There are many religions all over the world. The Islamic religion is one of these. Islam is believed to have been founded by great prophets who lived in the early days. Its origination is assumed to be from the Australian continent. It is more closely associated with Arabian speakers. The term Islam is a word that literally is translated to mean surrender or submission. Its application in the Islam religion is meant to apply to the submission of people to the supreme supernatural being. The birth of Islam is estimated to be as early as the seventh century AD. The conceiving of Islam was faced with a lot of a hard time because many people were against its teachings.
This leads to the uprising in many parts of the Arabian speakers. Numerous prophets died in the war against their teaching work. The success of this war came to its highest point when the great Muhammad came to power. He lived in the city of Mecca, which was inhabited by the tribe of Koreish. This was a mercantile center with a shrine to many gods. The chief god was named Allah. Due to this many gods, the people who lived in the city remained to be divided in accordance with their gods. There was a god of the moon, the sun goddess, and the god of the planet Venus. Each of these gods had its own role. The moon god was supposed to be the chief and the protector of the cities. In order to make a firm foundation of Islam, it took all the efforts of Prophet Muhammad to end the divisions which existed among the people. (Randall, 1999)
Prophet Muhammad was a god’s messenger. So, he was being used by his creator to pass the message of the supreme one to the people. Therefore, he acted as a mediator of god’s message, in the same manner, the angels and the early paramount prophets like Elijah, Moses, Abram, Noah, and many others in the holy scriptures of the bible used to do. His wisdom and courage made to pursue the unity of the communities in the city of Mecca. He, therefore, elevated the moon Allah to be the chief and only god of the people. By so doing, there were a lot of chaoses that lead him to flee from Mecca to Medina. This is one of the vital actions which are remembered since the establishment of Islam up to today. (Davud, 1989)
After the establishment of Islam in Mecca, Islam began to spread to other parts of the world. This took place in an extraordinary way as its conception. Its period of spreading is traced back to the moment Muhammad fled to Medina. When he arrived at Medina, he did not relent in his work. His prosecution saw it as an advantage to the spreading of Islam at Medina. The teachings of Islamic at Medina were accepted with ease by the people. The new converts were then used as teachers to accelerate the process of conversion further. After the death of Muhammad, Islam spread within a century from its origination to Spain and India. This was in the centuries of AD.
It was time for the Muslim conquests of Jews and Christians who were assigned a special status as communities possessing scriptures. During this period, the other religions were under the burden of paying the poll tax to the land. Many people were then seized with fear of tax. The tax was a key factor in the sudden spreading of Islam. Many people took advantage of the tax exemption of Islamic believers. (Balazuri, 1975)
The extraordinary spreading of Islam led numerous people to be converts of Islam. By the tenth century, it had been the main religion. The majority of the people in the civilized world were converts of Islam. This covered large areas of three continents stretching from the Pyrenees and Siberia in West and North Europe to the furthest end of the Asia continent. It also covered most parts of North Africa to the southern tip of Africa hence covering two-thirds of the African continent. The spreading of Islam in most cases occurred at the expense of the Christians. This has led Christian to accuse Islam of spreading by force of the sword.
For many years, Islam has obtained bumper harvests from the Christians without much effort. This is done without any organized missionary activities. Once the other hand, Christianity had almost never been able to achieve conversions from the Islamic religion. Due to this, many people from the Christianity fraternity and other religions had been heard depicting and introducing Islam as a regressive and vulgar religion of salvage people. (Abu’l-Fazl, 1976)
Although other religions have criticized the Islam religion in many ways, it should be understood that this religion believes in the divine power of one god- Allah. Therefore, it is one of the three monotheistic religions which arose in the world. The Islamic people believe in the five pillars which are obligatory to Islamic members. These pillars include the shahada (witness), the salat(prayer), the zakat(alms), the sawm(fasting), and the hajj (pilgrimage).
Like the Christians, Islam believes that there are god’s messengers called Muhammad who reveals the truth of the divine one to his people. Islam prayer is a way of communicating between humankind and god. It is not voluntary, nor does one wish as a member to make the five daily prayers, but this is obligatory to each and every Islam believer. At the same time, there is no [particular to face when praying in the other religions, in Islam, prayers are said while facing the direction of the city of Mecca. Fasting in Islam is a thanksgiving to their god. During such a period, people go without food and drinks during the daylight. It is a period of physical demands, but it is, on the other side, a spiritual reward. (Garbin, 1980)
Reference
Abu’l-Fazl, I. (1976): An Introduction to the History of the Spread of Islam: London.
Balazuri, F. (1975): Islam the Primordial Religion.
Davud, D. (1989): Islam From Past to Future.
Garbin I. (1980): Islam the Religion of Universal Harmony.
Randall, P. (1999): The Religion of Islam.