O Islam is a religion that emerged in PeninsulaArabica, at the beginning of the century VII, by means of Muhammad (known in Portuguese as Mohammed). This religious belief is currently the second largest in the world, having about 1.8 billion faithful, most of them located on the Asian and African continents.
Islam is the Portuguese word in Arabic islam. That word, in that language, means submission and is derived from salam, which means peace. The sense of peace mentioned does not refer to the concept of war, but rather to a condition of peace between body and spirit.
O faithful adherent to Islam is known as Muslim or Muslim, and these terms also come from the Arabic language. These words come from muslin, which means submissive, therefore, within the Islamic faith, a Muslim is one who is submissive to God, called Allah.
Islam, like Judaism and Christianity, is a religionmonotheistic, that is, Muslims believe in the existence of only one God who, as we mentioned, is called by them Allah. These three beliefs are the three great monotheistic religions of the world.
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How was the rise of Islam
Islam emerged in early eighth century through the work of Muhammad, O greatprophet of that religion. Muhammad was born in 570 AD. C., in Mecca, and lost his parents in childhood, having been raised by his uncle, Abu Taleb. He became a merchant, traveled extensively throughout his life and, at age 25, married a wealthy widow named Khadija.
What little we know about Muhammad tells that he was a man who often isolated himself to pray and meditate. In 610 d. C., during one of these retreats, Muhammad went to a cave, located on Mount Hira, when the AngelGabriel revealed itself calling him rasulAllah (sent from God).
During this event, the angel asked the prophet to recite a text, and then Muhammad recited:
In the name of God, the Merciful, the Merciful.
Read, in the name of your Lord who created;
It created man from something that clings.
Read, that your Lord is Most Generous,
Who taught through the calamus,
He taught the man what he didn't know.|1|
This event was known as Night of Destiny and initiated Allah's revelations to Muhammad. The prophet went the next two years without receiving new revelations, until they returned around 612 AD. Ç. These were later transcribed by converts to Islam in what was called Quran or Koran, the holy book of Islam.
From there, Muhammad began to preach the Allah's message by Mecca, and the first converts were his wife, his cousin Ali Talib, and Abu Bakr. However, Muhammad's preaching about a monotheistic religion in the streets of Mecca began to bother the authorities of the city, because they attacked the high profits that the city got by pilgrimage of the faithful.
This pilgrimage is related to the ancient religion practiced in the Arabian Peninsula at the time: polytheistic paganism. As a result, Muhammad and his followers began to be persecuted by the local authorities, and this caused some of the Muslims to flee to the Ethiopian region. Muhammad himself obtained refuge inMedina, city that showed some receptivity to the message of Allah.
In 622 d. C., Muhammad then moved to Medina, and this event became known as hegira, event that inaugurated the Islamic calendar. The scholar specialist in Islam Jacques Jomier says that at the time of the Hijrah there were about 200 adherents to Islam in the city of Mecca.|2|
In Medina, Islam grew, became an influential religion, and established a state there. Muhammad became head of Medina, and new converts in that city began to organize and attack caravans from Mecca. One of the great achievements of the Muslims of Medina was the victory in the Battle of Badr, in 624 d. Ç.
You muslims also had little ones conflictswith thecommunityjewish present in Medina, which lost strength after the Muslims of that place managed to defeat successive attacks carried out by Mecca (part of these Jews had created an alliance with that city). In 628 d. a., Medina and Mecca signed a truce, nevertheless, in 630 d. a., Mecca was conquered by the Muslims after a disagreement that led to the end of the peace between the two cities.
After Mecca was conquered, the idol worship of paganism was prohibited and Islam spread across the Arabian Peninsula. Its diffusion through this region was carried out successfully until 632 d. C., year in which Muhammad passed away. Followers of Islam later were responsible for taking their religion to other parts of Asia, as well as expanding it across Africa and Europe.
Also access: The story of a great Muslim empire: the Ottoman Empire
Principles of Islam
The crescent moon and star is one of the symbols of Islam.
Islam is a monotheistic religion that advocates belief in Allah alone. Muslims believe in omnipotence and omniscienceof this god, besides believing that he is the creator of the universe. These believers constantly refer to Allah as "the Merciful, the Merciful". This mention is found in almost all of the Qur'an and is found in the passage from the holy book of Muslims that was transcribed earlier in this text.
Muslims believe in the prophets sent by Allah to bring his message, Muhammad being the last and most important of them. Some of prophets what they believe are: Adam, Noah, Abraham, moisés, Jesus and the own Muhammad.
Muslims believe in the concept of damnationeternal and profess that those who have not converted to Allah's message will be condemned to fireEternal. The judgment of all will be conducted by God Himself during the final judgment. There, the actions in life will define the destiny of each one.
These faithful believe that books like the Log, you Psalms and the suna (accepted only by Sunni Muslims) are sacred and believe in existence of angels — the revelation to Muhammad was carried out by the angel Gabriel himself. Among the holy books, the Koran is the most important of them, having been written between 610 AD. Ç. and 632 d. Ç.
Muslims believe that three cities are sacred: Medina, mecca and Jerusalem. Mecca has the Kaaba, a sacred building — the most important in Islam. Medina is where there is a mosque guarding the tomb of Muhammad, and Jerusalem is where the prophet was transported by a mythical being, who then took him to the seventh heaven to find his own Allah.
Five Pillars of Islam
![The mosque located in Medina is one of the holiest sites of the Islamic faith. [1]](/f/a33e1a86bcff5c917a9ed43661376221.jpg)
The mosque located in Medina is one of the holiest sites of the Islamic faith. [1]
Islam is a religion that has five pillars that every Muslim must follow in the exercise of their faith. These are the pillars:
Recite the creed "there is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is his prophet."
Pray five times a day towards Mecca.
Observe fasting during the holy month called Ramadan.
perform the zakat, donating 2.5% of its profits to the poorest.
Visit Mecca once in your life, provided you are able to do so.
Islam groups
Islam, like many religions, has many differentstrands, which interpret the sacred texts and the precepts of religion in different ways. Among the different groups, the best known are the Sunnis and the Shiites, which correspond to almost all Muslims today. The origin of these groups dates back to the period of the rise of Islam, the seventh century.
THE division came to pass after Muhammad's death in 632 d. Ç. You Sunnis helped to elect Abu Bakr, friend of the prophet and one of the first followers of Islam. Abu Bakr became a caliph and helped to expand this religion outside the Arabian Peninsula. You Shiites were against the election of Abu Bakr, preferring the successor to be Ali Bin-Abu Talib, cousin of the prophet.
Currently, the Sunnis account for about 90% of Muslims and are known to have a more flexible interpretation of the Qur'an and from other sacred texts. You Shiites, in turn, account for about 10% of Muslims and advocate a literal interpretation of the sacred texts and a applicationmorerigid gives Sharia (Islamic law).
Also access: How did a revolution organized by the Shiites take place in Iran?
Islam in Brazil
Islam is one of the religions of fewdiffusion in Latin America, and that includes Brazil. According to the census carried out by the IBGE in 2010, there are currently around 35,000 Muslims in the country, a very small number in relation to the Brazilian population, which exceeds 200 million inhabitants. One of the Brazilian cities with the greatest presence of Muslims is São Paulo.
Image credits
[1] Nur Ismail Photography and Shutterstock
Grades
|1| Al ‘Alac, 96th surah of the Qur'an. To access, click on here.
|2| JOMIER, Jacques. Islam: history and doctrine. Petropolis: Voices, 1992, p. 26.
By Daniel Neves
Graduated in History