Islam

Islam Islam The word “Islam” comes from the Arabic language and means “submission to God”. A Muslim belongs to the Islamic religion. The Arabic word Muslim means “one who is submitted to God, wholly committed to the divine power and authority (Speight 2). Islam is the youngest and one of the largest major religions with more than one billion followers (Hopfe 329). Muhammad, the founder of Islam, was born around A.D. 570 in Mecca. His mother died when he was six and his father died before he was born. Muhammad’s uncle, Abu Talib, a traveling merchant, raised him. Muhammad often traveled with his uncle to Syria and other regions for trade. At twenty-five years old, Muhammad married a wealthy widow, Khadija, who was forty at the time. They worked together as caravan merchants. Once Muhammad was allowed more leisure time, he started visiting a popular cave at Mount Hira, three miles from Mecca, to meditate. In the year 610, he received a vision of the angel Gabriel while at the cave. Gabriel brought this command from God: Recite: In muslims, islam, muhammad, mecca, god, one, people, muslim, islamic, allah, years, while, once, life, during, community, time, sacred, qur’an, pilgrimage, over, muhammad’s, make, jihad, good, go, gabriel, died, creed, because, world, word, uncle, thy, three