Religion

The Arabian peninsula was one of the last places to accept monotheism, and it did so in a distinctive form that was to dominate the Middle East thereafter. From about 610 until 632 Muhammad, a caravan merchant in Mecca, received verbal messages that he and his followers understood to come from God and that were collected together to form the Koran, the Muslim scripture. The Koran is considered to be the verbatim word of God, but only in the original Arabic language. Muhammad was rebuffed by the leaders of Mecca and, in 622, migrated with his followers to a nearby city thenceforth known as Medina. From here he conducted a campaign involving some fighting and much political maneuvering, which led to his victorious return to Mecca in 630 and the acceptance of his religion and leadership by the Meccans. His immediate successors effectively moved forth to conquer the neighboring lands, establishing in the course of a century an empire extending from Spain in the west to central Asia in the north to the Indus River in the east. While they established their political rule quickly, it was several centuries in most places before the majority of the conquered peoples embraced their religion.

This religion is called Islam, meaning "submission to God," and its adherents are Muslims, or submitters. Its key doctrines are summed up the words "No god but God (Allah); Muhammad is the Messenger of God." The recognition of other divine beings alongside God is called shirk and is strongly rejected. Muhammad is understood to be the last of a series of prophets sent by God to humans, beginning with Adam and including biblical figures such as Nuh (Noah), Ibrahim (Abraham), Musa (Moses), and 'Isa (Jesus). These prophets had missions limited in time and place, and their messages have been lost or altered. Muhammad's mission, by contrast, is universal, and his message has been faithfully preserved. Jews and Christian are viewed as "people of the scripture" (that is, previous scriptures), having genuinely based but inferior religions. They were granted the status of dhimmis ("protected peoples"), having what might be called "second-class citizenship" in Muslim society. In practice, their situation varied with circumstances, and other groups, such as Zoroastrians, were also often granted similar status.