during Ramadan (Sawm), and Pilgrimage to Mecca (Hajj).

Caliph

The supreme political and religious leader in Islam, regarded as a successor to the Prophet Muhammad.

Umayyads

The first hereditary dynasty of Muslim caliphs, ruling a vast empire from their capital in Damascus from 661 to 750 CE.

Shi’a

A major branch of Islam who believe that only descendants of Muhammad, through his daughter Fatima and cousin/son-in-law Ali, should be the rightful successors (caliphs) to the Prophet.

Sunni

The largest denomination of Islam, who believe that the caliph should be a pious male accepted as a leader by the Muslim community and should follow the Sunna, or Muhammad's example.

Sufi

A mystical Islamic belief and practice in which Muslims seek to find the truth of divine love and knowledge through direct personal experience of God, often rejecting the luxurious life of the Umayyads.

Abbasiads

A rebel group that overthrew the Umayyads and established a new caliphate that ruled the Islamic world from 750 to 1258 CE, known for its golden age of cultural and scientific achievement.

Al-Andalus

The Muslim-ruled territory in the Iberian Peninsula (modern-day Spain and Portugal) that was incorporated into the Muslim world by the Umayyad

Fatimi

A powerful Shi'a Islamic caliphate established by those who claimed descent from Muhammad's daughter, Fatim.

Justinian

A Byzantine emperor who ruled from 527–565 and worked to strengthen the empire through military conquest, legal reform, and support of Christianity.

Justinian Code

A complete collection and organization of Roman laws that made them clearer and more consistent and later influenced modern legal systems.

Hagia Sophia

A grand cathedral built in Constantinople under Justinian that showed the wealth, power, and religious devotion of the Byzantine Empire.

Patriarch

A high-ranking church leader in the Eastern Christian Church, especially the leader of the church in Constantinople.

Icon

A religious image of Jesus, Mary, or saints used by Byzantine Christians to aid worship and prayer.

Excommunication

The act of officially removing someone from the Christian Church as punishment for disobedience or heresy.

Cyrillic Alphabet

A writing system developed by Byzantine missionaries to help Slavic peoples read and write and learn Christianity.