Read first 5 Suras (chapters in Quran) by Wednesday. Don't worry about understanding everything.


Islam: "submission" (to God)
*Practitioners: Muslims "submitters"
*Founder: Muhammad (Mohammed,Mahomet)
*Sacred Texts: Quran, Hadith, Bible (with qualifiers)

In contrast to Christianity & Judaism:
Muhammad lived: 570-632 AD
Abraham: about 2000 BC
Jesus: 2-27 AD (?)

Quran: the "recitation"

Hadith: the "tradition" - about the life of Muhammad. Reads like gospels

Allah: name of good. Generic word for God and the Moon God (head) of Pantheon/Arabian paganism. Like Zeus, king of the Gods.

* 7th Century Arabia *

^paganism/polytheism.
-a month of fasting for the moon god
-worship at the Kabah (arabic for "cube" but really a big temple); 360 idols in it.
-people made pilgrimages to Mecca, and when they were away from the Kabah, they would turn and pray in the direction of it

^Hierarchy of Gods:
-Most important: Allah the Moon God
-Next: Allah had 3 daughters: Al-Lat, Al-Uzza, and Manat.
-Below them: other Gods
-At the bottom: minor spirits (called "Jinn" or "Djinn"), in other words, genies, or spirits of nature, wells or certain rocks. There was a mix of good Jinn and bad Jinn.

^Barbarism: (a harsh desert society of warring tribes)
-Settled down in Mecca to take advantage of trade.
-Breaking laws within tribe could result in hand/foot being chopped off, tongue cut out, or eyes gouged out.
-High level of immorality -- drinking, gambling, adultery, female infanticide
-A lot of superstition -- fortune telling, astrology, and occult arts.