Re-discovering Islam

ISLAM TIMELINE TRANSCRIPT

The Revelation
“Recite!” was the first word angel Gabriel conveyed the Prophet Muhammad in Mount Hira. Muhammad was only around forty (610 C.E.) when he began to divorce society and Meccans by making regular trips to Mount Hira in order to pray and meditate. The exact location was where he the first encounter of Muhammad with the angel Gabriel was made. Gabriel came to the prophet with words written on a banner of brocade. Upon hearing the angel say “Recite!” Muhammed pronounced the following: Recite in the name of the Lord who created Man from blood coagulated. Recite! Thy Lord is wondrous kind Who by the pen has taught mankind Things they knew not. Though the prophet argued suicide after waking up from the vision and feeling possessed, he was in fact reassured by a voice coming from the skies, asserting he was God’s apostle. At first Muhammad transmitted his message to those extremely close to him: Khadija (his young cousin), Ali b. Abi Talib (his adopted son), Zayd and Abu Bakr b. Abi Quhafa, a merchant and friend. They are believed to have been the first Muslims. Source: (Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World, pg. 478-479)

Hijra
622 C.E., was chosen by the caliph Umar b. al-Khattab as the starting point of the Islamic calendar. In fact, that year was a greatly significant one, since Muhammad immigrated to what we know now as Medina, Yathrib, invited by some citizen of the town. This was Hijra. The prophet guarded by Abu Bakr b. Quhafa left Ali b. Abi Talib in his bed misleading a group assassins. Along the way, the found hideout at a cave. The entrance covered by an untouched spider’s web, the Meccans did not bother to look into it. Hijra is not only known as the immigration but also “the breaking of old ties,” splitting the era of knowledge from the previous one (of ignorance ‘jahiliyya’). Source: (Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World, pg. 299)

Muhammad
Abu al-Qasim Muhammad ibn Abdullah b. Abd al-Muttalib, of the clan of Hashim, of the tribe of Quraysh, is admitted by every branch and generally every Muslim to be the last messenger of God. Through him, every word on the Quran, acknowledged as the words of God, were conveyed to humanity. By those words, he preached Islam (submission to God). The religion’s creed swear on Allah as the one God and Muhammed His Messenger. He commanded through his preaching every believer to pray five times daily, fast during the month of Ramadan, contribute an annual tithe, or zakat, for the benefit of the poor, and, if possible, make the hajj pilgrimage at least once in a lifetime. Muhammad led a lifetime of battling and advocating, preaching and enduring. Born in 570 C.E., he died with great numbers of followers, companions and caliphs in 632 C.E. Source: (Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World, pg. 478-479)

Death of Uthman, Start of Shi’a
Although it is commonly accepted that Shi’ism started at the first civil war ‘First Fitna’, it has in fact burst with the murder of Uthman b. Affan in Medina in 656. Uthman was a member of the aristocratic Umayyah clan of Quraysh. He supported the prophet when he started preaching in Mecca, converted to Islam, married two of the Prophet’s daughters, namely Ruqayyah and Umm Kulthum. Elected third caliph, he was criticized for nepotism due to his appointing of several relatives lucrative governorships. Soon after, Ali was chosen as caliph. He very soon met opposition from the Umayyah clan, the Prophet’s widow Aisha, and other Companions. In that range of time and among the events of revenge and ‘dethroning’ the Shia movement appeared and divided forever the Muslim community, between 656 and 661 C.E. Source: (Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World, pg. 621-622)

Abu Bakr
Member of the clan of Taym of the tribe of the Quraysh, Abu Bakr b. Abi Quhafa was the first caliph for two years (r. 632–634). Born in 573 C.E. he was the first male converting to Islam and Muhammad’s most dear and closest follower. The merchant and expert on the genealogies of the Arab tribes was widely known as ‘al-Siddiq’, the truthful/the one who trusts. He was the very first one to unquestionably believe Muhammad’s story. Abu bakr was the only one chosen to accompany him in Hijra in 622 C.E. The most loyal and honest was also known through purchasing and releasing slaves. Khalifat rasul Allah, meaning Successor to the Messenger of God, died aged 61 in 634 C.E. Source: (Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World, pg. 7-8)

Malik Ibn Anas
Born between 708 and 716 C.E., Malik Ibn Anas was seen as the most famous Medinian jurist. He collected and wrote one of the earliest books of Islamic law known as the Muwatta. His knowledge of hadith didn’t stop the compiler from having the utter pleasure of working close to numerous experts on Islamic tradition; and with some of whose janitors were acquainted with the Prophet Muhammad. He regrouped Muslim students from all over the world and taught the Sunna. Malik Ibn Anas found death aroung 792 C.E., yet his work The Muwatta survived through numerous versions. The book counts hadith from the Prophet, his Companions, legal opinions of Malik and other famous scholars from Medina. Source: (Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World, pg. 426-427)

Islamic Architecture
Buildings initially set as places of worship, commemoration, instruction, teaching etc. are mainly what constitute nowadays’ Islamic architecture. Some examples of the buildings aforementioned are: Mosques, Madrasas, Msid, Mausoleums, shrines, entrances, hammams, palaces, houses, Khans etc. The ‘Islamic’ touch in such architectural prowess lie in the fact that the builders were either Muslim, or lived in a region of predominantly Muslim governance. From a region/country to another, the social and economic forces play such a huge role in the diversification of the architecture. Keeping in mind that the overall structure has to stay the same for some buildings i.e: Mosques, Shrines…, there are numerous variations and added details from a Muslim country to another. Source: (Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World, pg. 69)

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