- on Muhammad: more information than on Moses, Jesus, Buddha
    -his life known from biographies written in the 700s and 800s (Ibn Ishaq; Ibn Hisham)
 -Muhammad: member of a lesser branch of Quraysh; an orphan raised by relatives => at 20 - he became the business manager for Khadijah (a wealthy widow - he later married) => after marriage => financial security (middle class of Meccan society)
as a merchant => traveled to Syria and heard the preaching of Christian monks; he was familiar with Judaism (Jewish traders)
- after he reached 30: he was attracted to meditation => he would retire to the mountains outside the city
=> there in the month of Ramadan (610) - he reported a vision of a man, his feet astride the horizon
* the figure commanded: O Muhammad! Thou art the Messenger of God. Recite!
- he confided his revelation to Khadijah - who converted (the first)
- in a year - he started to preach openly

His early teachings stressed:
- absolute unity of god
- the evils of idolatry
- the threat of divine judgment

- the other revelations => copied word for word in => Quran (Koran)
* the canonical form of Quran dates back to Uthman's caliphate (644-656); Quran is mentioned by the end of the century
    > it is not a narrative source, like the New Testament, but a collection of revelations, which are primarily theological and legal in character
    > written in verses arranged in 114 chapters (SURAH)
- the hadith (= traditions) - actions or sayings of the Prophet as recorded by his family
    > there are 6 collections of hadith - all forming the sunnah
* important as a historical account

Law:

- the shari'ah (law of Islam): based on the five major tenets of Islam

Five Pillars:
- shahadah (credo): There is no god but God and Muhammad is the prophet of God
- ritual prayer 5 times a day, facing Mecca (salat)
- sawn: fast in the tenth month of the lunar year, Ramadan
- zakat: 2.5 - 10% of individual income
- hajj: pilgrimage to Mecca

For Arabs:
Qur'an - the final revelation and Muhammad -last and greatest prophet
- Muslim - for Muslims - = true believer; Muhammad is the Prophet

- Muslims regard the whole Qur'an as the exact and complete revelation of God, literally true, and forming a unified whole => it is the complete guide for secular and religious life => the fundamental law of conduct for Islamic society
- Muslims are not followers of Muhammad BUT: of the God of Abraham and Jesus

Community of Mecca:

- the revelations => did not bother or influence Mecca's merchant elite
- the first followers - came from Muhammad's clan and from the moderately successful members of the Meccan community (the nearly haves rather than have nots)
BUT: Muhammad began to insist that those who did not accept Allah as the only God were damned, as those who continued to venerate the sorts of idols on which Mecca's prosperity was founded

==> toleration gave way to hostility => Muhammad and his followers - were ostracized and persecuted

622: Muhammad "migration" from Mecca to Medina (secret trip; the Hijrah)
*Medina - a smaller trading community populated by pagan, Jewish and Islamic clans, racked by internal political dissension
622 A.D. => = 1 A.H. (i.e. al-hijrah)

630: Meccans accepted Islam and Muhammad's teachings; the Persian governor of Yemen also embraced Islam

- the Hijrah => the first step in a shift from preaching to action
- Muhammad: organized his followers from Mecca and Medina into the Umma (a community that transcended the old bonds of a tribe and clan) => the Umma
- Muhammad - authority in Medina => was not not based on consensus (like a sheikh); his authority - was coming from god => was absolute

* his goal: to extend his authority from Medina to Mecca => to the whole Arab world
- in Medina - gained control => after the Jewish and Christian clans - rejected his teachings => the Prophet expelled them (in the name of political and religious unity) => many were executed
- from the unified community of Medina => he attacked the Quraysh => attacking the camel caravans => Quraysh tribe lost its prestige => many Meccan families converted to Islam
629: Muhammad and 10,000 warriors marched on Mecca and captured the city (without too much violence)
629 - 632: Islam - became an important force in the Arabian Peninsula
- Muhammad: not only prophet; but also political leader
- the Umma => become more like a super tribe, open to individuals who would accept Allah and his Prophet

* rights of women: did not achieve equality with men (like in any pre modern societies)
- men => dominated the Islamic society => military skill and male honor - were valued
- women - subordinate to men (who could have up to 4 wives; could divorce them at will and keep the women segregated from other men)
- in public women adopted the practice (Syrian Christian) - wearing a veil (covered all their face but the eyes)
- Islam forbid female infanticide (common in the pre Islamic society)
- Brides (not their fathers or other male relatives) received the dowry from their husbands (made the marriage a partnership not a sale)
- all wives - treated equally (if a men could not do it - he could have only one wife)
- Islamic women - had rights of inheritance and property; protection against mistreatment in marriage
- they remained second class in status (but they had a status - recognized and protected within the Umma)

632: Muhammad died => the Riddah (apostasy) period = many newly converted tribes broke their political ties with Mecca

Abu Bakr (caliph or successor of Muhammad 632-634) - brought back the rebels into Islamic obedience
                - began the conquest of the Middle and Near East

Umar (634 - 644)

- Kalid ibn al-Walid (d.642) - the greatest early Islamic general => understood that long term survival demanded expansion => raids were an integral part of Bedouin life => the only way to keep them in line => lead them on military expeditions against non Muslims

- under Abu Balr - Muslim expansion covered all Arabia
- under Umar - Islam conquered Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Egypt
634: Al-Ajnadan => Byzantine army in Syria defeated
635: conquest of Damascus
636: Yarmuk - Byzantine troops under Heraclius suffered a major defeat (the emperor's brother killed)
    - Umar: entered Jerusalem riding on a donkey => the city and the True Cross (brought back by Heraclius) were lost again
637: Al-Kadisiyya => the Sassanian armies - defeated => by 650 the Sassanian Persia ceased to exist
640/1: conquest of Egypt
641: Heraclius died
649: conquest of Cyprus
670: foundation of KAIROUAN - the new administrative center of the Muslim Africa
698: fall of Carthage => end of Byzantine Africa
674: Muslim blockade and siege of Constantinople
711: a Muslim army invaded Spain => they defeated the Visigoths and captured Toledo; the creation of Al Andalus centered on Seville
716: second siege of Constantinople

* factors that contributed to the Muslim' success:
- wars between the byzantine and Sassanid empires
- internal divisions within the Byzantine world