Islam is one of the three "heavy-weight" religions that are currently followed by large segments of the world population. As such, it is important to understand how this religion was born and how it is both similar to and different from Judaism and Christianity.
The religion known as Islam was founded by a man named Muhammad, who was born about 570 CE of the Quraysh tribe near Makka (Mecca). Since his father died before his birth and his mother died only a few years later, he was raised an orphan by his grandfather and later his uncle. Although he was raised in a merchant society and made his living as a merchant, he was also known "contemplative, honest, and mild-mannered" (Oxtoby, 2002, p. 344) and despised that there were people who worshipped idols in his society. He may have belonged to one of the "hanifs" or those religious ascetics who accepted the Monotheism of Judaism and Christianity without actually following either belief system. According to the author, it is believed that this group of pious believers were hoping that the Arab people would also receive a revelation from God, as had the Jews and Christians (Oxtoby, 2002).
It was during one of Muhammad's visits to the desert to fast and pray that he is said to have received a visit from the angel Gabriel and was told to "Recite the name of the Lord." This was the beginning of the revelations he received for the Qur'an and the beginning of his prophethood. From that time on he is known as the Messenger of God by those who chose to follow him.
The Qur'an, or the information revealed from God to Muhammad, only makes up part of Islamic law and scripture. Besides this, are the writings called the Sunnah, which describe how Muhammad lived and what types of decisions he made. In addition to these two sets of writings are the writings that discuss these writings and what they mean. This is somewhat similar to the Jewish Midrash and jurisprudence. For the mos...