Islam

From Citizendium
Revision as of 21:57, 11 March 2007 by imported>Rob Glass
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Islam is a monotheistic religion founded upon the word and teachings of the Qurʾān which is believed to be the word of God spoken through his prophet Muḥammad. It is the second-largest religion in the world, with 1.4 billion believers around the world. A believer in Islam is called a Muslim which literally means "one who submits". The word islām means submission in Arabic.

Islam was started by Mohammad, a seventh century Arab and grew by the end of the seventh Century to encompass almost the entire middle east from Arabia north to Anatolia and east to India, as well as all of North Africa and even Spain.