Islam Pt. 1

This is the first in a series of articles I'll be writing about Islam. My purpose is mostly to formulate my opinions on the religion, and to verify or destroy my previous hypotheses on the topic (such as that killing a Muslim could be considered self defense). I'll begin by going over the history of Islam according to its own tradition. Then I'll move on to specific topics of belief, for example: salvation, moral law, prayer, prophets, Jesus Christ, marriage/divorce, sexuality/homosexuality, etc. I'll also analyze and compare the average American Muslim with the "extremists." I want to test the popular theory that the terrorists are actually orthodox, and that American Muslims are the real extremists (as far as belief goes, that is).

History Part I:
Muhammad was born about AD 520 in Mecca. As a Meccan, Muhammad could claim to be a descendant of Abraham through Ishmael. His father died before he was born so his grandfather raised him. When his grandfather died, his Uncle became his protector.

As a young man he would travel in caravans, working in the service of travelers. During one such journey he was in the service of a widow named Khadijah. She was impressed by his wise handling her business transactions, and they later married. She was 15 years his senior. Their marriage lasted until her death twenty-six years later.

In Mecca, there was a temple, believed to have been built by Abraham. It contained several idols: the daughters of Allah. Muhammad and many Meccans became skeptical of this idol worship and broke away from these temples. Instead Muhammad would go out into the desert to a hill named Hira and would spend the month Ramadan in meditation there.

During one of these meditations Muhammad fell into a trance. He heard a voice, saying to him, "Read!" He answered, "I cannot." This happened three times. When he woke up he went outside. Outside the cave, the angel Gabriel appeared to him, saying, "You are Allah's messenger." Muhammad got scared, too scared to move. He tried to look away, but no matter where he turned his head Gabriel was there. Eventually the angel vanished.

Muhammad was still scared out of his mind when he went to his wife. She tried to reassure him. They went back to Mecca to see Khadijah's uncle, a sage. He believed that the spirit that had contacted Muhammad was the same one that had contacted Moses. According to some traditions, Muhammad's wife is said to have "tested the spirit" and declared it "good." These two convinced Muhammad that it was indeed Allah who had contacted him.