Islamic History – Introduction
Muhammad Qutb gives us the definitive quote on the Islamic view of history: “Islam is the only future hope of humanity; and its victorious emergence out of the present ideological warfare is the only guarantee of man’s salvation.”1
Muhammad, the founder and prophet of Islam, was born in circa a.d. 570 into a culture characterized by polytheism and animism. Yet, throughout his merchant career, he likely came into contact with Jewish and Christian monotheism. Muhammad was a spiritual man and encountered many visions. At first he thought they were satanic visions, but his wife, Khadija, persuaded him that the visions were from God. In a.d. 610, Muhammad claimed he had been visited by the angel Gabriel and commissioned to be a prophet of God. His basic message was simple and elegant: There is one God to whom all people must submit and there will be a day of judgment in which all humans will be judged according to their deeds, both good and evil.
Islamic History – Beginnings in Mecca
Islamic history begins in Mecca. Mecca was a great religious, economic, and political power center on the Arabian peninsula in Muhammad’s day. It boasted the Ka’ba (a large black box-like building) that hosted 360 tribal deities. Tribes would make regular pilgrimages to the city, thus bringing great economic wealth to the city’s merchants. But Muhammad’s message contradicted the pantheism of his day: rather than many gods, there was only one, Allah. Inevitably, Muhammad’s teaching led to a clash with Meccan leaders, and the Muslims fled to Medina (then called Yathrib) in a.d. 622. This event is called the Hijra, the migration that began the Muslim era, and forms the starting point for the Islamic calendar.
From early days Muslims began raiding merchant caravans seeking to deliver their wares to Mecca. The raids led to a number of battles, the most famous of which was the Battle of Badr (a.d. 624) in which 324 Muslims defeated a Meccan force three times their number. Naturally, such a victory added to the perception that Islam was indeed God’s will. Two years later, Muslims repelled a Meccan attack on Medina in the Battle of Ahzab (a.d. 627). The following year brought a treaty with Meccan leaders, permitting Muhammad to enter the city as a pilgrim. On January 11, a.d. 629, Muhammad and about 10,000 Muslim warriors captured Mecca without a battle, thus permitting Muhammad to cleanse the Ka’ba of its idols and establish Islam.
Today Islam is a major world religion, boasting a membership of nearly one-fourth of the world’s population. The majority of Muslims, which come from numerous ethnic backgrounds and reside in every country, are not Arabs.
