This document provides information about key aspects of Islam, including its origins, history, sacred texts, creed/articles of faith, pillars and practices. It begins with the origins of Islam stemming from Abraham, Hagar and Ishmael in Mecca. It then discusses the history of early Islamic caliphates after the prophet Muhammad and the spread of Islam. The document outlines the main Islamic sacred texts of the Quran and Hadith, as well as Sharia law. It also summarizes the six articles of Islamic creed and the five pillars of Islam including Shahadah, Salat, Zakat, Sawm and Hajj.

1. ISLAMSubmission to the will of Allah

2. ISLAM (ORIGINS)
Back to its Roots
●Abraham + Hagar = Ishmael
●Mecca
●Ka’bah (cube)
The Prophet Muhammad
●Born – Mecca 570 CE
●Abu Talib (uncle)
●Khadijah (wife)
●Angel Gabriel
●Journey to Heaven (619 CE)
●Medina
●Mecca Submits 629 CE
●Died – Medina 632 CE

3. ISLAM (HISTORY)
The Caliphs
●Abu Bakr (1st
Caliph)
●Jihads vs. neighbouring empires
●Attack Syria and Iraq
●Died – 634 CE
●Umar (2nd
Caliph)
●Captures Damascus and Jerusalem
●Control Iraq and most of Iran
●Uthman ibn Affan (3rd
Caliph)
●Umayyad Family
●Spreads into Egypt and North Africa
●Assassinated 659 CE
●Ali ibn Talib (4th
Caliph)
●Stabbed 661 CE
●Shi'ites

4. ISLAM (HISTORY)

6. Timeline of Mohammed's Life
570 - Born in the town of Mecca. His name (Abu al-Qasim Muḥammad ibn Abd Allah ibn
Abd al-Muttalib ibn Hashim ibn Abd Manaf ibn Qusai ibn Kilab) derives from the Arabic
verb hamada, meaning "to praise, to glorify".
575 - Orphaned upon the death of his mother and placed in the protection of his paternal
grandfather, then his uncle.
595 - Marries Kadijah - an older, wealthy widow. They had six children.
610 - Receives first revelation from God during the month of Ramadam.
613 - Took his message public, these would later become the Koran, Islam's sacred
scripture.
622 - Emigrates with his followers from Mecca to Yathrib, soon to become known as
Medina.
624 - The start of three major battles with the Meccans - the Battle of Badr (victory), 625
the Battle of Uhud (defeat), and 627 the Battle of the Trench (victory).
628 - The two sides signed a treaty recognising the Muslims as a new force in Arabia.
Meccan allies breached the treaty a year later.
629 - Orders first raid into Christian lands at Muta (defeat).
630 - Conquers Mecca (along with other tribes).
631 - Consolidated most fo the Arabian Penunsula under Islam.
632 - Returned to Mecca to perform a pilgrimage.
632 - Dies in Medina after a brief illness. He is buried in the mosque of Medina.
The Life of the Prophet Muhammad: Timeline

7. CREED (6 ARTICLES OF FAITH)
●Belief in Allah as the one and only God
●Belief in angels
●Belief in the holy books
●Belief in the Prophets...
●e.g. Adam, Ibrahim (Abraham), Musa (Moses), David (David),
Isa (Jesus).
●Muhammad (peace be upon him) is the final prophet and the
SEAL of the prophets.
●Belief in the Day of Judgment...
●The day when the life of every human being will be assessed
to decide whether they go to heaven or hell.
●Belief in Predestination...
●That Allah has the knowledge of all that will happen.
●Muslims believe that this doesn't stop human beings from
making free choices.

8. CREED (ONE GOD)
●All Muslims believe that God is one alone:
●There is only one God.
●God has no children, no parents, and no partners.
●God was not created by a being.
●There are no equal, superior, or lesser Gods.
●This is the SAME GOD that Christians and Jews
believe in.

9. CREED (ALLAH)
●Allah is the name Muslims use for the supreme and unique
God, who created and rules everything.
●The heart of faith for all Muslims is obedience to Allah's will.
●Allah is eternal, omniscient, and omnipotent...
●Allah has always existed and will always exist.
●Allah knows everything that can be known.
●Allah can do anything that can be done.
●Allah has no shape or form...
●Allah can't be seen.
●Allah can't be heard.
●Allah is neither male nor female.
●Allah is just...
●Allah rewards and punishes fairly.
●But Allah is also merciful.
●A believer can approach Allah by praying, and by reciting the
Qur'an.
●Muslims worship only Allah (must submit to his will)...
●because only Allah is worthy of worship.

10. CREED (THE DAY OF JUDGMENT)
●Muslims believe that every person living on earth
has a soul and that upon death of the body that
soul moves to an afterlife.
●Muslims can not neglect either phase of life.
●When a soul passes into the afterlife, God will
reconfigure his/her physical body so he/she can
stand before him on the day of Judgment.
●It is on this day that the soul is sent to Paradise or
hell based on the intentions and motives behind
peoples actions.

11. CREED (THE PROPHETS)
Prophet Islamic POV Jewish POV Christian POV
Noah Noah warned people of their sinful
ways, built an arc, survived the flood
and rebuilt civilization.
Same as Islam Same as Islam
Abraham One of 7 prophets who received the
scriptures from God. Taught people to
abandon idolatry. Source of 2 great
prophetic families.
Patriarch of the Jewish
faith. Taught people to
worship the one God and
abandon idolatry.
Same as Judaism
Moses Sent to proclaim the one God to the
idolaters of Egypt. Used miracles to
demo God’s power over Egypt.
Received God’s law.
Same as Islam. In
addition, he was sent by
God to free the Hebrews
from slavery.
Same as Judaism
Jesus Born miraculously and performed
miracles but he was NOT the son of God
and NEVER died, he ascended into
heaven and will return to help humanity
in the future.
No formal view of Jesus
(may have been a
prophet, was not the
messiah).
Son of God and part of
the Holy Trinity.
Crucified, died, rose,
ascended into heaven
and will return.
Muhammad The “seal of the prophets” – the last of
those who have come to convey divine
wisdom. He completes the teachings
of those who came before.
No formal view of
Muhammad
No formal view of
Muhammad

12. THE UMMAHThe community of all Muslims.
Islam has no supreme leader
to unite Muslims around the
world, it has no priests, yet
Islam knows itself to be a
community. Through the
community salvation is
achieved. Community is kept
alive by common practice for
all believers, wherever they
live ritual binds them,
transcending all differences.
This community transcends the
boundaries of race, ethnicity, language
and other cultural factors. The Ummah is

13. SACRED TEXTS
Qur’an (recitation)
●Holiest book in Islam, gives guidance on worship,
behaviour and how to view the world.
●Usually chanted aloud
●Known as Wahi (revelation), revealed to Muhammad
through the Angel Gabriel.
●Was then transmitted orally from Muhammad to his
companions and eventually written down.
●Muslims believe that the revelations that Muhammad
received over a 23 year period literally form the unaltered
“word” of God.
●As a result criticism of the Qur’an is not permitted by
anyone and anytime.
●The Qur’an is the 1st
source of Islamic law

14. Hadith and Sunnah
●2nd
source of Islamic law (shari’ah)
●Collections of Muhammad's words and actions.
●Three types of Hadith include:
●Sayings directly associated with Muhammad
●An action or practice of Muhammad's
●His silent approval of someone else’s actions
●Scholars classify the Hadith literature to
determine its various grades of authority.
●Further clarifies Muslim religious practices
mentioned in the Qur’an.

15. SHARIA LAW
●All aspects of a Muslim's life are governed by Sharia.
Sharia law comes from a combination of the Qur'an, the
Hadith and the fatwas - the rulings of Islamic scholars.
●Sharia divides actions into five categories: obligatory,
recommended, indifferent, disapproved and forbidden.
●This law is all encompassing, setting forth in detail how
to practice Islam and how to live in a Muslim society.
●To ignore Sharia is to stop being Muslim
●In Canada Muslims observe Sharia law in the non-legal
moral aspects of their behaviour.

16. VEILING

17. ●And say to the believing women that they should lower their
gaze and guard their modesty; that they should not display
their beauty and ornaments except what (must ordinarily)
appear thereof; that they should draw their veils over their
bosoms and not display their beauty except to their husbands,
[a list of relatives], [household servants], or small children
who have no sense of the shame of sex; and that they should
not strike their feet in order to draw attention to their hidden
ornaments. And O ye Believers! turn ye all together towards
Allah, that ye may attain Bliss.24:31
VEILING IN THE QUR’AN
●Say to the believing men that they should lower their gaze
and guard their modesty: that will make for greater purity
for them: And Allah is well acquainted with all that they do.
24:30

18. VEILING
●The word Hijab is Arabic for “cover”
●Some Muslims required that women cover
every part of their body and hide their faces
behind a veil while others define veiling as
covering the hair in public.
●Veiling was a pre-Islamic practice in Arabia
and is no longer universal among Muslim
women.

19. JIHAD
●The literal meaning of Jihad is struggle or effort, and it
means much more than holy war.
●Muslims use the word Jihad to describe three different
kinds of struggle:
●A believer's internal struggle to live out the Muslim faith as
well as possible (greater Jihad)
●The struggle to build a good Muslim society
●Holy war: the struggle to defend Islam, with force if
necessary (lesser Jihad)
●When Muslims, or their faith or territory are under
attack, Islam permits the believer to wage military
war to protect them.
●However Islamic (shariah) law sets very strict rules
for the conduct of such a war.

20. JIHAD
●
Jihad is NOT to:
●force conversion,
●colonize other nations
●gain territory for economic
gain
●settle disputes
●demonstrate a leaders
power.
●
Jihad IS for:
●Self-defense
●Strengthening Islam
●Protecting the freedom of
Muslims to practice their faith
●Protecting Muslims against
oppression, which could include
overthrowing a tyrannical ruler
●Punishing an enemy who
breaks an oath
●Putting right a wrong

21. DIETARY LAWS
●Halaal (permitted) vs. haraam (forbidden)
food
●Number of bans on food for the sake of man’s
health including:
●All carnivores and birds of prey
●Eating blood, carrion, pork and the flesh of the
animal slaughtered without mentioning the name of
Allah.
●“A man becomes what he eats” – for Muslims
consumption of swine-flesh creates lowliness in
character and destroys moral and spiritual facilities
in a man.

22. HARRAM
●Other items/actions are forbidden if they cause social
maladies and harm more than they benefit. These
include:
●Alcohol and gambling
●Usury and illegal gain
●Black magic
●Fortunetelling (all forms of idolatry)
●Adultery, murder, pride, cursing and arrogance
●Slandering chaste women and backbiting
●Suicide
●Oppression
●Betrayal of trust, taking false oaths and abandoning
relatives.

23. BAN ON IMAGES
●The use of symbols as an expression of faith is
not present in Islam.
●Muhammad made it clear that people should
not revere pictures or sculptures of humans or
animals.
●It is God’s work to create living things and it is
wrong from humans to imitate this aspect of God.
●As a result, Muslim art tends towards rich
patterns, calligraphy and colourful designs.

24. PREMARITAL RELATIONS
●No such thing as girlfriend/boyfriend relationships, you
are either married or you are not.
●“Whenever a man is alone with a woman, Satan is the third among them”
●When young people are getting to know one another
being alone is a temptation towards wrongdoing.
●“Tell the men to lower their gaze and protect their private parts. That is
purer for them. Allah is aware of what they do.”
●Social entertainments are generally within the family
and close friends of the family or among men and women
in separate groups.
●Mixed gatherings offer opportunities to give in to human
weakness.
●Relationships out of wedlock are known as fornication,
punishable by Islamic law in Islamic states.

25. POLYGAMY
●Limited polygamy (having more than one wife) is
permitted while polyandry (having more than
one husband) is prohibited.
●“Marry women of your choice, two, or three, or four; but
if ye fear not be able to deal justly (with them), then only
one” – Qur’an
●Emphasis is to MARRY, not kidnap, buy, seduce,
molest, abuse or commit adultery.
●Upper limit is four and ONLY if they are all
treated fairly (which is almost impossible).
●“You will not be able to do justice between your wives
however much you wish (to do so)” – Qur’an
●Thus polygamy is an exception NOT the rule.

26. CRACK THE CODE
Which element of the Islamic code is being broken in each picture?

31. THE FIVE PILLARS OF ISLAM
●The five obligations every Muslim must satisfy in
order to live a good and responsible life according
to Islam.
●Pointless to live life without putting one’s faith into
action - carrying out the Five Pillars demonstrates
that the Muslim is putting their faith first.
●Between the individual Muslim and Allah - there is
no point in carrying them out insincerely, or, trying
to cheat because God cannot be fooled and the only
person who suffers is the individual concerned.

32. 1ST
PILLAR - SHAHADAH
●Basic statement of the Islamic faith: anyone who cannot recite
this wholeheartedly is not a Muslim.
●"There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is his messenger."
●When a Muslim recites this they proclaim:
●That Allah is the only God, and that Muhammad is his
prophet
●That they personally accept this as true
●That they will obey all of the commitments of Islam in
their life
●A Muslim is expected to recite this statement out loud, with
total sincerity, fully understanding what it means.

33. 2ND
PILLAR - SALAT
●Obligatory Muslim prayers (five times a day).
●Connects each Muslim to all others.
●A series of movements go with the words of the prayer, as
prayer for a Muslim involves uniting mind, soul, and body in
worship.
●Muslims make sure that they are in the right frame of mind
before they pray; they put aside all everyday cares and
thoughts so that they can concentrate on God.
●Prior to prayers, a person must perform a ritual cleansing
(Wudu). Prayer must be said facing Mecca.
●Pray because they believe Allah has told them to do this,
and because they obtain great benefit in doing so.
●During prayer each Muslim is in direct contact with Allah.
There is no need of a priest as an intermediary.
●Muslims can pray anywhere, but it is especially good to pray
with others in a mosque (as a reminder that all humanity is
one, and all are equal in the sight of Allah).

34. SALAT POSITIONS

35. WUDU

36. 3RD
PILLAR - ZAKAT
●The compulsory giving of 2.5% of one’s wealth to charity
each year. It is regarded as a type of worship and of self-
purification.
●The benefits of Zakat, apart from helping the poor, are as
follows:
●Obeying God
●Helping a person acknowledge that everything comes from God on loan
and that we do not really own anything ourselves
●Acknowledging that whether we are rich or poor is God's choice (so
we should help those he has chosen to make poor).
●Learning self-discipline
●Freeing oneself from the love of possessions and greed
●Freeing oneself from the love of money
●Freeing oneself from love of oneself
●Behaving honestly

37. 4TH
PILLAR - SAWM
●All adult Muslims are required to fast during Ramadan, the
ninth month of the Islamic calendar. The following things must
be abstained from during the hours of daylight:
●Food or drink of any sort
●Smoking
●Sexual activity
●Muslims are also expected to do their best to avoid evil
thoughts and deeds as well.
●Reasons for this fast, include:
●Obeying God
●Learning self-discipline
●Becoming spiritually stronger
●Appreciating God's gifts to us
●Sharing the sufferings of the poor and developing sympathy
●Realizing the value of charity and generosity
●Giving thanks for the Holy Qur'an (1st
revealed in the month of
Ramadan)
●Sharing fellowship with other Muslims

38. 4TH
PILLAR - SAWM
Eating in Ramadan
●During Ramadan many Muslims will try to eat a large meal
called suhur just before dawn.
●When daylight is over, most Muslims will break the fast with
dates or water, following the example of the Prophet
Muhammad, before having a proper meal later.
●The evening meals during Ramadan are occasions for family
and community get togethers.
Eid ul-Fitr
●The month of Ramadan ends with the festival of Eid ul-Fitr.
This is marked by dressing up and visiting the mosque for
prayer, and with visits to family and friends for celebratory
meals and gift giving.

39. 5TH
PILLAR - HAJJ
●Once a year, Muslims of every ethnic group, colour, social
status, and culture gather together in Mecca and stand
before the Kaaba praising Allah together.
●Designed to promote the bonds of Islamic brother/
sisterhood by showing that everyone is equal in the eyes of
Allah.
●The Hajjis or pilgrims wear simple white clothes called
Ihram. During the Hajj the Pilgrims perform acts of worship
and they renew their sense of purpose in the world.
●Mecca is a place that is holy to all Muslims. It is so holy that
all non-Muslims are forbidden to enter.
●The Hajj occurs in the month of Dhul Hijjah (the 12th month
of the Islamic lunar calendar).
●Every sane adult Muslim must undertake the Hajj at least
once in their lives if they can afford it and are physically
able.

40. F.Y.I:
THE KABBA
●Built on Allah’s orders by the prophet Ibrahim (Abraham)
●This shrine, dedicated to Allah, was to be the gathering
place for all who wished to strengthen their faith.
●Eventually fell into disuse and idols were stored within its
walls.
●Allah told the Prophet Muhammad that he should restore
the Kaaba to the worship of Allah only.
●In 628 the Prophet Muhammad set out on a journey with
1400 of his followers to re-establish the religious
traditions of Abraham.
●Inside the sanctuary are some silver and gold lamps, the
most important object is an oval black stone which
Muslims believe was given to Abraham by an angel.

41. The Hajj

42. STUDENT WEB-QUEST
(see mainpage)
Festivals, Milestones and Symbols

43. THE MOSQUE
●Every Friday Muslims offer mandatory congregational
prayers at the Mosque.
●Most Mosques share the following features:
●A dome and/or minaret (from which people are called to
prayer)
●A steady supply of water to perform Wudu
●An arch (mihrab) that points to Mecca (focal point so all
prayer can be directed towards the Ka’bah).
●No seats, just a large open area which is often carpeted.
●Shoes come off before entering
●Women and men pray separately (to avoid distraction)
●Prayers are led by an Iman who delivers a sermon before
Friday prayers, he speaks from an elevated platform called
a Minbar.

45. THE DOME OF THE
ROCK
Oldest existing Islamic
building built on a Holy
site claimed by Jews,
Christians and Muslims.

46. DIVISIONS IN ISLAM
Sunni Shi’ah (Shi’ite) Sufi
●85% of the world’s
Muslims
●Select leaders based
on ability. Over time
became the most
influential group in
Islam.
●No human mediator –
emphasize direct
relationship with Allah.
●Believe in building
consensus within the
community in order to
create a just and
equitable society.
●Follow the traditions of
the Prophet as well as
the four schools of
Sunni law.
●The party of Ali – believe that
prior to the death of
Muhammad, the prophet
choose his son-in-law, Ali, as
his successor. Ali was never
chosen as leader creating a
political division within the
community.
●Believe that after the death of
Muhammad a series of
infallible leaders called Imams
were to take charge of Islam
and guide the community.
●Small but noticeable group
dominating politics and
religious life in Iran and acting
as a vocal minority in Iraq, East
Africa, Pakistan and India.
●Mystical philosophy of
Islam
●Goal is to develop
spirituality both
inwardly and
outwardly in order to
discover the reality of
God.
●Emphasize sincerity
and excellence,
performing prayers and
meditations. To
develop constant and
deep concentration
Sufi’s use music,
chanting or dancing.
●Sufism is practiced by
both Sunnis and shi’
ahs.

47. THE NATION OF ISLAM
●A religious group founded in Detroit, by Wallace D. Fard Muhammad
in July 1930 with the self-proclaimed goal of resurrecting the
spiritual, mental, social and economic
condition of the black men and women of America
●The Nation of Islam teaches that W. Fard Muhammad is both
the “Messiah" of Christianity and the Mahdi of Islam.
●Their teachings are heretical by traditional Islamic standards which
abhor the deification of any person.
●One of Fard's first disciples was Elijah Muhammad, who led
the organization from 1935 through 1975.
●From 1978 to the present, Louis Farrakhan has been the
leader.
●The Nation of Islam's National Center and headquarters is
located in Chicago
●As of 2005, the Nation of Islam was included in the Southern
Poverty Law Center’s list of active hate groups in the United States
due to the groups racial teachings.