Video: How did the religion of Islam begin?

﻿Now team, I am really excited because we are going to get to learn all about a really important religion which is Islam. Islam is an important religion because around 1.6 billion people around the world follow this religion. So, it has a lot of followers and so we're going to delve deeply into their practises, what Muslims believe, the origin story behind Islam, that's what we're going to do today, and so I am so ready, and I am so excited to be learning about Islam with you. Now, let me share my screen with you. So, as the title of the lesson suggests, we are going to be learning all about how Islam began. So how did the religion of Islam begin? And this is going to be the structure of our lesson today. So, we're going to have a look at some star words, we're going to have a look at some key vocabulary that we need to learn in our lesson. Then we are going to find out a little bit about what Islam is. Then, we're going to have a look at a country which is very important in the history of Islam which is Saudi Arabia. And we're going to have a look at Saudi Arabia before Islam, so what was it like before the advent of this religion? Then we're going to have a look at an important figure, the most important figure in Islam, which is Muhammad, and then once we have accrued all the knowledge about his life, we're going to draw a timeline at the very end. So, in order for you to succeed in this lesson, these are the things that you're going to have to get. You're going to have to get an exercise book or a piece of paper, A pencil or a pen. Preferably you'd get a ruler as well, so that we can draw our timeline at the very end, but most importantly, you're going to have to use your brain, because there's going to be lots of information coming at you, so you're going to have to be really engaged, so go and get that juicy brain of yours. So, at this point, if you want to pause the video, so you can go and get those things, you are more than welcome to do so. So, let's have a look at the very first part of the lesson, which is the star words, so these are our star words, this is the key vocabulary in our lesson today. So, on the screen you can see the star words for today's lesson and I'm going to be running through some of these star words now, but I'll be referring to them throughout the lesson as well. So we've got Islam, and Islam is a monotheistic religion. A monotheistic religion means that there is a belief in one God. And a religion is a set of beliefs about how the universe was made and what its purpose is. And a religion usually involves the worship of a God or Gods. It also encompasses the belief in certain ideas about what is right, and about what is wrong as well. And now, religions are usually founded by prophets and prophets are people inspired by God. Now Islam is a religion which originated in a region of the world called the Middle East, and specifically the country of Saudi Arabia. And it was founded by a prophet named Muhammad. So, what is Islam? So, Islam is a monotheistic religion, and I like to do this when I say monotheistic because it reminds me that monotheism means the belief in one God. And it began in a country called Saudi Arabia in the Middle East, around 1400 years ago. Do you guys know where Saudi Arabia is? Let's have a look at the map, let's zoom in to our map. If you think you know where Saudi Arabia is, point to it. If you need to pause the video, then you can. Let's have a look and see if you were right, I think you were! Ready? Three, two, one! Oh my goodness. You were bang right. There it is. That's Saudi arabia, bang right in the middle. It's surrounded by countries such as Iran, to the West, there's the United Arab of Emirates, there's Dubai, to the West, it's surrounded by Egypt, and to the South it's surrounded by Yemen and Oman. So, great knowledge of the world map. Now, let's have a look at what Islam is. So Islam is the oldest... sorry, is the youngest of the Abrahamic religions, and Abrahamic means related to the prophet Abraham. And Abraham is a prophet in Christianity, and he's also a prophet in Judaism. And Islam was founded in Saudi Arabia around the year 620 CE by Muhammad. Keep that date in mind because I'm going to ask you a question really soon. Now let's have a look at the very first question. So, when did Islam begin as a religion? Was it A, in 620 BCE? Trying to trick you! Was it B, 620 years ago? Was it C, 6200 years ago? Or was it D, in 620 CE? So, guys, if you want to pause the video now, you can. If you want to go back and watch that section of the video, then you can as well. Okay, let's have a look at the answer, so, when did Islam begin as a religion? Islam began as a religion in 620 CE. Excellent job guys, high five. Let's keep going. So, what is Islam? So, Muslims believe that Muhammad was a prophet, remember that a prophet is someone inspired by God, just like Adam, Abraham, Moses and Jesus. However, Muslims believe that Muhammad is the final prophet. He was given the full knowledge of all things by God. And as a result, he is sometimes referred to as the seal of the prophets. That means that there will be no more prophets after Muhammad. And the knowledge that Muhammad accrued was given to him by the Angel Gabriel and it was written into a book called the Qur'an in the Arabic language. So, let's have a look at your second question. So, Islam was revealed to Muhammad by the Angel... Was it the Angel Michael? Was it the Angel Raphael? Was it the Angel Daniel? Or was it the Angel Gabriel? So A, B, C or D? Again, if you want to pause the video, or if you want to go back, you can. Have a go. Okay, let's have a look at the answer to that question. So, Islam was revealed to Muhammad by the Angel Gabriel. Excellent job guys. Well done. Now, let's have a look at Saudi Arabia before Islam. So we said that Islam was founded by Muhammad in Saudi Arabia, but what was Saudi Arabia like before Islam? So, this map shows you a close up of Saudi Arabia, where the religion of Islam emerged in around 620 CE. Before Islam, Arabia was inhabited by people who believed in a variety of religions, so including polytheism, which is the opposite of monotheism, so polytheism is the belief in many, more than one God. It was also inhabited by lots of Christians, and by lots of Jews. And at this time, Arabia was bordered by two powerful empires, the Byzantine Empire to the North-West, and to the East, the Persian Sassanid Empire. And these two empires at the time of the birth of Islam, these two Empires had been at war, constant war, non-stop, for around 18 years. Now, let's have a look, related to that, by 620 CE, how long had the Byzantine and Sassanid Empires been at war for? Was it 80 years? Was it B, 8 years? Was it C, 18 years? Was it the 800 years? Oh my goodness. Imagine being at war for 800 years. Again, if you want to pause the video, you can. If you want to go back, you can also do that. Have a go. Okay, let's have a look at the answer to that question. So, by 620 CE, how long had the Byzantine and Sassanid Empires been at war for? So by 620 CE, the Byzantine and Sassanid Empires had been at war for 18 years. Excellent job guys, well done. Now, let's have a look at who was Muhammad. So, this is Muhammad's early life. So, Muhammad was born in around 570 CE, and he lived in Mecca, in Saudi Arabia. And this is a picture of the Kaaba, which is located in the Grand Mosque, in Mecca. And Muhammad's life was quite tragic in the beginning. His dad died before he was born. And when he was only six years old, his mum died. And so, as a result, he became an orphan by the age of six, and he was looked after by a relative. And then he worked as a merchant, travelling around, trading, so it was quite a sad life, then he made something out of himself by becoming a merchant. So, what did Muhammad work as? So did Muhammad work as a teacher? Was he a trader? Was he a soldier? Was he a farmer? A, B, C or D? Have a think and then have a go. Okay, let's have a look at the answer, are you ready? I'm sure you got it right. So, Muhammad worked as a... Trader, great job. He was a trader, travelling around, trading goods. Now, here comes the crucial part of Muhammad's life. This is where he becomes, he goes from being an ordinary man, to becoming a prophet. So, for several weeks, each year, Muhammad would go to a mountain called Jabal al-Nour to pray in a cave. And this cave is referred to as Cave Hira. Now, here, Muslims believe that the Angel Gabriel came to Muhammad in 609 CE and he revealed his first revelation from God. So he revealed the first words, the first message, from God to Muhammad. And Muslims call this the Night of Power. So the night in which the Angel Gabriel first appeared to Muhammad is called the Night of Power. What's it called? Night of Power. Keep that in your head. Now, Angel Gabriel made Muhammad recite his words so that he can learn them off by heart and the reason why he did that is because Muhammad was illiterate. That means that he didn't know how to read or write. So as a result, the Angel Gabriel thought, "I have to make Muhammad learn these words off by heart otherwise he's going to forget the words of God." And it took a full 23 years for the whole Qur'an to be revealed. It took the Angel Gabriel 23 years to pass all of the messages from God to Muhammad. And after Muhammad's death, lots of his followers had also learnt the word of God by heart, and they wrote all of his words into a book called the Qur'an, which is the Islamic holy book, and they wrote it in the language called Arabic. Now I hope you kept that information I told you to keep in your head, in your head, because you're going to have to use it here. So, Muhammad received his first revelation in 609 CE from the Angel Gabriel. What do Muslims call this night? Do they call it the Night of Sorrow? Do they call it the Day of Power? Do they call it the Night of Thunder? Or do they call it the Night of Power? A, B, C or D? Again, if you want to pause the video you can, if you want to go back, then you can. Have a go. Right, let's have a look at the answer, please tell me you've got it right, ready? So Muhammad received his first revelation in 609 CE from the Angel Gabriel. Muslims call this the Night of Power. Yes. Great job guys. Now, let's have a look at Muhammad's journey as a prophet now, so he's gone from being an ordinary man, he's now a prophet, he's inspired by God because he's received the word of God from the Angel Gabriel. So, Muhammad travelled from Mecca to Jerusalem, so this is the story, this is what Muslims believe happened, so it's said that Muhammad travelled from Mecca to Jerusalem on a winged horse. And it's said that he travelled to the furthest mosque, which was located in Jerusalem. Now, during this night, Muhammad is also said to have travelled to heaven and hell. I wonder why he travelled to both places, why not just heaven? Interesting. Now, during this journey, he's also said to have spoken to prophets such as Jesus, Moses and Abraham. And Muslims call this event the Night Journey, and in Arabic it's known as Isra and Mi'raj. So this journey where he travelled to Jerusalem, he travelled to heaven and hell, and he spoke to prophets such as Jesus, Moses and Abraham, is called the Night Journey, what's it called? It's called the Night Journey. Keep that in your head. Right, let's have a look. So during the Night Journey, Muhammad travelled from Mecca to... Where did he travel to? Did he travel to Rome? Did he travel to London? Did he travel to Medina? Did he travel to Jerusalem? A, B, C or D. Have a go. Okay, let's have a look at the answer. Are you ready? Ready. So, during the Night Journey, Muhammad travelled from Mecca to the furthest Mosque in... Jerusalem. Excellent job guys. Now remember that he travelled on a winged horse called Buraq. The winged horse was called Buraq. Now, let's have a look at the end, towards the end of Muhammad's life. So, Muhammad began to gain more followers to his new religion. So Muhammad began to take on the role of the prophet and he began to spread the word of God, and that made him followers, but that also made him lots of enemies who did not like his new religion. And this made other people cross with him because they thought that his religion was a threat to their religion, to their power. And so, as a result, in 622 CE, Muhammad and his followers were forced to leave Mecca to Medina. They had to flee for their safety. And this journey to Medina was called the Hijra. What's it called? The Hijra. Now, during this journey, he was attacked by other tribes, including the Meccans. So you can see that Muhammad, even though he became powerful, he also became threatened by other people who did not like his new power, and his new found...his new influence. Now, after a period of around seven years, Muhammad travelled back, and with a large army of around 10,000 soldiers, he travelled back and he conquered Mecca in 629 CE. And after that, he conquered the rest of Saudi Arabia. Now, Muhammad died three years later in 632 CE and there was a split over who should succeed him as the leader of Islam. And as a result, his followers divided into two camps, which are known as Sunni and Shia. And to this day, these groups still disagree over who was the right person to succeed Muhammad. Now, guys, we have made it all the way to our last activity, and in this activity, what we're going to do is we're now going to summarise Muhammad's life into an eight-part timeline. Here are all the events that you can see there. But they're all jumbled up. So let's have a look at the events, so let's read the events first, and then we're going to see where we need to put them. So, we have 629 CE, he travels back to Mecca. This one is born in 570 CE, he became an orphan by the age of six. The third one down, the third one says 621 CE, the Night Journey to Mecca to Jerusalem. And the next one is 622 CE, which is the Hijra, where he leaves Mecca for Medina, and this one, it says 23 years for the Qur'an to be fully revealed, this one says 609 CE, which is the Night of Power, which is the first revelation from the Angel Gabriel. This one says he became a merchant. And then dies in 632 CE, and then Muslims split into Sunni and Shia. Here's what we're going to do. We're going to put this into our timeline. So what you need to do is, you need to, on your pieces of paper, or in your book, you need to draw a single line. Make sure that you're using a ruler or something straight, where you can draw a straight line. And on the left hand side you're going to write the word "oldest". On the right hand side, you're going to write the word "most recent." You're going to write the phrase "most recent." And as it suggests, on the left hand side you're going to write the oldest event and then on the right hand side you're going to write the most recent event. So I'm going to give you a clue, so the oldest event on this timeline would be, when Muhammad, around the time when Muhammad was born. So have a think about where that would go. So the first thing I would do. I would put all of those in order, I would number them one to eight, and then once you have done that, then you can start to put them on the timeline there. So, the key thing to note is that some timelines are accompanied by pictures, but in this case you are not to draw a picture, because Muslims believe that drawing Muhammad is incredibly disrespectful, and also they believe that it is a sin because they believe that only God should be worshipped and not Muhammad. So please make sure that you are not drawing Muhammad, and that you are just putting all of these events onto the timeline here. So at this point, we're going to pause the video, and what I want you to do is I want you to have a go at your independent task. So pause the video and then have a go at the independent task and then when we come back, I will reveal the fully completed timeline, and I'll show you one that I also made in my book. So again, at this point, pause the video, if you need to, number the events, and then put them on the timeline from the oldest to the most recent. So, have a go. Good luck! Okay, let's have a look. Welcome back. I hope you had lots of fun. Let's have a look at the completed timeline. So here is my completed timeline. So, I'm going to zoom into it. So, the oldest event was when he was born, so he was born in 570 CE, he became an orphan by the age of six. The next even then was he became a merchant. There's no date for that but we know that's what happened next. Next one is 609 CE, which is the Night of Power, which is when he received his first revelation from the Angel Gabriel. After that, remember that it took 23 years for the Qur'an to be fully revealed. After that, you have 621 CE, where we have the Night Journey from Mecca to Jerusalem. After that we have the Hijra, where Muhammad was forced to leave Mecca for Medina in 622 CE. Then in 620 CE, so seven years later, he travels back to Mecca, with an army of 10,000 soldiers, and he conquers Mecca and he conquers the rest of Saudi Arabia. And then the most recent event, so the last event on your timeline, is Muhammad's death in 632 CE, and the split of his followers into two camps, Sunni and Shia. So that is the completed timeline. So if you want to pause the video now, and just check that your timeline is correct, you can do that. Now, I just wanted to show you one that I made in my book. So, let's have a look. So this is my timeline that I made. So as you can see I put oldest here on the left, I put most recent on the right, I tried to use different colours, I tried to use a colour to highlight the years or key dates, I tried to use a different colour to highlight key people or key events, as you can see I wrote the date, just because it's important to know when you did this piece of work and then I drew, I wrote the title, so it's Muhammad's Life, and his timeline. And that's the title of this piece of work. Guys, I bet you can do much better work than I can. And I can't wait to see your work. And leading on from that, if you want to impress me and if you want to show Mr Pedroza, that's me, if you want to show me your work, then you can ask your parent or carer to share your work on twitter @OakNational

Exit Quiz: How did the religion of Islam begin?

Completed: How did the religion of Islam begin?

In this lesson, we will be exploring the beginning of the religion of Islam. We will learn about the life of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, who established the religion following revelations from the Angel Gabriel.

Religious Education

How did the religion of Islam begin?

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