The Post-Classical Age & The Rise of Islam

### Regional and Transregional Interactions: * More trade (Why? How?) * Religious diffusion

Muhammad - Arab prophet; founded Islam. Social, political, and religious ideas
Five Pillars - core beliefs and practices of Islam * Profession of Faith - Shahada (oath to Allah (God) * Prayer - salat * Alms - Zakat (donation to charity) * Fasting (sawm) * Pilgrimage (hajj)
Allah - God
hajj - Muslim pilgramage to Mecca in the last month of the year
Quran (Koran) -Islamic sacred book, written in Arabic
Sunni - majority sect of Islam; thinks people shoulkd elect lewader
Shia - minority sect; thinks leader should be based on Ali’s bloodline
Sufi - smaller, Islamic mystical group. direct and personal experience of the Divine
Kabba (Kabah) - most sacred site of Islam. “House of God” in Mecca
Hijra - journey of Muhammed and followers from Mecca to Medina (marks year 0 in the Islamic calendar)
Hadith - traditions about sayings or actions of Muhammad that became an important source of Islamic law

Five Pillars * Shahada - there is no God but god * salat - 5x prayer a day * sawm - fasting; no ciggarete, no drinking during Ramadan month in daylight * zakat - donation of percnetage of income to charity * hajj - pilgrimage
hadith - collection of sayings about the prophet Muhammad. there are numerous competing ideas about this
umma - religious community of Muslims
Muhammad world was very tribal - tribal ties were very important
Arabian Peninsula pre-Muhammad was a religious melting pot - his tribe worshipped Gods similar to Mesopotamian Gods
monotheism - Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity - “one God not surprising”
arabia surrounded by Byzantium & Persian Sassanian - always fighting
Muslims thought God sent Muhammad as the final prophet to bring people back to the one true religion
Quran - written record of the revelations Muhammad received the word of God himself.
similar to judaism & Christianity in that it has supplementary sacred texts (hadith)

him and his wife are traders
out in the desert, him and his wife received the word of God and wrote it down
Quran in Arabic - led to religious unification
Islamic Art - lots of Arabic
rules of art - no depiction of living things, so lots of calligraphy in Arabic: excerpts of Quran (art in mosques)
the Blue Quran - early North African illuminated manuscript
minaret - towards where calls to prayers came from (5 times a day) * very similar religious services among different religions

Texts: Quran, hadith, Old Testament (Abrahamic Religion)
Who was Jesus? - A prophet; not a God
Kaaba - If you control Mecca, you control economy of hajj; huge potential! * The great mosque of mecca - location of kaaba