Alec Zavala, Jordan Baroody, Gulraj Gill

1. The Islamic Religion

2. Distribution and Diffusion of Islam Concentrated in the Middle East, Iberian Peninsula, and Northern Africa. Spread out of Medina through military conquest and relocation diffusion.

4. Foundations of Islam Continued 5 Pillars of Islam- The five pillars of Islam have a lot to do with the religion as well as the culture of Muslims. The pillars were established in Mecca after the conquest of the grand city by the Muslims. To this day they still, stand, and the same rules still apply for each of the five pillars. “ Shahadah”- This pillar states that if a Muslim is to be considered good towards Allah, they must recite a verse every night, before bed, and with their index finger pointed towards the sky. The verse goes; “I bear witness that there is no other god but Allah, and Muhammad is his messenger.” “ Salat”- Pillar number two states that all loyal Muslims must pray five times a day, while facing the grand city of Mecca, were the pillars lay. But on Fridays, they must attend to a preacher and listen to his voice of prayer. “ Zakat”- Zakat, the third pillar, explains that all Muslim people are expected to give a percentage of their earnings to charity, otherwise considered as the poor and homeless. But if the poor are unable to give to charity, they must inherit money from other citizens until they are capable of doing so themselves. “ Sawm”- This pillar states that all muslims are to fast from sunrise to sunset during the month of Ramadan, but if one in neither physically nor mentally capable of participating in the fast, they are granted a pass from the religious activity. However, every day a Muslim is to miss a day of the fasting period, they are to feed one that is in the need of food. “ Hajj”- The last of the pillars states that all Muslims that are capable of traveling, must make a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in their life time. But if they are not able to, it isn’t a sin.

5. Denominations, Places of Worship, Sacred Spaces, and Spiritual Leaders

7. Sunni and Shiite Distribution

14. Internal Conflict Division of the Empire- After Muhammad had died, there was a great disturbance in the Empire. Citizens were afraid that their empire would break out into a civil war, or that the empire would collapse politically. Eventually, Abu Bakr became the caliph of the Empire, and then Umar followed, and then came Uthman. Uthan was the last caliph, for an angry mob killed him. After the death of Uthman, it opened a window for control of the Islamic Empire, and divided the empire into two civilizations. Although the two divisions still worshipped the same religion, they both had different ideas about governing leaders and worshipping Allah. The Shiite- The Shiites were a division of the Muslims that claimed that only relatives of Muhammad could be caliph of the Empire. Ali, being the leader of the rebellious group, immediately tried to take the throne of the Empire. Also, the Shiites believed that the caliphs were to be more religious rather than political, and the name of this new ruler would be the “Imam”, and that he would have a special connection with Allah. Even to this day the two sides are bickering and having wars in East Asia, but the Sunnis have a larger population of followers than the Shiites. The Sunni- The Sunnis were the other side of the fight that believed that anyone approved by the previous caliph and the citizens would qualify as caliph. The Sunnis also disapproved the fact that the caliph, or “Imam”, of the Shiites has a special connection with Allah. This violates Muhammad’s teachings, because he stated, as Allah’s direct prophet, that all Muslims had direct contact with Allah himself.