3.  600s, city of Mecca - important stopping point for religious pilgrims, who visited a religious site dedicated to the worship of Abraham

4.  Muhammad was born in Mecca  became a businessman  married a wealthy woman named Khadijah  interested in religion & spent a lot of time in prayer and meditation

5.  Muslim belief - one night while Muhammad was meditating, an angel appeared & told him that he was a chosen messenger of god, Allah  The Muslim word for god is Allah.

6.  Muhammad began to teach that Allah was the only god.  People who followed Muhammad were called Muslims & practiced the religion of Islam, meaning “submission to Allah.”

7. The 5 Pillars: 1. Faith – All Muslims make a testament of faith, that there is only one god, Allah, and Muhammad is his messenger. 2. Prayer – Face to Mecca and pray 5 times each day. 3. Alms – Give money to the poor. 4. Fasting – Do not eat during daylight hours in the holy month of Ramadan. 5. Pilgrimage – Travel to Mecca at least once in your life if you are physically and financially able.

8.  The Qur’an is the holy book of Islamic belief.  Only the Arabic language is spoken in Muslim prayer.

9.  In 656, a Muslim caliph named Uthman was murdered. His successor, Ali was also murdered.  A family named the Umayyads came to power. They Moved the capital of the Islamic empire from Mecca, to Damascus.

10.  A group of Muslims who did not like the rule of the Umayyad family broke away from them. This split Muslims into two groups:

11.  Abu-Bakr became the caliph, or religious leader, of the Muslims after Muhammad’s death in 632.  Abu-Bakr declared jihad (religious war), against people who did not follow Islam. Jihad – used to expand the Islamic empire.  A disciplined military & expert commanders aided the Islamic empire in conquest.  Muslims allowed all conquered people to retain religious freedom.

12.  Abassids (Islamic group) came to power in 750  moved the capital of Islam to Baghdad (Iraq)  developed a strong bureaucracy to help manage affairs of the empire  had separate government departments for the treasury, the management of the military, & foreign affairs  created taxes to help fund their empire

13.  Arabian Peninsula - crossroads between Africa, Asia, & Europe  New capital at Baghdad had easy access to Mediterranean, Indian Oceans, & Silk Road trading route that connected Europe w/ China  Arabian Peninsula used a common language, Arabic, & a common currency

14. Muhammad believed strongly in the power for learning:  (Medicine) Ibn Sina began working as a doctor at age 18 & became one of Islam’s leading medical scholars. He wrote several books, the most famous of which are The Book of Healing and The Canon of Medicine  (Geography) Ibn Battuta was a famous Muslim explorer. He traveled throughout the known world (farther even than Marco Polo). He recorded his journeys in his book Rihla (meaning “voyage”)