Organssos tries to describe the Biography of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) based on the hadith (narratives that form the Muslim tradition) gathered in the Sira of Ibn Ishak (mid-eighth century) and Ibn Hisano modified by the early ninth century is the official biography of the Prophet(SAW). The Qur’an provides interesting facts to know about his thinking, but is inadequate in terms of his life. As with other founders of major religions; Buddha, Jesus or Confucius-all are known only in broad terms from the earlier stages when they started preaching their doctrines. There is no doubt that Prophet Muhammad (SAW) was born in Mecca, at that time a small town surrounded by a desert in the western part of the Arabian Peninsula, a few miles from the Red Sea. Hasim belonged to the clan of the Quraish tribe, and his father, Abdullah, had died before he was born, at which the child was welcomed by his grandfather Abdul Muttalib, the chief Hasim.

The early years were spent with his mother, Amina, a paula-antonio from another clan. Then, according to the custom, and to safeguard Him from the rigors of summer in Mecca, was sent into the desert where he was raised by a Bedouin mother. These nurses were coming to Mecca twice a year in spring and autumn to raise babies from rich families. Halima, Muhammad was raised by, was the wife of a Saudi minister, who was sorry to see Him so helpless; the motherless child was six years old. Soon also lacked the grandfather and received the protection of his uncle Abu Talib, a merchant and keeper of the Kaaba who enjoyed priestly rank. Muhammad Ali was his cousin and companion of his childhood games.

Was twelve years old when he was enlisted for the first time in the caravan of his uncle, taking over the care of the camels. On his first trip to Damascus had occasion to have contact with the Nestorian Christian sect condemned at the Council of Ephesus for denying the dogma of the Trinity and the divinity of Mary’s motherhood. According to legend, the monk Bahira, in the child Muhammad, discovered the evidence of prophecy and warned his family to protect him from the Jews.

With Prophet Muhammad (SAW) the uncle came to acquire great experience in leading caravans through the desert. But, the lack of resources prevented it from becoming independent. At twenty-five married a wealthy widow, KHADIJA, who before marriage tested him by sending with one of the caravans to Syria. KHADIJA was about forty years and gave him four girls and two boys. The men died prematurely. Some authors see in this fact the cause of sympathy towards the children of Muhammad, he used to play with.

The Prophet(SAW), great thanks to this marriage, thus was able to devote to his office and to do business; KHADIJA, meanwhile, was also distinguished for being a wonderful companion. While living with KHADIJA, Muhammad (SAW) did not take any more women as wives, although in all cases were marriages for political reasons. Fifteen years after this union does not know anything. It was a period during which he was known as an upright and faithful, devoted to his business, but excluded from the main business community.

Disclosures:

By the year 610 Prophet Muhammad (SAW) got the first revelations. Was accustomed to retire to pray and meditate in a cave on Mount Hera, and sometimes stay overnight usually one or two nights. In one of the first occasions envisioned a glorious being who at first was identified as horrible, and another rear view made him know it was the archangel Gabriel. This glorious being ordered him to read the Qur’an. However, the Divine revelations were repeated with some frequency upon Muhammad (SAW) throughout his life and his disciples memorized them.

As the material support of the writing was rare in the area, after the Prophet’s death, His secretary found passages from the Qur’an written on scraps of paper, palm leaves, stones, blades, ribs and pieces of leather . The final version is called the Qur’an i.e. that meets all the revelations received by Muhammad (SAW) after the year 650, twenty years after the Prophet’s death. Sometimes the revelations produced certain physical reactions; he was in pain and felt a loud sound, like ringing of bells, sometimes on cold days, the companions saw how great drops of sweat ran down his forehead, while the revelation took place.

Muhammad (SAW) began preaching his doctrine three years later, around 613. Meanwhile the first conversions had occurred. His wife KHADIJA was the first and supported him in moments of crisis to experience the early visions, she convinced him particularly about the prophetic character of such experiences. Some accounts say that the first male convert was the freedman Zaid Ibn Harita, while many suggest it was his cousin Ali. Among the old was his friend and fellow merchant of Mecca, Abu Bakar, who provided great support for Islam, especially after it had established the Islamic state. From the lists that have remained from the early followers of Muhammad (SAW), it can be seen that most were young people from the most influential families of Mecca. However, when Muhammad (SAW) began to spread his doctrine, these families had been displaced by a new social class emerging from the commercial prosperity of the city, which would pose a strong opposition to the Prophet(SAW).

In his preaching, Prophet Muhammad (SAW) leaned toward monotheism based on the belief in one God full of goodness and Almighty who would judge each according to his performance; a man should show gratitude to God and acknowledge his dependence on Him. The recognition of God’s omnipotence was in contrast to the attitude of the great merchants, convinced that their wealth allowed everything, for the life of the man Mohammed (SAW) was to be based on doing what was necessary to reach paradise. The generosity and respect for the weak were the essential points that insisted his first sermons.

Initially, therefore, Islam was presented as a continuation of Christianity and Judaism, religions that Prophet Muhammad (SAW) knew. With public preaching began professed criticism of monotheism by Muhammad (SAW), and soon there was a first confrontation with the Arab polytheists. The one God of Muhammad (SAW) could be worshipped at the Kaaba (Mecca built building, according to the Qur’an, Abraham, and containing the black stone that Gabriel Isaac gave), but not in other three shrines dedicated to other gods and goddesses around the city. But it seems true, as has been said, that opposition to Muhammad (SAW) from the great merchants was for fear of the disappearance of the idols, the business falter. The Kaaba, the shrine of Mecca, remained per excellence and the disappearance of the idols would have hurt more than a small group of merchants who had settled in the vicinity of the city and had established new sanctuaries there, which cults were explicitly condemned by Muhammad (SAW).

The reasons for the growing enmity of the commercial oligarchy of Mecca to the Prophet are to be found in Mohammed’s (SAW) attacks on lifestyle of the rich, in the denial of his omnipotence and, above all, the possibility that the preaching gave Muhammad (SAW) a political personality enough to put in front of the city in a more or less near future. This could hurt the major merchants, in fact, imposing their views and rulling the town for its wealth, commercial experience and membership to the clan superiors, even though Mecca was ruled by an assembly composed of the heads of all the clans. Increasing importance of Muhammad (SAW) threatened their privileges. Abu Talha hence, one of his fiercest enemies, sensed the political danger posed by Mohammed (SAW)

At first, the pressures of Abu Talha consisted of failing to pay legitimate debts to those Muslims who did not enjoy the protection of any clan or belonged to weak clans and later tried Abu Talib, Muhammad’s (SAW) uncle and head of the clan to which belonged the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) to forbid the proclamation of the new faith. Abu Talib did not accept this because it would be dishonorable to his clan to refuse the protection of one of their new faith and because he agreed broadly with its policy against commercial monopolies established by wealthy merchants forged in the heat of the new commercial prosperity.

In the year 619 died his uncle and Protector Abu Talib and his faithful wife KHADIJA. His second wife was Sawda, a widow who was among the first converts. It appears that Muhammad contracted this marriage to stop Sawda from doing it with someone outside the group. The head of the Hasim clan was occupied by another uncle of Muhammad (SAW), Abu Lahab, who by personal interests, and apparently under pressure from Abu Talha, finished removing the protection of the Prophet.

Muhammad (SAW) had to seek refuge in the nearby city of Al-Ta’if, and tried to preach the doctrine of one God. Did not achieve his goal, and was even stoned by the crowd. Unfortunately returned to Mecca and received the protections of one of the clans, but their proselytizing activities were limited. During that time, Muhammad (SAW) tried to ally with various nomadic tribes, at that time they were in the vicinity of Mecca on the occasion of religious festivals, but also failed in the negotiations.

AH (After Hijrat):

On the occasion of the pilgrimage to the Kaaba in the year 620, Muhammad came into contact with six citizens of Medina who were impressed by his personality and thought it might be helpful. It is said that next year, these same pilgrims, representing most clans of Medina, promised to accept Muhammad as a Prophet and obey him. This event was named First Pledge of Al-Aqaba. Muhammad sent forward one of his men to preach his doctrine and also to report on the political situation in that city. Emigration (Hijrat) to Medina was carried out by groups staggered to avoid attention. The last to go was Muhammad, his friend Abu Bakr, his cousin Ali and some of their relatives. The Islamic calendar counts years from July 16, 622, date of the Hijrat.

In the first months of his stay he wrote the Constitution of Medina. His supporters in Mecca and members of eight clans of Medina, who were converted to Islam, formed a community led by Muhammad, who won her, Medina, some of the traditional rules of nomadic life: solidarity, blood revenge, acceptance of decisions revealed to the Prophet in materials. To ensure that the identity of belief was in excess of the tribe was the first success of Muhammad. Success will have profound political implication because the new community will not conform with the laws, customs and traditions imposed by the urban aristocracy, but will have their own rules issued by Allah the only God, through His prophet Muhammad, who sent the status of a particular tribe or group in Mecca.

In the April of 623 Muhammad (SAW) consummated the marriage, held two years ago in Mecca, the daughter of Abu Bakr, Aisha, nine years old. That same year he began raids against Meccan caravans. In the Arab world then was very common and was regarded almost as a sport and as a way of life. It was a simple act of plunder in which there was no bloodshed, except in rare cases, to avoid violence. However, in 624 there was already a first killing in the Meccan camp, during the holy month of pilgrimage, when observing a truce rigorous.

The most important skirmish took place on 15 March 624 in the battle of Badr. Muhammad (SAW) with three hundred men defeated a large motorcade, guarded by nine men, which had interests of most merchants of Mecca; in the scuffle that killed Abu Chahla and other principal chiefs of Mecca. Claimed, however, strong ransom for the prisoners, but Muhammad (SAW) forgave those who could not satisfy them. The official story events rise to the level of victorious battles.

The military successes of believers eventually cancelled the trade of Mecca, and Muhammad (SAW) accepted their leaders to safeguard their business interests. Bedouin tribes were subjected to a doctrine also coincided with the customs they practiced. Muhammad (SAW) took over Mecca in the year 631; he destroyed the idols and decreed a general amnesty after several battles, subduing the whole of Arabia in 632. The passage of troop’s mass conversions occurred more or less sincere. Muhammad (SAW) had made and dispersed the warring Arab tribes into a united people after his death, would embark on an unprecedented expansion.

That same year, Muhammad (SAW) himself led the pilgrimage to Mecca, which had become an exclusively Muslim rite. March 15, 632, suffering from fevers and severe headaches, died with his face resting on the knees of his young wife Aisha. His father and friend, Abu Bakr would succeed the Prophet to the caliphate.

The Islamic state

The codes developed over the years in Medina would be extended to the revelations of socio-economic and political steps to govern and manage the community of believers and those who, without becoming the new faith, accepted Muhammad (SAW) as leader. Many of the provisions responded to specific situations and overall value that Prophet Muhammad (SAW) considered suitable for the community. Among these rules abound egalitarian and those designed to protect the weak, not merely state equal to all believers and to make the need to care for the needy, but provide concrete solutions to problems.

During the stay in Medina, the emigrants (with this name are known to supporters of Mohammed (SAW) as migrated from Mecca) lacked resources to meet their needs and so was instituted legal alms (zakat). This charity, practical way to level those who have nothing to those who have sufficient assets, became mandatory later in tax and only for Muslims; the unconverted (only accepted as such in areas dominated by the community Christians and Jews) also paid a personal tax and other territorial. Another source of revenue came from the spoils of Islam which reserved the fifth head of the community, which also had the lands conquered by the faithful during the holy war.

Muhammad (SAW) was chosen by the one God, Allah, not to preach a new faith, but to restore: the last of the prophets, the purity of religion given to Abraham, and that Islam is not to be opposed, therefore, neither by Christianity nor by Judaism, but to exceed their criteria. This religious attitude, coupled with the fact that there were powerful clans in Medina Jews (the number of Christians was small), made that Muhammad tried to win over the Jews and to make concessions such as an order was made prayer facing Jerusalem. But his conciliatory plans failed, the Jews were opposed to the community, both religiously and politically, and collaborated with the inhabitants of Mecca. Muhammad (SAW) decided to expel them from Medina, giving up their land to migrants. It was considered that the conquered lands belonged to the leader of the community who could provide them to anyone wishing.

The content of faith is based on belief in Allah as one God, Almighty and eternal God, creator and owner of all things. Belief in Allah is accompanied by a belief in the prophets (of which Muhammad (SAW) is the last), in the Angels, in the sacred books (of which the Qur’an is the last and only necessary), the resurrection and predestination. Those belonging to Islam should make profession of faith, recite the prayers five times a day, pay the legal alms, and meet the pilgrimage to Mecca once in life and perform fasting during the month of Ramadan. Another obligation of the Muslim holy war is not accepted by the jurists, but it is widely used by the civil power based on the expeditions and wars led by Muhammad (SAW) during his stay in Medina.

The character often “local” or “circumstances ” of the revelations contained in the Qur’an was insufficient to regulate the many issues of governance, administration and justice raised the Muslims after Muhammad’s (SAW) death, so the book’s revelations completed sacred, not the religious aspect, but in others, with the Sunnah, or body of traditions relating to the conduct of the Prophet, together, the Qur’an and the Sunnah are the religious law, the organization of social and economic life of Muslims. The acceptance of one or another reading of the Qur’an, or certain accounts of the Sunnah, and how to interpret sssthem are therefore of great importance in the history of Muslims, which religion and politics, in a sense larger the latter, are closely linked, at least during the early centuries of Islam.

Islam The Most Peaceful Religion :

With the names of Islam, Islam or Muslim religion is known monotheistic religion founded by Muhammad. According to tradition, the essential precepts of religion were transmitted through the mediation of an angel, Gabriel, who made successive revelations. These revelations were contained in the Qur’an, the sacred book of Muslims. The teachings of Muhammad, initially spread among the nomads of Arabia in the seventh century, are, at present, one of the major world religions and the basis of Islamic civilization. Islam, as well as a religion, is also a law governing a Muslim’s life, both in terms of their individual religious behavior as in social or political.

The strict Islamic creed is: Allah is one God, creator of the world, all-powerful, which is due obedience and devotion (Islam means submission, and Muslim who submits to God). The true believer follows the dictates of Allah to the unbelievers awaits the Last Judgement and the torments of hell, and the faithful are promised a paradise full of pleasure. As for the belief in one God, Islam is similar to Judaism and Christianity, in fact, Muhammad was inspired by the Bible and joined in their belief in the prophets of the Old Testament. Considers Christ a prophet, and Mohammed, while receiving revelations from God through the archangel Gabriel, as the greatest of them.

Believer’s religious duties (and never add alternatives to faith) are five: the profession of faith (“There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is his prophet”) which is recited in solemn moments, the ritual prayer five times a day, facing Mecca in a state of purification and with a few gestures and default terms, the annual fasting month of Ramadan, which consists in abstaining from consuming food and drink and sex from sunrise to sunset, the legal alms or zakat, religious purification as a means of wealth and contribution to the support of the community and the pilgrimage to Mecca once in life. Participation in the holy war to defend and spread of the faith, not an obligation, but is an act pleasing to Allah, who granted paradise to die in combat, forgiving their faults and sins.

In addition to these duties, Islam establishes other rules of lower rank to be observed by the good Muslim: the prohibition of eating pork or animal blood, or drink wine or other intoxicating liquids, the convenience of practicing charity the poor, respect for life and property of others, the veto of the loan with interest, equity and justice in trade.

In this sense, it must be stressed that the Qur’an governing not only religious and ethical and moral behavior, but also the organization of ordinary life, the land on which accepts some customs of pre-Islamic Arabia. For example, consolidates the patriarchal concept of the family and the role of women is at a lower level to be considered legally as minor, although the Qur’an emphasizes repeatedly the duty to treat women respectfully and grants wives the right to divorce in cases of abuse. Polygamy is permitted without limitation to the number of wives (can not exceed the figure of four), but the concubines is unlimited, so that the individual’s economic means fixing the number of women who can have. In any case, do not forget that Islam was born in a specific environment (that of Arabia in the early seventh century) and that the current assessment of it must take into account this circumstance, under penalty of committing a serious error.

Theology and Ethics

Islam rejects polytheism so overwhelming, and even the possibility of a human being somehow involved in the divinity, God, Allah, is unique and omnipotent. As a primary act of mercy, Allah created the world and man, and endowed each being of its nature and laws that govern their behavior. The result is an orderly and harmonious universe, that order and harmony is the main evidence of the existence and oneness of God. Nature was created in the service of humanity, which can exploit to their advantage. But humanity, in turn, exists to serve God, must build a just social order, guided by ethical principles, and worship God.

The mercy of God is not only manifested in the creation of a nature to serve man, but also in communication with the men through the prophets. Although human beings have the knowledge of good and evil, you need spiritual guidance. The teachings of all prophets come from the same divine source, and therefore the various religions are essentially one, although acquired forms, rituals and different institutions. Prophets are merely human, but to the extent that their teachings are from God, it is not possible to reject some and accept others, there will always be bound by its teachings. The particularity of Muhammad is to be the last messenger of God, hence the disclosure specified in the Qur’an is the last and most perfect, and should be imposed on the above.

God, after creating heaven and earth, created man in the person of Adam, taught him the names of all beings and instructed him to be his vicar on earth. Since the dawn of human history, God’s desired religion was Islam, but as men forgot, God sent prophets to remind them. These prophets were sent also have another mission, to enact a temporary law on religion was grafted immutable. Thus, the history of humanity is understood as the successive shipments of prophets to different peoples. Some were sent to the peoples of Arabia, and others, to the Hebrews. The penultimate of the envoys was Jesus, simple creature, sent only to the children of Israel. Finally, when the fullness of time, Muhammad was sent to the Arabs first and then to all mankind. After he will not be sent any prophet, legislation enacted in the Qur’an is valid until the Day of Resurrection.

The Qur’an censorship as the main defects of human pride and recklessness of their insignificance, selfishness and parochialism. Men live pending the earthly, forget the creator and only turn to him when nature fails them. In their shortsightedness, the men believe not get any charity or helping their peers, knowing that God will reward them with prosperity. The Quran urges the individual to transcend and overcome such defects. This will develop their righteousness, their “care”moral or taqiyya (the more accurate translation is “caution or defense against danger”, although usually translated as “fear of God”) and may examine judiciously, without self-delusion, moral value of shares. The ultimate goal of human behavior has to be the good of humanity and not the pleasures and selfish ambitions.

The world will end on Judgement Day: humanity will be gathered and individuals will be judged by their actions. The “elect ” will go to the Garden (Paradise) and “losers” go to hell, but God is merciful and forgive those who are deserving of it. The Qur’an also recognizes another kind of divine providence, which affects the history of peoples and nations. Just like people, can be corrupted by wealth or pride, and if not reformed will be punished with the destruction or subjugation most virtuous nations.

The precepts of Islam

The importance of the five religious duties of believers above is reflected in the name they are known, “the five pillars of Islam. ” The first is the profession of faith (shahada): “There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is his prophet. ” Should be made public by every Muslim at least once in their life “both verbally and with full consent of heart, ” and is the income of the individual in the community.

The second, the salat, the obligation to pray five times a day: before sunrise, at noon, between three and five in the afternoon, after sunset and before midnight. In such times of day, the muezzin (al-mu’addin, “calling to prayer”) made a public call from a minaret of the mosque. Before the prayer, the devotee should make appropriate ablutions. The prayer made in the direction of the Kaaba, standing starts, then made a genuflection to the following two prostrations, and finally, the faithful feel. In each position recite certain prayers and excerpts from the Qur’an. As the Islamic holy day, Friday prayers are held special community character, preceded by the sermon of the magnet.

The third fundamental precept is to give the zakat or alms. The zakat was originally a tax imposed by Muhammad (and later by Muslim states) to the wealthier members of the community, especially to help the poor, but also used for other humanitarian needs or to finance the jihad or war saint. Only if given the zakat is considered legitimate and purified the properties and wealth of the believer. At present, although the payment is still an obligation has become a voluntary alms on which governments do not intervene.

.
The fourth pillar is fasting or saum that every Muslim must perform during the month of Ramadan must abstain from eating, drinking, smoking and sex from sunrise to sunset, and to avoid sinful thoughts and actions. Those who can afford must also feed at least one poor. Finally, the hajj or pilgrimage to the Kaaba in Mecca, is also an obligation for every Muslim adult who has sufficient property and is not physically disabled. Done during the first ten days of the last month of the lunar year and requires that the faithful are in a state of absolute purity. Pilgrims must give seven times around the Kaaba seven times and running briskly between the two mounds near the sanctuary. Therefore meet the “hajj. ” The “lesser pilgrimage” includes a visit to nearby places of Mina and Arafat and various rituals, such as stoning with seven stones of three points three times evoking Abraham was tempted by the devil.

Society and the Islamic law

In Islam, all areas of life (spiritual, social and political) are an indivisible unity which must be guided by Islamic values. Thus the Islamic concept of society is essentially theocratic society and all that is human must be organized according to the will of God. This ideal also inspired concepts such as Islamic law and Islamic state, and explains the strong emphasis of Islam on social obligations. Fundamental religious duties set out in the five pillars themselves are already clear implications for the life of the community. But the sharia or Islamic law sets the moral standards of the community. In Islamic society, the right covers an area larger than Western culture, and that includes legal as well as moral imperatives. Therefore not all Islamic law can be formulated as the legal standard imposed by the courts and it depends heavily on the conscience.

Islamic law is based on four sources. The first is, of course, the Qur’an, which is, as a second source document, the tradition represented by the Sunna and Hadith. The third source is the ijtihad (“individual opinion responsible “) and with it are resolved problematic issues not addressed in the Qur’an or the Hadith, but the lawyer relies on such sources, by analogical reasoning (qiyaas), reaching a conclusion. Such arguments were already used by Islamic theologians and jurists when, in the conquered countries, faced with the need to harmonize local laws and customs with the Islamic creed. The fourth source is the community consensus (ijma), gradually discarding some opinions and accept others. Since Islam lacks a formal dogmatic authority, is a process that takes a long time.

The Islamic state

Islam gave way to a political institution, the Islamic state, whose bases were defined in a document 622, the first year of the Islamic era or AH: the “constitution of Medina. ” In it, the Prophet regulating the activities of their community, the umma at first reduced and extended in less than a century from India to the Atlantic. In his half tribal, Muhammad introduced a law supreme and true as the best for all men.

The Qur’an contains a distinct political ideology, for the compulsory recognition of a principle of authority and the distinction between righteousness and error. Allah Almighty and unique lieutenants have their power in the world, explicitly named in the Qur’anic text, but not be reached to clarify the way it has to govern the Islamic community after the demise of the Prophet, an aspect that had to be supplemented by subsequent legal and religious development. The hadiths also developed the doctrine of necessity to recognize a sovereign, the caliph or imam of the entire Muslim community, collecting sayings of the Prophet such as “Whoever obeys me, obeys God and whoever disobeys me, disobeys God. Whoever obeys their chief, obeys me, and whoever disobeys him, disobeys me”.

Islamic political order establishes the existence of an ideal community of believers united with their rector, in harmony, something that happened for a short time. Muhammad was both prophet and statesman “, as the title of a popular book by British scholar William Montgomery Watt, Muhammad found in the prophecy, and after his death in 632, his successors improvised a monarchy elective fell in four of their relatives, the “Rightly Guided Caliphs” until in 661 the Umayyad dynasty took power, who in 750 was robbed by the Abbasid dynasty.

Soon fragmented the unity of the Islamic state, because of conflicts that erupted around the question of who should handle it: the Shiites would only accept a direct descendant of Muhammad to perform this function, the Kharijites not require as a condition to do a particular lineage But certain candidate’s personal qualities, and for Islam “orthodox” or Sunni sovereignty could only exercise those belonging to the tribe of Quraish, the Prophet. Several practical conflicts broke the initial unit of the Islamic community, and even co-existed in the tenth century, as if it were a split, three caliphs at once: that of the Abbasids of Baghdad, the Fatimids of Tunisia (later moved to Cairo) and the Umayyads of Cordoba.

The expansion of Islam

The rapid expansion of Islam was due to the situation of internal weaknesses that were the Byzantine and Sassanid empires, exhausted by their continuous fighting, on the other hand, neither given much importance to the Arab expeditions, and when they wanted to respond was too late. We must also take into account the military superiority of the invaders, who enjoyed great mobility by light arms consisting of swords, bows and spears, while their enemies were paralyzed by heavy equipment. Moreover, his mastery of ancient routes allowed them to place camps at strategic locations. Also contributed to its success the leadership of some caliphs who benefited from brilliant military leaders, as well as the religious sentiment of the Arab people (which facilitated the victory over opponents who were weak and disunited) and relative tolerance for the conquered populations.

As an apostle of God, Mohammed was scheduled to succession. He was convinced that he was the link between God and men, and thought the real carrier of its authority was not, in fact, himself, but the community as a whole and the divine law that guided them. This imprecision brought the first problems within the umma after the Prophet’s death, which occurred in 632.

The disappearance of Muhammad was about to destroy the social and political structure had begun to build. The hours that followed his death were the most critical in the history of Islam, because of the rivalry between the members of his family and the aristocracy Quraishi when deciding who should replace him as head of the umma. It was more intimate group of his disciples which resolved the situation, choosing successor to Abu Bakr, father and friend of the Prophet, who received the title of caliph (khalifa rasul Allah), meaning “successor to the messenger of God. ” In this manner, so vague in its functions and so vague in its terms and in the manner of election or appointment, was born the institution of the caliphate.

Abu Bakr (632-634) was recognized as the new head of the community, with the exception of a few Bedouin tribes who started a movement for secession or “apostasy ” (Ridder). Along with Umar (634-644), Uthman (644-656) and Ali (656-661) form a group called Orthodox Caliphs (rasidun), companions of Muhammad and who had personally met the Prophet. Under his government was the first expansion of Islam, especially during the caliphate of Umar, who had an outstanding organizational and military capabilities.

The Orthodox Caliphate

After the death of Muhammad, the main objective was to drive in Saudi, subjecting the rebel tribes, and state, thus the supremacy of Islam, an issue that in less than a year to solve Abu Bakr overcome local resistance and impose the dominance of Islam in most of Arabia, which allowed us to begin the expansion by Syria, Palestine, Mesopotamia, Persia and Egypt.

Following the route once used by the Arabs in their moves to richer lands, the Muslims came to the borders of Palestine, where his victory over the Byzantines at Aynadayn (634) enabled them to conquer all of Syria in a short time (in 635 took Damascus). A new victory at Yarmuk (636) facilitated the occupation of Jerusalem (638), which was considered since then as the second holiest city of Islam, after Mecca. The weakness of the Byzantine Empire and the existence in Palestine and Syrian Arab groups that provided assistance to these gains favoring Muslims.

The Arab armies entered the Upper Mesopotamia, and later came to Armenia, allowing local princes to maintain some autonomy in exchange for payment of taxes. From there made several forays to Ankara today, without being able, for the time being resettled there. In the early eighth century, the Arab advance was stopped in the mountains of Taurus.

The first expeditions against the Sassanid empire Arab tribes took place installed in lower Mesopotamia, in aid of which later came the Arab armies. In AD 633 seized Hira, former capital of lakmíes, and after the decisive battle of Qadisiya (637), took Ctesiphon, the Sassanian capital. In their advance through Mesopotamia called Iraq since then, Muslims do not merely take over existing cities, but also established military bases (amsar) as Basra and Kufa, south of ancient Babylon, from where they began the conquest of western and central Persia.

Fastest was the conquest of Egypt, as the population, mostly Coptic, was under heavy charges by Byzantine rulers led by the Patriarch of Alexandria, whom the emperor Heraclius (610-641) entrusted the resistance Muslims. There, as happened in Syria, their arrival was welcomed. In addition, the Byzantine army could not go to slow the progress of the Muslim army led by Amr ibn al-As, who soon took over the major cities and founded the fortified camp of Fustat (641), home of Old Cairo . This consolidated the Arab domination in Egypt and completed the first phase of Muslim expansion.

The organization of the caliphate

It should not be an easy task organization of the newly created Muslim empire, because there was no regulation in the Qur’an about how they should be treated the conquered peoples, which was used by the example set by Muhammad. The Muslims were interested in keeping in office the people who ruled, because it represented a major source of income because their taxes accounted for valuable contributions to the economic life of the community.

The distribution of the conquered lands was not done uniformly, because it took into account how the surrender had taken place. In Syria and Egypt the situation was respected and allowed owners to keep their land in exchange for the payment of land tax (Jaray), and that surrender was the result of an agreement. Not so in Iraq, where the lands were confiscated for the most part because the resistance was very strong, and the surrender, unconditional. Proceeded similarly in the lands of the Byzantine Empire which had belonged to the state or owners who had fled, which were confiscated and became part of the assets of the Muslim state.

Caliph Umar corresponded to proceed with the organization of the conquered lands and effective reform of the administration of the empire. At first, the war booty was distributed in accordance with the provisions of the Qur’an, so that a fifth was for Allah and his Prophet or the successors thereof, and the rest was distributed among the combatants. But he soon saw the need for regular general administrative system accumulate all income in the treasury and, accordingly, to prepare the list of combatants and to establish the payments and fixed salaries.

The caliphs veiled to maintain order in the newly conquered territories, and therefore deemed of interest to encourage the emigration of Muslims outside Arabia, granting lands for this purpose, thus created a new ownership group that, logically, I would faithful. At the same time military bases were established on the edge of the desert, they served, in turn, shopping. In this way it was proceeding in the distribution and occupation of conquered lands. The extension of the Muslim empire was necessary to create specific positions that deal directly with the government of the provinces, however, in some places, like Egypt, the Byzantine administration was respected and officials remained in their posts.

Thus, by the principles established by Muhammad and the institutions and traditions of peoples dominated, it was organizing the Muslim state, especially during the reign of Umar. With an extraordinary political wisdom, a tenacious energy and a strong, concerned, above all, to serve the interests of Islam, the Caliph was the real organizer of the Muslim state, promoted the conquest, created new towns, made donations territorial administration initiated, organized the army, strengthened the central authority and promoted many initiatives through which Islam began to change in a society governed by the order and hierarchy.

However, his death began to appear the first signs of division within the Muslim community. His successor, Uthman, belonging to the clan of the Umayyads (members of the tribe of Quraish, and the aristocracy of Mecca), was more interested in encouraging members of his family to attend to the welfare of Muslims, which caused numerous revolts. This was coupled with the discontent of the population by the gains have slowed andunable to to obtain the rich spoils of the past ,increased discomfort because when Uthman came to power ,Saudi experiencing a severe financial crisis and had major financial difficulties.

However, it is noteworthy that during his administration continued progress in North Africa, conquered Khurasan and major maritime expeditions were conducted, which resulted in the conquest of Cyprus (649) and other islands of the eastern Mediterranean, putting end to the Byzantine hegemony in the area. His assassination in 656, created a huge discontent among the Umayyads, who tried to avenge his death, beginning a period of strife that ended up dividing the Muslim community.

The end of the Orthodox Caliphate

At the stage of confusion that followed the death of Uthman, the people of Medina named Caliph Ali, cousin and son of the Prophet (he had married his daughter Fatima), of dubious qualities as a statesman. There was no agreement in the election, and the Meccans disagreed by this designation, as they wished to be elected a member of the Umayyad family.

Ali had to face opposition from the followers of the late caliph, clustered around the Umayyad Muawiya, governor of Syria and cousin of Uthman, as supporters of Aisha, Muhammad’s widow, who could not accept that Ali (who already had faced in the past) had benefited from a crime. The first clash occurred near Kufa in 656, and is known as the “Battle of the Camel, Aisha riding animal and around which they fought, this meeting marks the beginning of the clashes between members of the Muslim community. The triumph of Ali solidified his power, but only in Iraq, since neither Amr ibn al-As in Egypt, nor Muawiya in Syria recognized his authority.

In 657 there was another clash between Muslims in the plain of Siffin, along the Euphrates, the site of one of the most celebrated events in the history of Islam: when Muawiya was on the verge of defeat, Amr, his ally, had the idea of putting the Qur’an leaves at the tip of the spear as a symbol of Allah’s appeal to trial, thereby avoiding defeat, we all laid down their arms. Some followers of Ali disagreed by this attitude and wanted to return to the fight, but to the caliph’s refusal to resume the fight left him and retired. Muslim history gave this group the name of Kharijites, “those who go” I fought Ali, and was assassinated by one of them in 661.

The caliphate of Ali was a complete failure because the drive was lost in the Muslim world, which, to his death, was split into three groups: the Kharijites, Shiites and Sunnis, who disagreed as to the source of the legitimacy of power. The Kharijites held that any Muslim could enter the pious caliphate. Shiites (members of the “party of Ali,” Ali xi’at) considered illegitimate both Muawiya as the previous caliphs, since argued that the succession to the caliphate was legitimate only inbred line were grouped around the wife Ali, Fatima, and his sons Hasan and Husayn. Sunnis accepted the authority of Muawiya, and believed that the caliphate is not transmitted by direct blood line, but that should exercise tribesmen of the Prophet.

With Ali’s death ended the theocratic regime which was based on the Qur’an and, as a model, the behavior of the Prophet. Since then, it was necessary to resort to pious traditionalist scholars exegetes or to clarify or fill gaps in the requirements of the Qur’an or the Sunna (the collection of sayings and deeds attributed to Muhammad). Expansion of the empire itself, the evolution of society and the development of the economy would force successive caliphs to adapt the state structures to the current problems.

The Umayyad Caliphate

Although Hasan, son of Ali, was recognized as successor to his father, renounced his rights in favor of Muawiya (661-680). This meant the establishment of the Umayyad dynasty at the head of the Muslim community, whose destiny was to lead for a period of nearly a century, and the triumph of the aristocracy Quraishi on the companions of Muhammad. The first goal of Muawiya was to lay the foundations of a dynasty rooted in Syria, where he had settled at an early stage of the conquest, and try to consolidate and strengthen the authority of the Caliphate in a time-simmering civil war began to demonstrate separatist movements.

Muawiya printed a new direction to the caliphate, giving priority to government centralization, with the aim that all power should cede to the caliph. Pre-Islamic habits promoted by surrounding a consultative body of nobles or sura, which also involved delegations from Arab tribes who gave their approval to the decision of the caliph. Introduced, also, the principle of superiority of the caliph autocratic, theocratic state against the legacy of Muhammad and maintained by the first two caliphs, and secured the dynastic procedure, imposing the inheritance, to designate successor in life for her son, as they had Byzantine fact, a decision ratified by the sura. Through this consultation, the Muslim community recognized the authority of the person elected and pledged to obey.

In the central government organization and administration of the provinces was inspired by models of ancient Byzantine administration, who knew by the time he was governor of Syria, and moved the capital of the new dynasty in Damascus, leaving Medina and Mecca and political centers, a fact which caused deep unease among some groups of Muslims.

With his ability and his personal prestige, Muawiya was able to overcome the difficulties and internal problems and keep peace in the vast empire he ruled. During his tenure and that of his successor Abd al-Malik (685-705) and al-Walid (705-715) continued the Muslim advance in three directions: Constantinople and Asia Minor, North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula and Central Asia. In Asia Minor continued wars of conquest against the Byzantines, but in this area Arab armies found an insurmountable obstacle: the mountains of Taurus, so the territories around them were the subject of ongoing dispute between Muslims and Byzantines . Moreover, the Arabs besieged Constantinople several times, both by land and by sea (668-669, 674-680, 716-718), but the Byzantine capital strenuously resisted their attacks.

After the conquest of Egypt, the Arabs continued their offensive in North Africa. Among his accomplishments include the founding, in 670, a camp in al-Qayrawan (Kairouan), which protected the route to Egypt and served as a basis for coping with the Berber tribes of the west of Tunisia (Tunisia), making Carthage (698), the subjugation of the tribes of central and western North Africa, and the conquest of the Iberian Peninsula (711-715).

In the East, the Muslim armies took Afghanistan (698-700) and Transoxiana (from 650), putting a lot of interest in Islamize the conquered territories. Such was the case of Bukhara and Samarkand (won in the 709 and 712, respectively), which became two great centers of Muslim Central Asia. Shortly after the Chinese invaded Turkestan and entered India in 711.

During the ninety-year rule of the Umayyad dynasty, the Muslim empire reached the extreme limits of its expansion, stretching from India to the Iberian Peninsula. But despite their efforts, the numerous riots that occurred inside the Umayyad weakened so that they were unable to stop the push Abbasid. The year 750 marked the end of the Umayyad dynasty in the East, as only one of its members, Prince Abd al-Rahman, escaped the massacre of the Abbasids, was he who, in 756, established the Umayyad dynasty in al-Andalus. The Abbasid Caliphate

With the advent of the Abbasids (descendants of al-Abbas, uncle of the Prophet) Islam underwent a further transformation. First, the civil war between two dynasties hurt for a short space of time the unity of the empire. Second, the fighting showed the decay of a type of government that had proved powerless to curb the adverse movements (Kharijites, Shia). Third, steps were needed to calm down the social and economic discontent reigned among muwallad, non-Arabs who converted to Islam.

This new Arab dynasty guided the destinies of the Muslim empire from 750 to 1258, the year in which the Mongols took the city of Baghdad, but effectively, the Abbasid empire lasted only until the late ninth century, when they began to fragment their domains. One of the first changes that took place was the transfer of the seat of government to Iraq, where in 762 the caliph al-Mansur (754-775) founded Baghdad, the new capital. Stated aim was to consolidate his power in a turbulent area and meet Iraqis and Iranians, forgotten by the Umayyads. However, the distance of the capital on the western Muslim favor independence movements in the latter area.

The Abbasid caliphs showed a very different attitude to that of the Umayyads. These were leaders of the tribe and community, and Arab kings whose power rested with the military. Abbasid period historians criticized the Umayyads to have broken the organization proposed by the caliphs rasidun to set in place a secular kingdom. For its part, the Abbasids gave preference to religious prestige: the caliph was the Imam, the spiritual and temporal leader, an absolute sovereign, whose power was governed by Islamic law, even more, was the “representative of God on Earth And not only the successor of the Prophet. This idea magnified them and took them away from their subjects, with those who rarely had contact, as normally confined lived in luxurious palaces. His power is also reflected in the temporal area, where he held all authority. Few were the caliphs who ruled personally, because, like the Persian administration, tended to delegate the affairs of state in a vizier, whose power was great. This office became hereditary, so it came true dynasties of viziers, and the Iranian family of Barmaki.

Management principles were not changed in a special way. The administrative offices (diwan), very refined, were true ministries. It became, however, the form of government because it was felt the influence of staff recruited from muwallad Iranians as Arabs, although they were excluded from power, it occupied the most important positions of administration. Moreover, the army had lost its function of conquest, and at that time was to ensure maintain and enforce the law within the empire, whose members were recruited first among jurasaníes, and since the ninth century, among the Turks.

The breakup of the Abbasid Caliphate

Among the Abbasid caliphs Harun deserve special mention al-Rashid (786-809) and al-Mamun (813-833). With al-Rashid the caliphate experienced one of its moments of splendor, this character was known in the West for its interaction with the Byzantine Empress Irene and Charlemagne. However, it was he who began the dismemberment of the caliphate, to give Aghlabide ibn Ibrahim, governor of Tunisia, a range very close to independence.

Meanwhile, in al-Andalus had been an independent Umayyad Emirate, and Morocco had been several local authorities: the dynasty of Tahert Rustemi (776-911, founded by Ibn Rustum Kharijite) and the Idrisid (788 – 974, founded by the Shiite Idris I). However, in the early ninth century, the Abbasid Empire was the largest political and economic power of the moment. During the government of al-Mamun, Abbasid civilization reached its height, Baghdad became a cultural center, from which emerged the social and cultural norms followed in other Muslim countries.

During the second half of the ninth century began the decline of the Abbasid empire, motivated largely by the economic crisis and the proliferation of secessionist movements. In its expansion, Islam had brought together a group of very diverse peoples and races together, these differences fell apart within a few centuries the ties that bound them to the only government so far refused, the Muslim community. There were various reasons which prompted secessionist movements: the distance of the metropolis, the isolation of certain areas, the idea of race and, especially, the desire for enrichment through weapons. Thus, in the middle of the tenth century there were already three caliphs in the Muslim world: the Abbasid in Baghdad, Cordoba and the Umayyad in Fatimid Cairo.

The Holy Qur’an :

Organssos here takes an attempt to deal with the Qur’an, real facts about it, and no fabrication except what is simply true.

The Quran, revealed through the angel Gabriel from God to Muhammad in a verbal form, is said as well as proved to be the only Divine Book which has not been changed since it was revealed. It is the only book that firmly says that the only religion prescribed and accepted by God is Islam. Unlike the Qur’an, no other scripture is so pure or so firm as mentioned about the Qur’an and not even seen to have mentioned the name of the religion prescribed. It took over a period of approximately twenty-three years to reveal the Qur’an from 610 AD till 632 AD, the year of the death of the prophet. As soon as any verses were revealed, the followers would memorize, recite and write them down by Muhammad’s direction. Now, it is the most widely read scripture of all.

Muhammad preached the texts received by revelation, reciting and making them recite by the faithful followers who sometimes memorized them. They used media of all kinds: palm leaves, fragments of bone, animal skins, blades of camels, ostraca or any other similar object to write. Belonging to a culture of oral tradition, it would be difficult for the faithful to the new religion memorize short texts; if rhymed and rhythmic, no doubt would be stored in memory easily.

On the death of Muhammad, Muslims began to gather in manuscripts all existing Qur’anic texts, the object of debate that were allayed by the initiative of Caliph Uthman (644-656) to make an official language. The characteristic consonantal text, however, did not eliminate the possibility of a different “Reading” (qiraat), whose variants (not transcendental) are compatible with the consonantal text of Uthman, and take the form of divergences in punctuation and vocalization. The consonantal text was revised at the time of the Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik (685-705), and pointed with vowels and auxiliary graphic signs, possibly during the eighth century, as Malik, the famous Alfaqui of Medina (d. 795 ). Such signs were allowed only on the copies used for teaching.

The Qur’anic text is divided into 114 chapters or suras, which, in turn, are composed of verses or al-ayah. Each sura has a title, more or less allusive, the first is the Fatiha or “opening” brief prayer, often recited, with only seven verses: “In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful Praise be to God, lord of the universe, the compassionate, the merciful, master of the Day of Judgment. We pray to you and ask for help. Lead us to the straight path, the path of those whom you have given your grace, not those who incurred your anger or of those who err. This is the initial sura and the remaining 113 are arranged from highest to lowest length: thus, the second sura (entitled ” al-Bakara”) has 286 verses, some large, and the last sura (“Naas”) has only six short verses.

The title that tops each of the suras is taken either one of the topics covered in it or a word or phrase contained therein. “In the name of God, the Compassionate and Merciful”) is a formula of invocation that starts all suras except one. At the beginning of some suras appear fawatih (“initial”) or -al-muqatta’at Horof (“letters cut”), of which no exact meaning is known. Some researchers, like Loth, consider that they are abbreviated divine appellations, while others, like Nöldeke, Hirschfield and Buhlcreen believe that this is the first or last letter of the name of the companions of the prophet. Others, like Zaki Mubarak, say that these may be musical notations. These letters have also been interpreted from perspectives that attempt to justify and prove the miraculous nature of the Qur’an, as is the case of Baydawi, a Muslim scholar.

Being placed the 114 chapters of the Quran according to their length, the book is not in material thematic order, so that the references on a single issue or aspect are often found among various suras and verses, and has, if used at all, to gauge the overall Qur’anic doctrine about it. The texts of the Qur’an are not arranged chronologically, following the time course of the Prophet’s life that were happening in the revelations, with their successive visits to Mecca and Medina. From early periods, proposals were made for chronological classification of the various suras, especially by the interest to distinguish ancient texts from the later, because sometimes there are disagreements between them, and the contents of an old favorite can be changed by another revealed later. This led to the technical process of setting texts by others later abrogated.

Suras or chapters are usually grouped into five periods. In the first Meccan period, which covers forty suras, there is a clear presence of rhyme and rhythm. In this period the presence of God makes man disappear. God does not intend to give a code of practice but to restore a cult. People are encouraged to admire the created things as signs of God’s power recall the punishments given to other people of the past who did not listen to their prophets. Judgment Day appears as the last argument. The second period, with 21 suras, begins to swear on the Qur’an rather than on the sun, moon, sky and other natural entities, and develops the history of ancient Hebrew prophets. From this second period begins the Jewish influences which came in a direct way. In the third period, with 21 suras, the argument is directed to the generation that calls miracles to believe, without being able to see that they are everywhere.

The texts revealed in the fourth quarter, the period considered as Madani with 24 suras, differ greatly from the texts of the Meccan period. Muhammad is here a statesman who leads a group of believers. The function is now teaching and not convincing. The style loses and becomes diffuse light over very long verses. Finally, the suras 2, 4, and 5 are primarily concerned with organizing the new society and much of its history. It is a part with a distinct Hebrew. Both in content as in form, the Qur’an, while the word of God, is considered perfect. His text is also appreciated aesthetically, a fact reflected in the art of its recitation, with its diverse and melodic interpretations that can catch the audience and the art of calligraphy, also estimable. It is a sublime piece of literature came to establish among Muslims the dogma of His inimitability. The style of Qur’an is miraculously beautiful and impossible to imitate; any translation of the Qur’an into another language can only distort the text.

After long discussions, most Muslim theologians ended up accepting the translations were legitimate as long as they allowed approaching the “ideas” of the Qur’an. The Quran is thus surrounded, in substance and in form of a halo of respect, enthusiasm and extraordinary dedication, always present in the entire life of a Muslim, which seeks to preserve, centering on the ideals and experiences, and using reading as much on a daily basis on solemn occasions. The Qur’an brings together and marks a major Islamic civilization as a major axis thereof.

The Islamic creed:

The Qur’an defines the beliefs of Islam and expresses its essential rules, being the main basis for the regulation of the life of the believer. The Islamic faith is centered on belief in Allah, only God, “no partner”, powerful, wise, compassionate, creative, rewarding in the afterlife and the Judgment Day with the resurrection of the dead. These beliefs are those that are primarily contained and detailed in the suras of Mecca, while at the Medina period are generally more content policy, directed to the community ruled by the Prophet.

The Qur’an reminds man its smallness compared to the wonders of nature, the work of God, whose greatness and magnanimity should be recognized and adored. The message, in essence, is that there is one God, creator of all things, which is the only one to be used to practice a religion and observing correct behavior. God, ever merciful, Has led humanity to revere Him through many prophets who were sent to preach His message and who have been rejected repeatedly. The Qur’an confirms in several passages the existence of angels, demons and spirits. Along with this, the Qur’an contains a set of precepts and moral and ethical recommendations, warnings about the arrival of the last day of doom stories about prophets before Muhammad and the people who were sent, and provisions relating to religion and other social issues such as marriage, divorce or inheritance.

The overall themes of the Qur’an and many illustrative stories share elements and content with the Christian scriptures (like the Legend of the Seven Sleepers) and beans although they are often developed differently. Numerous details of the stories about the early prophets who are more similar to versions found in the Jewish and Christian apocryphal to the versions found in the Bible. The Qur’an itself says it has confirmed the contribution of the Scriptures mentioned above and the Torah, the Psalms and the Gospel, as well also refers to a “Leaves of Abraham.” Qur’anic monotheism is in the same tradition as that of Judaism, and large numbers of images and expressions can be found in the Qur’an and the Biblical tradition. Comparison between the Qur’an and the Bible shows that the former is more authentic and in fact the most authentic of all though the contemporaries of early Islam regarded it as a sect derived from the trunk of the Bible.

In general, the Qur’an is in the context of the Bedouins, but also of merchants, sailors and fishermen, and not missing, despite the sober and concise style of the Qur’an, references to caravan’s winter and summer that the caravan of Mecca led to Aden or Syria. The Arab atmosphere itself can be identified in areas such as the existence of mysterious beings called jinn or the exaltation of generosity, courage and family solidarity. They are also characteristics of the high esteem Arabs who profess to Arabic eloquence and style. Rites such as the hajj and seven times around the Kaaba belie likewise proper Arabic appearance, given the particular interest that the stones and the number seven are in the Semitic religions.

Bans on sacred lands and the animals that live in them are also aspects preserved in the Quran, purifying the elements incompatible with monotheism. Also from the Arab tradition the sacred months during which hostilities were not allowed, and the oldest fragments of the Qur’an in which they appear tickets of short sentences always finished in the same syllable, probably a kind of Arabic style oracles which resulted in Muhammad’s opponents who accused him of magician or soothsayer.

Except for the case of jihad, the Qur’an leaves men as part of their daily life, requiring only doing good wherever they are located, not to commit excesses, using a measured property that God gives, and to be able to let go of their selfishness to help the poor or the community. For Muslims the Qur’an, while word of God as revealed to Prophet Muhammad to serve as a guide to all humans, is the ultimate source of any rule of law. The legal rules in the Qur’an are about two hundred and exposed in various verses. Four theological and legal schools (Hanafi, Maliki, Hambali and Shafí) would lead during the seventh and eighth centuries the Islamic legal system. One characteristic of the Qur’an which is reflected in all the rules of Islamic legal system is the oneness of religion, morality and law. The religious and moral precepts and even certain social practices are the same standard with the same binding effect. It is difficult, therefore, to separate one from another.

Qur’an exegesis

The Qur’an is accepted among the Muslims as the literal word of God, and that is the center around which revolves the Islamic world. Its value is comparable to that of the Jews (the Torah) or the figure of Jesus for Christians. Among the religious obligations of every good Muslim is included, along with the obligatory daily prayer, reciting the whole passages of the Qur’an. Muslims consider the Qur’an as one of the main sources of Islamic culture, near the Hadith (a tradition that reflects the behavior and practices of the Prophet) and, for the Shiites, the teachings of the magnets.

There are passages in the Qur’an complex and divergent in interpretation which can be seen even in Sura III, verse 7: “He [Allah] it is who hath revealed the Scripture”. Some of its verses are unequivocal and are of the Book: others are equivocal. Those of hearts are perversity that follow the equivocal, in a spirit of discord and want to give their own interpretation. But, no one except God knows its interpretation. “The importance of the setting and the correct understanding of the Qur’anic text was the “science of the Qur’an” as a key area of Islamic culture, developing, among other things, the discipline of interpretation, from the grammatical and lexical bases to the dogmatic and legal . Numerous reviews of the Qur’an, all the trends produced from orthodox or Sunni (with its various schools), Shias and Kharijites, the projections take Sufi allegorical exegesis. These works of commentary and interpretation (tafsir) can be small or encompass many volumes, such as al-Tabari, which includes thirty volumes.

Although some believers feel that the Qur’an sums up Islam and it can not be out of this sacred text, the truth is that the complex reality of the Islamic world extends beyond its pages. Nor is it possible to assert, without distorting the reality that the Quran represents the true Islam without taking into consideration the numerous additions and glosses made on the sidelines, deemed as corrupt by the most orthodox, and are contained between the traditional Islamic teachings. It is not possible to understand the Quran without taking into account the exegetical tradition and interpretation that has developed around it. This tradition meets and helps to understand the complex ambiguities of the Quran. It is this tradition, even, that embodies the belief that the Qur’an contains a series of revelations to Muhammad.

The interpretation of the Qur’an (tafsir), field of research within Islam that continues even today from the beginning and at the time of establishment of the text, in time of Uthman, has given birth to numerous books and treatises. The different approaches that have been produced in an attempt to unravel the true meaning of the text led to exegetical treated different in nature and perspective. Thus, al-Tabari (died 923) was based on tradition, al-Baydawi (d 1291) and Nasafi (d 1310) developed a linguistic exegesis, al-Razi (d 1209) developed rational elements. The Hispano Abu Hayyan (d. 1345) also wrote a monumental treatise on the Qur’an exegesis. Al-Talabi (d 1038) analyzed the order in his work on prophets all the verses of the Qur’an that refer to the issue.

The work of al-Tabari analyzes the Quran verse by verse and offers different opinions that gave scholars of the time on the vocals, grammar, lexicography, ethical and moral interpretation, and the relationship of the sacred text to the life of Muhammad. The different points of view are collected without any comment, although in it al-Tabari frequently indicates which of them has their favorite. This exhaustive procedure of al-Tabari has been followed by several further comments, while others have preferred to follow the criteria of simplicity and brevity, choosing to comment only a few verses, or choosing a single subject for study, such as the vocabulary of the Quran, the subject of considerable complexity and difficulty because of a theological implications, as well as the difficulty that is intrinsic proper. In general, the sacred text of Islam is considered in relation to the context of the Prophet’s life, and is granted, based on this premise, universal and timeless.

Interpretations of the Qur’an often reflect differences and different trends occurring within the Muslim community. What is particularly striking is the difference between Shia interpretation of some verses in particular and the Sunni interpretation, because the Shiites are in the Qur’anic verses concerning the special status of Ali ibn Abu Talib and magnets, while the Sunnis are no such references. According to Shiites, the Caliph Uthman removed fragments from the Qur’an referring to Ali and his right to succeed Muhammad in their political and religious duties, a charge that does not seem justified.

Interpretations of the Qur’an often reflect differences and different trends occurring within the Muslim community. It is particularly striking is the difference between Shia interpretation of some verses in particular and the Sunni interpretation, because the Shiites are in the Quranic verses concerning the special status of Ali ibn Abu Talib and magnets, while the Sunnis are no such references. According to Shiites, the Caliph Uthman fragments removed from the Qur’an referring to Ali and his right to succeed Muhammad in their political and religious duties, a charge that does not seem justified.

The nature of God’s word is eternal and uncreated attributed to the Qur’an, against the consideration of it as something created at the time, was one of the most heated topics of discussion on the origins of Islam. This discussion included questions of theology with grave and serious consequences in the political field concerning the relative authority of the caliphs and religious scholars (Ulama). Although consideration has prevailed from the Qur’an as something not made, the Shiites have opposed it. These differences have led to both reformers and fundamentalists interpret the text in a partisan manner, so that it properly conforms to their (often) conflicting views. Within the current interpretation there are some who even claim that the Qur’an is in line with many of the ideas defended by modern science, and even to ensure that in fact predicted. The dark nature favors the Qur’anic text, without doubt, the emergence of such interpretations as diverse, divergent and often contradictory.