The origins of Islam
Islam is a product of Muhammad’s teachings in the seventh century on the Arabian peninsula. It is best understood in light of the pre-Islamic landscape. Arabia was a divided peninsula.
A number of polytheistic tribes made up much of the population. There was infighting and fragmentation. Some 360 deities were honored at the ka‘ba stone in Mecca (Ar: Makkah); many of these deities were deities of the sky (el - lifted up, lofty, high). One of the strongest tribes was the Quraysh, of which Muhammad was a member.1Also part of the pre-Islamic landscape were two monotheistic religious communities. Jews, especially in Yemen and along the coasts, were a largely mercantile community. Many were members of the Quraysh tribe. Christians were of varying sectarian traditions (Monophysite, Eastern Orthodox, Nestorian) and were often known on the peninsula serving as mercenaries fighting for either Byzantine or Persian rulers. Nonetheless there were Christian (especially Monophysite) monasteries in parts of the peninsula. Some scholars believe Muhammad’s ideas were influenced by these monotheistic communities, though orthodox Muslims are insistent that all his teachings were revealed.
Muhammad was born around 570 ce in Mecca. He became a camel herder and married his employer. The tradition maintains that he was illiterate. By the age of twenty-five he was to have strange experiences and “visions.” Troubled by these, he consulted with his wife and friend Zayd (a monotheist who was disgruntled with both Jewish and Christian communities). Muhammad decided he was in fact receiving revelations through the angel Gabriel. He came to be understood as a prophet (nabi) and a messenger sent by god (rasul).
At first, however, his message was ill-received in Mecca, though a handful of converts joined him. One of the first of these was Abu Bakr, a friend and relative who eventually succeeded him as the first caliph (Ar: khalifa - political leader).
Vested commercial interests and doubters forced Muhammad to leave Mecca in 622 ce. This became known as the hijra (flight) and the start of the Islamic calendar. Muhammad had been invited to Medina (Ar: al-Madinah) by pilgrims who had visited Mecca and heard him preach. Medina was ready for a monotheistic message. Tired of Arabic infighting, many were impressed with Muhammad’s message and converted. Within a few years, he returned to Mecca, and made the ka ‘ba an Islamic center, eliminating the representations of tribal deities previously honored there. Within a decade, much of the peninsula was attracted to the message: God (Allah or Ar: Allah - the lofty one) was presented to the Arabs in Arabic; unity on the peninsula had become possible. A way of life that provided a civil code and just treatment of others was made available across the peninsula. The Arab people were galvanized. By the time of Muhammad’s death much of the tradition was in place, to be interpreted and reinterpreted for centuries to come.The basic tenets of Islam are not so much beliefs, as rituals. Known as the five pillars, they include: 1) A statement of faith (shahada) consisted in affirming there was no god but Allah, and Muhammad was his prophet. Indeed, Muhammad is perceived to have provided the final revelation, as the last of a prophetic tradition that included Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and others. 2) Prayer (salat) was to be done five times a day, facing Mecca as the center of the Islamic world. 3) Alms (a portion of one’s income) were to be given in support of the poor (zakat). Indeed, Muslims were to avoid usury (cheating in the lending of money) and were to share wealth that may accumulate. 4) Fasting (saum) was to be done during the month of Ramadan when the faithful Muslim was to remember the hardships of Muhammad in his period of exile from Mecca and enact the solidarity of the Islamic community by refraining from eating or drinking any thing from sunrise to sunset. 5) Pilgrimage (the hajj) was enjoined as the duty of all faithful Muslims who were to go to Mecca at least once in their lives; to be sure, individual Muslims have followed these requirements to varying degrees throughout the centuries, but the orthoprax try faithfully to follow them.
Sunnis and ShT'Ts
Within a few years after Muhammad’s death, disputes began to rise over his succession. These disagreements led eventually to the division between Shl‘ls (anglicized as Shiites) and Sunnis. The division had both a political and a religious or legal character. Politically, the dispute centered on whether Abu Bakr (that early convert) or ‘All, the son-in-law of Muhammad, should be the prophet’s successor. Abu Bakr became the first successor and ‘All the fourth, but followers of Abu Bakr (so it is believed) assassinated the son of ‘All, Husain, thereby disrupting that line of succession. Shiites were the followers of ‘Ali, bitter to this day at the treatment of Husain.2
The other division between Shiites and Sunnis rested on matters of interpretation of the tradition. All Muslims claim two sources of authority. The first is the Qu‘ran, believed to be the verbatim revelation given to Muhammad from Allah himself through the angel Gabriel. Muhammad passed on these revelations orally whence followers wrote them down within decades of Muhammad’s life. The second source of authority is the hadlth. These are commentaries (or traditions) on the sunna (the way of Muhammad), that is, the record of his words and actions done in addition to the Quranic messages.
It is at this point that Sunni and Shiite interpretations diverge. Sunnis, adherents of AbU Bakr, also follow the teachings of the ‘ulamaf a community of interpreters; these are “councils” which form a consensus as to how one of the first two authorities is to be interpreted. The Shiites, followers of ‘All, came to believe that it was imams - successors to the line of ‘Ali - who were the authorized interpreters. For the Sunni, in short, the caliph had political authority and the ‘ulama‘ interpretive authority, and political power was often a negotiation between the two. For the Shiites, the imam was both political and spiritual authority.
Arabic hegemony spread rapidly within the first century of Islam’s existence - across North Africa and throughout the Fertile Crescent. The first two caliphates were particularly strong: the Ummayyads, headquartered in Damascus, and the ‘Abbasids, headquartered in Baghdad. By the mid-ninth century, Baghdad had become the Western world’s center of civilization - the sciences, philosophy, the arts thrived as influences were welcomed from India, the Greek tradition, and from throughout West Asia and North Africa. Meanwhile, the Shiites, still uncomfortable with Sunni caliphate rule, gravitated into Persia.