Table of Contents When Did It Happen?

Table of Contents When Did it Happen?

Introduction...... 3 Place of Worship If you have ever read about something that happened long ago, then you are probably familiar with the abbreviations BC or BCE and AD or CE. Buddha was born in 563 BCE. Mohammed Origins of Islam The Mosque ...... 31 died in 632 CE. Both BC and BCE represent the years before the year when Jesus is believed Abraham and the Kaaba ...... 5 to have been born. CE and AD mean the years after the birth of Jesus. The abbreviations Rites of Passage stand for the following: The Life of Mohammed Birth and Childhood ...... 34 BC = Before Christ BCE = Before the Common Era The Early Years ...... 7 Marriage ...... 34 AD = Anno Domini (the year of our CE = Common Era Lord) Mohammed’s Revelation...... 8 Death ...... 35 In this book, only BCE and CE are used. Flight to Medina and the Birth of Islam . . . 9 Passing of Time You have probably also read of events happening, for example, in the 5th century or even in Life in Medina and the Growth of Islam . . 10 The Islamic Calendar ...... 36 the 5th century BCE. A century is 100 years. If people lived in the 1st century, they lived in the Mohammed’s Last Years ...... 11 first 100 years CE, or in the first 100 years after the birth of Jesus. So, if we say something Symbols of Islam happened in the 19th century, we mean it happened during the years 1801Ð1900 CE. The Islamic Territory During Mohammed’s The Crescent and the Star ...... 37 same rule applies to the centuries BCE, only we count backwards from the birth of Jesus. For Lifetime...... 12 example, Buddha was born in 563 BCE, which would mean he was born in the 6th century Review ...... 13 The Kaaba ...... 37 BCE. Here are some practice questions. You will need to use the sample time line and your maths The Koran Islam Today skills to find the answers. The Teachings of Mohammed ...... 15 Stereotypes ...... 38 Reading from the Koran ...... 17 World Population...... 39

Pillars of Islam Art of Writing 2000 BCE 1500 BCE 1000 BCE 500 BCE 0 500 CE 1000 CE 1500 CE 2000 CE The Five Pillars...... 19 Calligraphy ...... 41 The First Pillar: Shahada...... 20 Vocabulary 1. Who is older, someone born in 1760 BCE or someone born in 1450 BCE? The Second Pillar: Salat ...... 21 Wordsearch ...... 43 ______The Third Pillar: Zakat...... 22 Cumulative Review 2. How many years difference is there between 250 CE and 250 BCE? The Fourth Pillar: Sawn...... 23 Quiz ...... 44 ______The Fifth Pillar: Hajj ...... 24 When Did it Happen? ...... 47 3. How many years difference is there between 1524 CE and 1436 BCE? After Mohammed Answer Key ...... 48 ______The First and Second Caliphs ...... 26 4. You visit a cemetery. One of the tombstones reads: ‘Born in the 15th century, died in the 16th’. Make up possible dates that this person may have been born and died. The Third and Fourth Caliphs ...... 27 ______The Shia and Sunni Muslims...... 28 5. In what century are you living now? More on the Spread of Islam ...... 29 ______The Ottoman Empire...... 29

The Semitic Religions Quiz (cont.) When we speak about the Semitic religions, we are referring to Judaism, Islam and Christianity. The word Semitic describes the people who came from the Middle East and their Part Two: Answer the following questions in the spaces provided. languages. Arabs and Jews are both Semitic. Christianity is a Semitic religion because it originated in the Middle East. 1. Explain the role of the caliph in Islam. Another feature Semitic religions share is monotheism. The prefix mono means one while ______theism means ‘belief in God or gods’. So although these religions differ greatly, they each believe in only one God. Later, you will be reading about polytheism, or the belief in more than ______one God. ______Look at the map below of the Middle East. The writings of the Hebrew Bible originated in the ______land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. As you will see, both Judaism and Christianity are rooted in these writings. This area is now the modern state of Israel. Its capital, 2. By the end of the 17th century, the Ottoman Empire had spread enormously. List the historic Jerusalem, is sacred to all three Semitic religions. geographical areas the empire controlled. Now, find the cities of Mecca and Medina in the Arabian Peninsula. The prophet Mohammed ______was born in Mecca, now the world centre of Islam. Every year, millions of Muslims, members of Islam, make pilgrimages to this sacred city. Medina is where Mohammed set up the first ______Muslim state. These cities are now part of Saudi Arabia. ______About Date References ______The abbreviations BCE, BC, ______AD, and CE are common terms 3. Explain one basic difference between the Sunni and Shia sects. used to reference time. (In this series, BCE and CE are used.) ______Some students may not be ______familiar with one or more of ______these terms. Use page 47 to introduce or review the ______abbreviations with students. ______4. Write one feature particular to these Muslim rites of passage: A. birth ______B. marriage______C. death ______

Quiz Abraham and the Kaaba

Part One: For questions 1Ð10, fill in the space with the correct answer. Islam is the youngest of the Semitic religions. It began in 630 CE when Muslims believe that Mohammed (born in 570 CE) began 1. Abraham is important to Muslims because he built the ______in receiving revelations from God. Followers of Islam are called ______. Muslims, which means ‘one who submits (to) Allah’. Allah is the Arabic name for God. Islam means ‘submission to God’. The map on page 12 shows the spread of Islam during Mohammed’s 2. Judaism, Christianity and Islam are all ______religions. lifetime.

3. The Islamic calendar dates from Mohammed’s journey to Medina, called the The roots of Islam, however, go all the way back to Abraham around 2000 BCE. You may remember Abraham as the father of ______. the Jewish religion. Interestingly, Muslims also regard Abraham as the forefather of their religion. 4. The Islamic holy book is the ______. It contains chapters called According to both the Tanakh (the Hebrew Bible) and the Koran ______. (the Islamic holy scripture), Abraham had fathered a son before the birth of Isaac. The boy was Ishmael, whose mother was 5. Today, Mecca and Medina are in ______. Abraham’s servant, Hagar. Abraham’s wife, Sarah, was childless and became jealous. So God told Abraham to bless the child and 6. The first pillar of Islam, the ______, proclaims, to send him and his mother south into the desert. They wandered the desert until they ran out of water. Hagar ‘ ______’. rested Ishmael on the sand and then searched desperately between two high rocks. She ran back and forth seven times. 7. Muslims pray ______a day towards ______. Finally, resting on one of the rocks, she heard an angel’s voice tell her not to be afraid. Miraculously, water spouted from where 8. Zakat, or ______, is the third pillar of Islam. Ishmael’s heels touched the sand. This became the famous well, Zamzam, where the city of Mecca was born. 9. The month of ______requires fasting. Afterwards, Muslims gather to Toward the end of his life, Abraham travelled into Arabia to visit celebrate the festival of ______. Ishmael. Muslims believe that God told Abraham to build a holy sanctuary there. This site was called the Kaaba, meaning ‘cube’. It is also known as the House of God. 10. The Hajj or ______to Mecca is required at least once in a Muslim’s lifetime.

Abraham and the Kaaba (cont.)

The Kaaba is about twelve metres in height, width and length. The door is about two metres from the ground and must be

entered by a moveable staircase. Curtains and carpets cover ¥ Muslim ¥ pilgrimage ¥ Allah most of the outside of the Kaaba. Inside the sanctuary are some silver and gold lamps. But the most important object is an oval black stone about eighteen centimetres in size. Muslims believe that this stone was part of ¥ imam ¥ mosque ¥ calligraphy the original structure built by Abraham. They say the stone was white but turned black with the kisses of worshippers seeking forgiveness. According to the Koran, God instructed Abraham to tell all worshippers of Allah to make a pilgrimage to the Kaaba. ¥ Medina ¥ Khadija ¥ Shia ¥ Sunni ¥ minaret ¥ pillars Wordsearch ¥ Mohammed ¥ Mecca ¥ Ramadan

As you will see, the Kaaba plays a central role in the history of Islam. You will learn more about its significance later in this chapter on Islam. ¥ Islam ¥ Ottoman ¥ Hajj ¥ Koran ¥ Kaaba ¥ caliph In the wordsearch puzzle below, find the following words associated with Islam. find the following words associated In the wordsearch puzzle below,

Calligraphy (cont.) The Early Years

As you know, the art of calligraphy now exists in many languages. Here is one style of letters Mohammed ibn Abd Allah, commonly known as Mohammed, was in English calligraphy. Write an inspiring statement using these letters as models. If you have born in the city of Mecca in 570 CE. At the time, Mecca was a a calligraphy pen, all the better! busy marketplace crowded with residents and nomads buying and ABCDEFGHI J KLM selling goods. Not a great deal is known of Mohammed’s early NOPQRS TUVWXYZ life. Both his mother and father were dead by the time he turned six. He was first cared for by his grandfather, but when he passed away, Mohammed’s uncle, Abu Talib, raised him. Abu Talib was the head of the Hashim clan, one of many clans making up separate Arabic tribes. ______It is believed that as a young adult Mohammed worked as a ______caravan trader. He travelled the Arabian Peninsula with his uncle, making contact with various cultures and religions, including ______Judaism and Christianity. Because idol worship had come to ______dominate Mecca, this contact was important. The Kaaba itself housed many idols, including those representing the three main ______goddesses. ______At the age of twenty-five, Mohammed was working for a widow ______named Khadijah who was a wealthy merchant. Though he was much younger, she admired his intelligence and maturity so much ______that she proposed to him. They married, and in the fifteen years ______that followed, Mohammed lived a comfortable life. He continued ______travelling, encountering different faiths and customs.

______But Mohammed was not interested in riches. In Mecca, powerful merchants controlled both the flow of goods and the religious life. ______As the gap between the rich and the poor widened, Mohammed ______began to question his life and the world around him.