How Early Mosques Affected Islamic Culture

Muhammad’s father-in-law Abu Bakr took over leadership of the umma as the successor (caliph) of Muhammad. Abu Bakr faced two main tasks: standardization of the Islamic religion and consolidation of the Islamic state. Abu Bakr successfully re-established Muslim authority over the Arabs and oversaw the compilation and organization of the Quran in book form.

Born in 570 in the whole city of Mecca, Muhammad was born to a wealthy and influential family. Orphaned at the age of six he struggled through life until the age of 40 he began hearing voices in Arabic. These voices would guide him for the next 22 years making him the founder of Islam. Muhammad documented what he heard and his writing became the holy book known today as the Quran. This religion spread quickly, from Africa to Spain. Today it is the second largest religion in the world with 1.6 billion Muslims.

The spread of Islam throughout the world was among the most significant worldwide movements in history. Beginning as the faith of a small community of believers in Arabia in the seventh century, Islam rapidly became one of the major world religions. The core beliefs and culture of this faith is the belief that Muhammad (570-632), a respected businessman in Mecca, a commercial and religious center in western Arabia, received revelations from God that have been preserved in the Qur'an. The core of Islam remains the same today after 1396 years. Islam still translates to “submission” and Muslims still live by the Qur’an and follow the 5 Pillars of Islam. However, throughout the Pre-Islamic, Umayyad, and Abbasid

HVIII. ARCHITECTURE: Mosques in the old days were decorated beautifully with calligraphy and tile. They also had their own kind of domes that they used on the most important buildings. Used minarets. The specific geometric forms decorating the walls (known as Arabesque) represent the infinite.

The Islamic civilization spread to encompass such an extensive empire by using their resources and becoming a peaceful civilization with peaceful people.

The Mosque is the public religious building of Islam. In the perspective of the Mosque it cannot be classified into one form of Architectural template, a single wall can be considered a Mosque. The function of the wall is imperative, a wall orientated towards the qibla can be considered a Mosque. Mosques are the natural expression of society, not set by

Economics played a huge role in early Muslim expansion, driven by the ancient Arabian tradition of raiding. Muslims and non-Muslims saw the earlier expansion as a large element of religious zeal, because the Arab armies of the time were doing what they are acculturated to do and what the economics conditions had always constrained them to do. However, what changed was that, for the first time, the Arab groups in the peninsula had excluded for themselves the possible of raiding other Arab groups, and instead they were forced to raid elsewhere. This new religious self-concept inspired them by giving them divine meaning to the increasing success and expansion.

After the conquest of Constantinople in 1453, Islam, then the official religion of the Ottoman Empire, gained heavy importance. The highest position in Islam, the caliphate, was a position to be held by the sultan, after the Mamluks — young slaves of the Abbasids forced into military — reached their defeat. The sultan was to be a devout and honest Muslim to lead as caliph.

One, two, three, four, five without Muslims we wouldn’t even know numbers existed. We have so much to thank them for because most of the things we use today in the United States were made by Muslims. The most important Muslim innovations that changed the world today are geography, anatomy, and health.

The Tales from 1,001 Nights have no author, and the tales within the book were compiled between the 9th and 14th centuries (Cunningham 257). In the stories from Tales from 1,001 Nights, there is the presence of Islamic values that are mentioned in our Culture and Values textbooks, such as devotion to religion and differences in religious denominations. However, the stories that I read from Tales from 1,001 Nights seemed to revolve around gaining wealth, which is not mentioned as a value in the textbook. Despite the discrepancy of the value of wealth, I believe that the Islamic culture is deeply woven into The Tales from 1,001 Nights.

Growing up in a Muslim family I was always been told that there are no drawings or paintings of Prophet Muhammed (s.a.v) and not because it was a sin to have one, but that the Prophet (s.a.v) himself told his followers that the only one that should be worshiped was God alone and a drawing or painting of him would get in the way of that sole connection with God. Instead, I have seen very elaborate calligraphy in many mosques and even on places that are not connected with Islam, such as the Taj Mahal. Personally I have taken calligraphy and water marbling (Ebru) courses and have learned that art is Islam goes beyond the final product of the artist, the technique and

The hadiths were sayings and actions of Prophet Muhammad, not part of the Qur’an, that are a major guideline for Muslims. They were conveyed by his companions, which included his wives and daughters. They were compiled in the 700s and 800s but writing began while Muhammad was still alive/immediately after his death. This time period is considered early Islam, which had began in 600 CE. When the hadith emerged, women in the early Islamic society were affected by a new addition of guidelines to their religion in categories such as political, social, economic, religious, domestic, and civil freedoms. There are about 700,000 hadiths. Across all of Arabia (modern-day Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Oman), the hadiths took their form and affected Muslim

The Grand Mosque of Paris is about when Hitler wanted to take out all of the Jews to where they were being arrested and deported. The Grand Mosque of Paris is a place that the Muslims had built because they helped fight in World War l. They used it as a way for Jewish people to escape Hitler, they would hide here and map out places for the Jews to run. The Muslims had taken Jewish children out of detention centers or homes and they would give them new papers, found them new and safe homes, and raised funds to pay for their care. Jews could very easily pass as a Muslim when they went to The Grand Mosque of Paris, also under it there was a sewer system and there tons of passages that the Jew could escape from. That reached to Seine from there

The first three caliphates to rule after the death of Muhammad shaped the foundation for the growth and development of the early Islamic community. The goal of the caliphates was to unify the Islamic people and spread the word of Islam as far as they could. Although their main goal was the same, the Rashidun Caliphate, the Umayyad Caliphate, and the Abbasid caliphate went about this goal in separate ways. The different techniques used by each caliphate was dependent on the individual caliphs. The treatment of groups of peoples inside the empires also differed between the caliphates. The Rashidun Caliphate, the Umayyad Caliphate, and the Abbasid Caliphate each employed styles of rule unique to their empires.

The rise and expansion of Islam has had a significant impact on the role and rights of women throughout history. Since its origin in the seventh century until modern times, the Muslim faith has somewhat broadened, but has mostly restricted women’s rights in numerous Islamic communities. The history of Muslim women is complex, as it involves many advances and declines in numerous locations, such as Egypt, Afghanistan, and Iran, concerning several subjects, including both civil and social rights. Thus, in general, the rights of Islamic women did not improve significantly over time, instead, conditions remained the same or became worse for women as Islam evolved and spread as a world religion.