Malcolm Clark Influence Of Islam

According to Malcolm Clark, “Muslims today who want to establish a Muslim state often look to the first Islamic states for models to emulate and for inspiration” (Clark 15). Therefore, to develop an understanding of the Muslim culture, we must review the birth and expansion of Islam. Islam began when the angel Gabriel appeared before Muhammad, telling him that God had declared him as “His last prophet” (Clark 9). This happened in 610 A.D. in Mecca, presently known as Saudi Arabia. Over the course of twenty years, Muhammad spread word of God’s messages, which later became the Qur’an. Islam is a monotheistic religion, the belief in one god. Most people in Mecca at the time followed a polytheistic religion, the belief in many gods, so they were …show more content…
The history of Islam can be divided into three periods, 1) the first four successors of Muhammad (632-661), 2) the Umayyads dynasty (661-750), and 3) the Abbasid dynasty (750-1258). The first four successors of Muhammad were Abu Bakr, ‘Umar, ‘Uthman, and ‘Ali. The first three successors made important contributions to the Islamic culture. Abu Bakr brought many tribes under Islamic rule and ended revolts (Clark 19). ‘Umar, who was initially against Islam and at one point set out to kill Muhammad, expanded Islam outside Arabia, established centers for the development of Islam, helped convert native elites, picked the date for the emigration from Mecca to Medina, and established a policy that accepted Christians and Jews (Clark 20). ‘Uthman created a more firm version of the Qur’an and expanded Islam to Libya and Tunisia (Clark 22). Once ‘Ali was assassinated in 661, the Umayyad dynasty began soon followed by the Abbasid …show more content…
These beliefs are 1) God created the world and everything in it, 2) God established in His reveled word the principles by which to live, including concern for the poor, 3) one shouldn’t worship other gods, or money, or power, or oneself, 4) God will judge all people in the end, and 5) if a person fulfilled the divine command, they will go to heaven (Clark 10). These beliefs contain the five pillars of worship within the foundation of Islam, 1) the Shahada, 2) Salat, 3) Zakat, 4) Saum, and 5) Hajj (Clark 139-160). The first pillar Shahada means testifying before God. This is like preaching in public (Clark 140), for Christian’s this is known as evangelism. The second pillar Salat is ritual prayer at set times and body position throughout the day. According to Malcolm Clark,
The five daily prayers are early morning prayer right before dawn (two prayer cycles), noon prayer (four prayer cycles), mid-afternoon prayer (four prayer cycles), sunset prayer (three prayer cycles), and evening prayer, between an hour after sunset and midnight (four prayer cycles). (Clark