Islam is a monotheistic religion that emerged in seventh-century Arabia through the preaching of Muhammad. Its followers, called Muslims, regard the Quran as revelation from God and Muhammad as the final prophet. The Arabic word islām denotes submission or surrender to God. Islam belongs to the Abrahamic religious tradition, alongside Judaism and Christianity, while differing from them in its understanding of revelation and religious authority. (institutojohnhenrynewmanufv.com)
Origins and historical development
Muhammad began preaching in Mecca around 610 CE. According to Islamic tradition, his revelations came through the angel Gabriel. His message emphasized worship of one God, moral accountability, and responsibility toward others. Opposition in Mecca led Muhammad and his followers to migrate to Medina in 622. This migration, the Hijra, became the reference point for the Islamic calendar. In Medina, Muhammad established a community with religious and political dimensions; Mecca subsequently came under his authority. He died in 632. (resources.metmuseum.org)
Under Muhammad’s successors, Muslim rule expanded beyond Arabia into territories previously governed by the Byzantine and Sasanian empires. The Umayyad dynasty governed from Damascus, and the Abbasid caliphate later established its capital at Baghdad. Political expansion and religious conversion were distinct processes: Islam spread over many centuries through combinations of conquest, trade, migration, teaching, and local adoption. Muslim societies consequently developed across regions with different languages and inherited cultural traditions. (metmuseum.org)
Beliefs and sacred texts
The central theological principle is tawhid, the oneness and uniqueness of God. Allah is the Arabic word for God, also used by Arabic-speaking Christians. Islamic teaching describes God as creator, sustainer, merciful judge, and the ultimate source of moral obligation. Muslims recognize earlier prophets, including Abraham, Moses, and Jesus, while regarding Muhammad’s message as the culmination of prophetic revelation. Belief in angels, resurrection, judgment, and an afterlife forms part of traditional Islamic doctrine. (unvis.it)
The Quran is Islam’s central scripture. Muslims regard its Arabic text as God’s revelation to Muhammad, received over approximately twenty-two years. Its contents address divine unity, prophetic narratives, worship, ethical conduct, and communal life. Recitation is a major religious practice, and the text has also shaped Arabic literary and artistic traditions. (metmuseum.org)
The Sunnah is the exemplary conduct associated with Muhammad. It is transmitted principally through hadith, reports of his words and actions. Hadith literature provides guidance for religious practice and moral conduct alongside the Quran. Its compilation and evaluation developed during the early centuries of Islam, and different Muslim traditions recognize different collections and authorities. (unvis.it)
Worship and religious practice
The Five Pillars of Islam, especially prominent in Sunni formulations, provide a widely recognized framework of worship. Other Muslim traditions share these practices while sometimes organizing their obligations differently:
- Profession of faith: the shahada affirms that there is no god but God and that Muhammad is God’s messenger.
- Prayer: salat consists of prescribed prayers performed five times daily, facing Mecca.
- Almsgiving: zakat requires eligible Muslims to contribute specified portions of qualifying wealth for designated purposes, including assistance to people in need.
- Fasting: during Ramadan, eligible Muslims abstain from food, drink, and sexual activity between dawn and sunset.
- Pilgrimage: the Hajj to Mecca is an obligation once in a lifetime for those with the physical and financial means to undertake it. (en.khanacademy.org)
A mosque is a place for prayer and communal religious activity. Friday congregational worship includes a sermon. The Kaaba, the sanctuary in Mecca toward which Muslims pray, is also central to pilgrimage. Religious practice includes preparation through purification, personal supplication, charity, and observance of festivals such as Eid al-Fitr at Ramadan’s conclusion. Participation and local customs vary among communities. (institutojohnhenrynewmanufv.com)
Major traditions
Sunni Islam and Shia Islam are the two largest branches. Their historical differentiation arose partly from disputes over leadership after Muhammad’s death, followed by centuries of theological and institutional development. Sunnis recognize the first four caliphs, beginning with Abu Bakr. Shia traditions assign particular religious authority to Ali, Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law, and to leaders descended from the Prophet’s family. Both branches share the Quran and many fundamental beliefs and practices. (justice.gov)
Sufism encompasses Islamic traditions emphasizing spiritual discipline, remembrance of God, and the cultivation of religious experience. It includes diverse teachings and organized paths rather than constituting a single denomination parallel to Sunni and Shia Islam. Sufi practices have developed within different Muslim settings and have contributed to devotional literature and communal religious life. (unvis.it)
Ethics, law, and interpretation
Sharia denotes the divinely grounded path of conduct in Islamic thought, encompassing worship, morality, and social obligations. Fiqh, or Islamic jurisprudence, is the human interpretation of that path. Scholars draw on the Quran, prophetic precedent, and methods of legal reasoning; differing methods and judgments produced multiple schools. Islamic jurisprudence addresses subjects including marriage, inheritance, commercial transactions, and religious duties. Sharia therefore should not be equated with a single uniform legal code, and its relationship to state law varies across societies. (cfr.org)
Geographic distribution
Pew Research Center estimates published in 2025 place the Muslim population at approximately 2.0 billion in 2020, about 26% of humanity. Approximately 59% lived in the Asia-Pacific region and 18% in sub-Saharan Africa. Indonesia, Pakistan, and India together accounted for roughly one-third of all Muslims. These figures distinguish Islam’s Arabian origins from its much broader geographic distribution and multilingual population. (pewresearch.org)