Islamic people believe that Islam is a
faith that has existed forever but it is revealed to the people bit by bit.
Muhammad was the final prophet and he revealed the last aspects of Islamic
beliefs, he lived between 571 and 632 AD.
The angel Jibreel or Gabriel appeared to
Muhammad when he was praying in a cave and Muhammad began speaking the words of
God, Muhammad continued having moments of revelation throughout his life. The
Qur’an is the record of all of Muhammad’s revelations; it is the holy scripture
of Islam.
Muhammad preached the messages God set him.
One of the main messages was that there is only one God; Allah and the aim of
your life must be to live by the will of God. He gained many followers, so many
in fact that the political leaders in Mecca, became concerned and so Muhammad
took his followers on a journey to Medina this trip is called the Hijrah.
The Hijrah in 622AD is now considered the
start of the Islamic calendar. The Islamic people returned to Mecca within ten
years, they had the strength in numbers to position themselves in society in
Mecca.
The Qur’an has 114 chapters, it is written
in Arabic and to be a Muslim you must know how to read and recite the Qur’an in
Arabic even if it not your first language. The Qur’an is the most respected
text because it is believe to be the word of God when it is read out loud
everyone must be silent and reverent.
When the text was first scribed books were
rare and so people would learn the teaching by heart to remember them.
References:
Muhammad
and the Qur’an
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/history/muhammad_1.shtml
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/texts/quran_1.shtml
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