5. What is Islam?
Arabia is a peninsula between the Red Sea and
the Persian Gulf
Vocabulary
 Red Sea
 Koran
 Persian Gulf
 Faith
 Arabs
 Shahadah (testimony of faith)
 Polytheists
 Salah (to pray, prayer)
 To preach (teach religious
message)
 Hajj (pilmigrage, pilgrim)
 Mecca
 Muhammad
 Allah
 Hegira (622)
 Swam (Ramadam)
 Zakah (alms, charity)
 Jihad (Holy War)
Five Pillars
A mosque: temple for praying
Mosques are buildings for praying in public, especially on
Fridays.
Parts of the mosque
A minaret
 The muezzin calls Muslims
to prayer from here.
 The minaret of Samarra
(Irak) Spiral, helicoidal.
More minarets
Kairouan (Tunisia)
Marrakeck (Morocco)
Blue mosque (Turkey)
Taj Mahal (India)
After going through the door, there
is a courtyard with an ablutions
fountain
A prayer hall
This place, covered area with
columns, is where the Muslims pray
Prayer hall in Cordoba
The quibla is the wall orientated towards the city of Mecca
The mirhab
Is a small niche
in the quibla
where the
Koran is kept.
A mimbar or pulpit is the place where the imam
(the muslim priest) leads the prayers from here
Vocabulary
 A minaret
 An ablutions fountain
 A prayer hall
 A quibla
 A mihrab
 A mimbar
 The Imam
Islaminc Art
Remember, in Islamic Art there
are not many sculptures and
paintings, because the Koran did
not allow the representation of
Muhammad, Allah, animals or
people.
6. How did Islam evolve?
Vocabulary
 Caliph
 Agriculture
 Descendants
 Craftsmanship
 Umayyad
 Trade
 Abbasid
 Merchants
 Damascus
 Souk (Arab market)
 Baghdad
 Gunpowder
 Compass (before GPS)
The expansion of Islam
The highest authority of the empire was the CALIPH. Below him, the
VIZIER (Prime Ministre) and the EMIR (governor in the provinces).
The first four caliphs (Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Alí) were direct
descendants of Muhammad.
Until 661, the Muslims controlled the Arabian Peninsula.
This year, Caliph Alí was assassinated and the Umayyad family
took political power.
Schism between Sunni and Shia.
The Umayyad period
661-750
 During this period the title of Caliph became hereditary.
 They moved the capital to Damascus (actual Syria).
 They conquered more territories, from Persia to the
Iberian Peninsula.
The Abbasid period
750-1258
 In 750, a rebelion killed all the Umayyad family. The only
survivor, Abd al Rhaman I, founded an independent emirate
in Cordoba.
 Baghdad became a capital.
 It was a wealthy economic period.
 Internal fighting broke up the empire making the Ottomans
(Turks) the most powerful people in the Islamic world.
Baghdad
Websites
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6WYu-pSXH8
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohSapg0LBiY