World History

Unit 3: The World in Transition

Chapter 9: The Islamic Empire

20. Thu, Nov 7, 2013

Islam had and still has enormous appeal to innumerable people over the centuries. Christianity a century after the death of Jesus was a persecuted faith, in competition with other religions such as the traditional Greco-Roman gods and the cult of Mithras. A century after the death of Muhammad, Islam was huge. While truth and faith are not footraces or popularity contests, it's critical to understand Islam and its appeal.

• What's the theological relationship between Islam and the faiths that it grew out of — Judaism and Christianity?
• We are not always certain who wrote the Gospels, and the main evangelist of Christianity's first century, St. Paul, never met Jesus in person. Compare that to Muhammad, whom we know rather a lot about, and whose relatives took up the caliphate following him. How might the person of Muhammad, and his family, have played a part in the expansion of Islam as a faith?
• What about Islam's religious forms and practices would serve as a draw for conversion?

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