ISLAM

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CHAPTER 7

• ISLAM

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Islam

• Created by a religious genius, Muhammad.
• Took root in the seventh century among the Arabic
  people.
• They carried it with extraordinary rapidity
  across North Africa to Spain and through the Near
  East into Persia.

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Monotheistic Vision

• This remarkable achievement was a result of the
  inherent attraction of Muhammad's monotheistic
  religious vision.

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Community of Muslims

• The vision was both simple and profound.
• It created a community of believers, called
  Muslims, around the conviction that Allah is God
  and Muhammad is the last and greatest of his
  prophets.

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Quran

• The Quran is the book of Muhammad's revelations.
• In it, Muslims find the guidelines for living in
  submission to Allah and for bringing many nations
  under his sway.

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Muslim Empire

• Like the Romans before them, the Muslims created
  a vast empire, knitted together by
• a common language, Arabic
• the shared values of religion
• economic connections.

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Muslim Glory

• In the period of its greatest glory, from the
  eighth to the twelfth century, Islam
• absorbed much of the culture of ancient Greece
  and of Persia
• made major contributions to the arts and
  sciences.

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Strong Influence on West

• Islam was often at war with Christian nations.
• Nonetheless, it served as tutor to the nascent
  civilization of the Christian West.

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YOU SHOULD UNDERSTAND

• Muhammad's founding of Islam and its meteoric
  spread around the Mediterranean.
• The principal religious beliefs and practices of
  Islam.

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YOU SHOULD UNDERSTAND

• The main characteristics of Islamic law and
  government.
• The high level of Islamic science, literature,
  art, and building.