chapter 9

1. By the start of the twenty-first century, Islam had acquired a significant presence in the United States.

1. more than 1,200 mosques

2. about 8 million Muslims

B. The second half of the twentieth century saw the growing international influence of Islam.

C. Islam had already been prominent in the world between 600 and 1600.

1. encompassed parts of Africa, Europe, Middle East, and Asia
2. enormously significant in world history
3. creation of a new and innovative civilization
4. was the largest and most influential of the third-wave civilizations
5. Islam’s reach generated major cultural encounters

D. In the year 2000, there were perhaps 1.2 billion Muslims in the world (22 percent of the world’s population).

The Birth of a New Religion

A. The Homeland of Islam

1. unlike most religious/cultural traditions, Islam emerged from a marginal region
2. Arabian Peninsula as home of nomadic Arabs (Bedouins)

a. fiercely independent clans and tribes

b. variety of gods

3. Arabia also had sedentary, agricultural areas
4. Arabia lay on important East–West trade routes

a. Mecca became important as a trade center

1. The Transformation of Arabia
1. Muhammad attracted a small following, aroused opposition from Meccan elites
1. in 622, emigrated to Yathrib/Medina (the hijra)
2. created Islamic community (umma) in Medina
3. broke definitively from Judaism 2. rapid expansion throughout Arabia

      b military successes led to alliances b. large-scale conversion

• consolidation of Islamic control
• throughout Arabia by time of Muhammad’s death in 632

B. fundamental differences between births of Islam and Christianity

• Islam did not grow up as persecuted minority religion
• Islam didn’t separate “church” and state