Islam

Islam. The religion preached by Muhammad (probably c.570–632), the adherent of which is called a Muslim. It is the religion of the majority of the inhabitants of the northern half of Africa, the Middle East, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Papua-New Guinea; there are substantial Muslim minorities in several European countries, Russia, the Caucasus and Central Asia, India, and China.

The central dogmas of Islam are the absolute unity of God (Allah) and the prophethood of Muhammad. The main Islam practices are confession of the unity of God and the mission of Muhammad, ritual prayer five times a day, alms-giving, fasting during the month of Ramadan, and pilgrimage to Mecca.

Islam is seen as the aboriginal religion, from which Judaism and Christianity are deviations. At several points in history God has sent prophets, the first of whom was Adam, the last Muhammad; Abraham, Moses, and Jesus are all recognized. In Muslim belief Jesus, though born of a virgin, is created and not begotten; and His crucifixion was only apparent (cf. Docetism). In the E., Christian writers reacted promptly to the rise of Islam, some with anti-Muslim polemic, some being conciliatory. W. scholars first took an interest in Islam and Arabic thought in the 10th cent., and from the 12th cent. Islamic logic and metaphysics exercised a profound influence on W. medieval philosophers and theologians.

The Arab conquests of the 7th–8th cents. subjected large communities of Christians (and Jews) to Muslim rule. Unlike pagans, they were recognized as ‘people of the book’, and in return for payment were awarded protected status and permitted to retain their religion and laws. They usually suffered fiscal, legal, and social oppression, but rarely violent persecution. In modern Arab states this tolerance is sometimes threatened by an upsurge of revivalist Islam, e.g. in Iran and the Sudan.