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qadiyaniyat se ISLAM tak...Mera Safar

WAQYA_e_KARBALA

What really happened on 10th Muharram in Muslim history?

"The 10th day of Muharram, known as Yawm Al-‘Ashura, is the most significant day of this month.

The Prophet (SAW) said: “Fasting on the Day of ‘Ashura is an expiation of sins for the previous year”. Many events are attributed to this date such as that the Prophet Adam was born and his repentance was accepted on this day, the Prophet Abraham was saved from the Fire, the Prophet Ishmael was delivered from the Sacrifice, the Prophet Joseph was reunited with his father, the Prophet Job was cured of his illness and the Prophet Solomon was ordained as king on this day, but these assertions are not backed by accurate historical evidences

Ibn Abbas relates that when Prophet Muhammad (SAW) came to Madinah, he found the Jews fasting on the Day of ‘Ashura. When asked for the reason of their fasting, they replied that it was the day when Allah Ta‘ala saved the Prophet Moses and the Children of Israel from their enemies. Moses fasted to thank Allah and they fasted in emulation of him. So the Prophet (SAW) said “We have more of a right to Moses than you” and so he ordered the Muslims to fast on that day . This fast was later abrogated with the fast of Ramadan substituted in its place but it was kept as an optional recommended fast. However, in order not to follow the Jews, the Prophet encouraged Muslims by saying: “Observe the fast of ‘Ashura and differ from the Jews by fasting a day before it or after it”.

Martyrdom of Imam Husayn
The Prophet’s younger grandson Husayn was tragically martyred on 10th Muharram 61 AH/ 680 CE. As a result, the Shi‘ites commemorate Husayn’s martyrdom and give prominence to this day.

But it must be remembered that ‘Ashura was given significance by the Prophet himself- hence it is pointless to claim that this day is significant due to Husayn’s martyrdom which happened three decades after the Prophet’s death. However, the heroic martyrdom of Imam Husayn demonstrates to Muslims the need to uphold truth and justice and to fight against tyranny and evil and they should be prepared to give their lives in a similar cause if the need arises. Such situations are all too common in our own times when Muslims are being persecuted for their faith in many parts of the world.''

MUHARRAM

Muharram is the first month of the Islamic calendar. On the first day of Muharram, the Islamic New Year is observed by Muslims. The Islamic calendar is a lunar calendar, and is 11 to 12 days shorter than the solar year. Hence it is a little different from the Gregorian calender that is used in the western nations. When compared with the Gregorian calendar, which is a solar calendar, the lunar month of Muharram shifts from year to year.

The month of Muharram is of great religious significance to Islamic people the world over. It is held to be the most sacred of all the months, excluding Ramadan. The word "Muharram" is often considered synonymous with "Ashura", the tenth day of the Muharram month.

"Ashura" is a highly important day for both sects of Islam - the Shias and the Sunnis. The Shia muslims
believe that Husayn ibn Ali, the grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, became a martyr at the Battle of Karbala on the tenth day of Muharram in 61 AH(680 AD).

The pre-Islamic period in the Arabian peninsula was the era of warring tribes. In the absence of a strong leadership, there were conflicts and battles on minor issues. But fighting was prohibited in four months of the year. These months, of which Muharram was one, were considered sacred. Muharram is so called because it was unlawful to fight during this month; the word is derived from the word ‘haram’ meaning forbidden. This period of inactivity was a necessity in heavily decorated replicas of the tomb of the Imam and his family are made for Muharram the era of warring tribes. The tradition was maintained even after the advent of Islam, though provisions to accommodate and accept war in special situations, like a threat to the sovereignty of an empire, were introduced. The gory battle of Karbala was fought against this law and tradition of Islam. The inhabitants on the banks of rivers Euphrates and Tigris were traditional rivals. Their animosity was contained to some extent by Muhammad. But when his son-in-law Hazrat Ali was the Caliph(Muslim civil and religious leader considered to be Allah's representative on earth), the old enmity re-surfaced. Hazrat Ali had two descendants, Hazrat Imam Hussain and Hazrat Imam Hassan. Hussain was the ruler of the part of the empire known today as Iran. The other part in modern Iraq was ruled by the Umayyads. Hussain was called upon by the Shiahs of Kufa, a small town in the Umayyad kingdom, to accept their allegiance and claim his place as the leader of the Islamic community. This was against the wishes of the ruler of Kufa, Yazid, who instructed his governor, Ibn-e-Ziad to take appropriate action. Meanwhile, in response to the call of the Shiahs, Hussain accompanied by his family members, headed for Kufa. When they reached Karbala, en route to Kufa, the forces of the governor surrounded them and their 70 men. Hussain, his family and his troops were tortured and killed, and Hussain's head was severed and presented to the king. They received no help from the Shiahs of Kufa.

As this tragic incident happened on the tenth day of Muharram, Shia Muslims consider this a day of sorrow. They commemorate the martyrdom of Hussain as a religious occassion called "Muharram" (named after the month of its observance). The occassion starts on the 1st day of Muharram and lasts for 10 days until 10th of Muharram. As Muharram approaches, they put on black clothes, as black is regarded as a color of mourning. During the entire 10 day period, they keep themselves away from music and all joyous events (e.g. weddings) that can distract them in anyway from the sorrowful remembrance of that day. During each of the first nine days of Muharram, "Majalis" (assemblies) are held where Shia orators vividly depict the incident of the martyrdom of Hazrat Imam Hussain and his party. Mainstream Shia Muslims fast until the evening. On "Ashura", devoted Muslims assemble and go out in large processions. They parade the streets holding banners and carrying models of the mausoleum of Hazrat Imam Hussain and his people, who fell at Karbala. Some Shia sects observe "Ashura" by beating themselves with chains in public, cutting themselves with knives and sharp objects and holding mournful public processions. This is an expression of their grief on the death of their favourite leader Hussain, considered to be the representative of Allah. (But no Shiite scholar affirms any extreme behavior that harms the body and Shia leaders consider such acts as "Haram", or forbidden.) It is a sad occasion and everyone in the procession chants "Ya Hussain", wailing loudly. Generally a white horse is beautifully decorated and included in the procession. It serves to bring back the memory of the empty mount of Hazrat Imam Husain after his martyrdom. Drinking posts are also set up temporarily by the Shia community where water and juices are served to all, free of charge.

While Shia Muslims consider "Muharram" to be a sorrowful occassion, Sunni Muslims observe it as a festival and look at "Ashura" as a happy day though the religious aspect remain intact. Pious Sunnis keep a fast("roja") on "Ashura" as per the "Hadith"(a tradition based on reports of the sayings and activities of Muhammad and his companions) of Prophet Muhammad. According to the "Hadith", the Prophet saw the Jews fasting on the 10th of Muharram to commemorate their liberation from Egyptian slavery and the extermination of the army of the Pharoah in the Water of the Red Sea. Prophet Mohammed liked the custom for he believed that it was Allah who saved the Israelites from their enemy in Egypt. He started to fast on the same day as the Jews but he planned to fast on the 9th and 10th from the following year. But death came in between him and his pious wish. Usually, Sunni Muslims are recommended to fast either on the 9th and 10th of Muharram or on the 10th and 11th of Muharram.

History of Hajj (Part:1)

History of Hajj (Part:2)

History of Hajj (Part:3)

Spread of Islam

Spread of Islam:

The Spread of Islam started shortly after the death of the Islamc prophet of Muhammad in 632. Trade networks connected many regions which helped the spread of Islam. During his lifetime, the community of Muslims, the ummah, was established in the Arabic Peninsula by means of conversion to Islam. In the first centuries conversion of islam followed the rapid growth of the Muslim World under the Rashidam and Umayyad caliph.
Muslim dynasties were soon established and subsequent empires such as those of the Abbasids, Almoravids, Seljuk, Mughals in India and Safavid in Persian and Ottomans were among the largest and most powerful in the world. The Islamic world was composed of numerous sophisticated centers of culture and science with far-reaching mercantile networks, travelers, scientists, astronomers, mathematicians, doctors and philosophers, all of whom contributed to the Golden age of Islam.
The activities of this quasi-political early ummah resulted in the spread of Islam as far from Mecca as China and Indonesia, the latter containing the world's largest Muslim population. Today there are between 1.1 billion and 1.8 billion Muslims, making Islam the second largest religion in world.

Note on historiography

Although Islamic history has been studied extensively, the early years of expansions and their nature has remained a poorly studied field in relation to its social, historical, affective or psychological aspects according to some historians. The conceptualization is dominated by two stereotypes; the first popularized and captured by Gibbon in the Diclin and Fall of the Roman Empire is of a fanatical Arab horseman riding forth from the desert with a sward in one hand and the Quran in the other offering victims a choice between one of the two, however such "old notions of forced conversion have been abandoned, at least in scholarly literature." The other image is one of an interfaith, interracial utopia where different races and peoples lived together in harmony. This has also been discredited for more shaded and complex views, such as an acculturation of Arab-Islamic social norms and language, or a process of dialog between the monotheistic Arab during the Muslim conquests with other faith traditions.

Conversion:

Increasing conversion of Islam paralleled the rapid growth of the Arab Empire in the first centuries after the Islamic prophet Muhammad's death. Muslim dynasties were soon established in North Africa, West Africa, throughout the Middle East and in Iran. Non-Muslims were not excluded from the economic elite during the caliphate; but non-Muslims were subject to some restrictions on participation in political life.

Phase I: The Early Caliphs and Umayyads(610-750):

This was the time of the life of Prophet Muhammad and his early successors, the four rightly Guided caliph, as well as the dynasty of the Umayyad Caliphs (661-750).
In the first century the establishment of Islam upon the Arabian Peninsula and the subsequent rapid expansion of the Aram Empire during the Muslim Conquests, resulted in the formation of an empire surpassed by none before. For the subjects of this new empire, formerly subjects of the greatly reduced Byzantine, and obliterated Sassanid, Empires, not much changed in practice. The objective of the conquests was more than anything of a practical nature, as fertile land and water were scarce in the Arabian peninsula. A real Islamization therefore only came about in the subsequent centuries.
Ira Lapidus distinguishes between two separate strands of converts of the time: one is animists and polytheists of tribal societies of the Arabian peninsula and the Fertile Crescent; the other one is the monotheistic populations of the Middle Eastern agrarian and urbanized societies.
For the polytheistic and pagan societies, apart from the religious and spiritual reasons each individual may have had, conversion to Islam "represented the response of a tribal, pastoral population to the need for a larger framework for political and economic integration, a more stable state, and a more imaginative and encompassing moral vision to cope with the problems of a tumultuous society." In contrast, for sedentary and often already monotheistic societies, "Islam was substituted for a Byzantine or Sassanian political identity and for a Christian, Jewish or Zoroastrian religious affiliation." Conversion initially was neither required nor necessarily wished for: "(The Arab conquerors) did not require the conversion as much as the subordination of non-Muslim peoples. At the outset, they were hostile to conversions because new Muslims diluted the economic and status advantages of the Arabs."
Only in subsequent centuries, with the development of the religious doctrine of Islam and with that the understanding of the Muslim ummah, did mass conversion take place. The new understanding by the religious and political leadership in many cases led to a weakening or breakdown of the social and religious structures of parallel religious communities such as Christians and Jews.
The caliphs of the Umayyad dynasty established the first schools inside the empire, called madrasas, which taught the Arabic language and Islamic studies. They furthermore began the ambitious project of building mosques across the empire, many of which remain today as the most magnificent mosques in the Islamic world, such as the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus. At the end of the Umayyad period, less than 10% of the people in Iran, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Tunisia and Spain were Muslim. Only on the Arabian peninsula was the proportion of Muslims among the population even higher than this.

Phase II: The Abbasids (750-1258):

This was the time of the Abbasid Dynasty (750-1258), the second great dynasty with the rulers carrying the title of 'Caliph'.
Expansion ceased and the central disciplines of Islamic philospher, theology, law and mysticism became more widespread and the gradual conversions of the populations within the empire occurred. Significant conversions also occurred beyond the extents of the empire such as that of the Turkic Tribes in Center Asia and peoples living in regions south of the Sahara in Africa through contact with Muslim traders active in the area and Sufi missionaries. In Africa it spread along three routes, across the Sahara via trading towns such as Timbuktu, up the Nile Valley through the Sudan up to Uganda and across the Red Sea and down East Africa through settlements such as Mombasa and Zanziber. These initial conversions were of a flexible nature and only later were the societies forcibly purged of their traditional influences.
The reasons why, by the end of the 10th century CE, a large part of the population had converted to Islam are diverse. One of the reasons may be that

"Islam had become more clearly defined, and the line between Muslims and non-Muslims more sharply drawn. Muslims now lived within an elaborated system of ritual, doctrine and law clearly different from those of non-Muslims. (...) The status of Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians was more precisely defined, and in some ways it was inferior. They were regarded as the 'People of the Book', those who possessed a revealed scripture, or 'People of the Covenant', with whom compacts of protection had been made. In general they were not forced to convert, but they suffered from restrictions. They paid a special tax; they were not supposed to wear certain colors; they could not marry Muslim women;."

It should be pointed out that most of these laws were elaborations of basic laws concerning non-Muslims (dimmis) in the Quran. The Quran does not give much detail about the right conduct with non-Muslims, in principle recognizing the religions of the book and demanding a separate tax for them.
American historian Ira Lapidus points towards "interwoven terms of political and economic benefits and of a sophisticated culture and religion" as appealing to the masses. He writes that :

"The question of why people convert to Islam has always generated intense feeling. Earlier generations of European scholars believed that conversions to Islam were made at the point of the sword, and that conquered peoples were given the choice of conversion or death. It is now apparent that conversion by force, while not unknown in Muslim countries, was, in fact, rare. Muslim conquerors ordinarily wished to dominate rather than convert, and most conversions to Islam were voluntary. (...) In most cases worldly and spiritual motives for conversion blended together. Moreover, conversion to Islam did not necessarily imply a complete turning from an old to a totally new life. While it entailed the acceptance of new religious beliefs and membership in a new religious community, most converts retained a deep attachment to the cultures and communities from which they came."

The result of this, he points out, can be seen in the diversity of Muslim societies today, with varying manifestations and practices of Islam.
Conversion to Islam also came about as a result of the breakdown of historically religiously organized societies: with the weakening of many churches, for example, and the favoring of Islam and the migration of substantial Muslim Turkish populations into the areas of Anatolia and the Balkans, the "social and cultural relevance of Islam" were enhanced and a large number of peoples were converted. This worked better in some areas (Anatolia) and less in others (e.g. the Balkans, where "the spread of Islam was limited by the vitality of the Christian churches.")
Along with the religion of Islam, the Arabic language and Arab customs spread throughout the empire. A sense of unity grew among many though not all provinces, gradually forming the consciousness of a broadly Arab-Islamic population: something which was recognizably an Islamic world had emerged by the end of the 10th century. Throughout this period, as well as in the following centuries, divisions occurred between Persians and Arabs, and Sunnis and Shiites, and unrest in provinces empowered local rulers at times.
Conversion within the Empire: Umayyad Period vs. Abassid Period
There are a number of historians who see the rule of the Umayyads as responsible for setting up the "dhimmah" to increase taxes from the dhimmis to benefit the Arab Muslim community financially and to discourage conversion. Islam was initially associated with the ethnic identity of the Arabs and required formal association with an Arab tribe and the adoption of the client status of mawah. Governors lodged complaints with the caliph when he enacted laws that made conversion easier, depriving the provinces of revenues.
During the following Abbasid period an enfranchisement was experienced by the mawali and a shift was made in the political conception from that of a primarily Arab empire to one of a Muslim empire and c. 930 a law was enacted that required all bureaucrats of the empire to be Muslims. Both periods were also marked by significant migrations of Arab tribes outwards from the Arabian Peninsula into the new territories.
Conversion within the Empire: Conversion Curve
Richard Bullet's "conversion curve" shows a relatively low rate of conversion of non-Arab subjects during the Arab centric Umayyad period of 10%, in contrast with estimates for the more politically multicultural Abbaside period which saw the Muslim population grow from approx. 40% in the mid 9th century to close to 100% by the end of the 11th century.. This theory does not explain the continuing existence of large minorities of Christians in the Abbasid Period. Other estimates suggest that Muslims were not a majority in Egypt until the mid-10th century and in the Fertile Crescent until 1100. Syria may have had a Christian majority within its modern borders until the Mongol Invasions of the 13th century.

Phase III: Dissolution of the Abbasid Empire and its Reconquest by the Ottomans (950-1450):

The expansion of Islam continued in the wake of Turkic conquests of Asia Minor, the Balkans, and the Indian Subcontinets. The earlier period also saw the acceleration in the rate of conversions in the Muslim heartland while in the wake of the conquests the newly conquered regions retained significant non-Muslim populations in contrast to the regions where the boundaries of the Muslim world contracted, such as Sicily and Al_Andlus, where Muslim populations were expelled or forced to Christianiza in short order. The latter period of this phase was marked by the Mongol invension and after an initial period of persecution, the conversion of these conqueror's to Islam.

Phase IV: Ottoman Empire: 13th Century - 1918

The Ottomic Empire defended its frontiers initially against threats from several sides: the Safavid on the Eastern side, the Byzantine Empire in the North which vanished with the fall of Constantinople 1453, and the great Catholic powers from the Mediterranean Sea: Spain, the Holy Roman Empire, and Venice with its eastern Mediterranean colonies.
Later, the Ottoman Empire set on to conquer territories from these rivals: Cyprus and other Greek islands (except Crete) were lost by Venice to the Ottomans, and the latter conquered territory up to the Danube basin as far as Hungary. Crete was conquered during the 17th century, but the Ottomans lost Hungary to the Holy Roman Empire, and other parts of Eastern Europe, ending with the Treaty of Carlowitz (1699).

Phase V: (Post-Ottomans - present)

Islam has continued to spread through commerce, the activities of Sufi missionaries, and migrations; especially in Southeast Asia.

By region:

Arabia:

At Medina, prophet Muhammad is said to have received repeated embassies from Christian tribes. His treatment of the Christian Arabs was distinctly more liberal and courteous than that accorded by him to the calcinated Jews^[]. He looked on the latter as a potentially dangerous political menace, while he regarded the former not only as subjects, but also as friends and allies..

Asia

Soon after the death of prophet Muhammad, all these provinces fell, one after the other, into the hands of the Muslims, who threatened, for a while, the entire extinction of Christianity in Western Asia. Due however to the tolerant attitude of the majority of the Umayyad, and the Abbaside caliphs of Damascus and Bagdad respectively, Christianity in the Muslim empire gradually began to experience a new and unprecedented level of revival and vigour. Nestorian and Jacobite theologians, philosophers, and men of letters soon became the teachers of the conquering Arabs, and the pioneers of Islamo-Arabic science, civilization, and learning. Nestorian physicians became the attending physicians of the court, and the Nestorian patriarch and his numerous bishops were regarded in Asia as second to none in power and authority.
Under the Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphs, Christianity enjoyed, with few exceptions, great freedom and respect throughout all the Muslim Empire, as can be seen from the facts and data collected by Assimani and Bar-Habraeus, according to which many Nestorian and Jacobite patriarchs from the seventh to the eleventh centuries received diplomas, or firmans, of some sort from prophet Muhammad himself, from Umar, Ali, Marwan, Al_Mansoor, Harun _al_Rashid, Abu_Jaf'er, and others. (Shedd, op. cit., 239-241; Assemani, De Catholicis Nestorianis, 41-433 sqq.; Bar-Hebraeus, Chronicon Ecclesiasticum I, 309, 317, 319, 325; II, 465, 625; III, 307, 317, 229, 433, etc.; and Thomas of Marga, op. cit., II, 123, note.)

Greater Syria

Main article: Islamization of Syria

Palestine

Iraq, Persia, and Central Asia

Main article: Islamicization in post conquest Iran

See also: Islamic conquest of Persia, Islamic conquest of Afghanistan, and Khazar Arab Wars

It used to be argued that Zoroastrianism quickly collapsed in the wake of the Islamic conquest of Persia due to its intimate ties to the Sassanid state structure. Now however, more complex processes are considered, in light of the more protracted time frame attributed to the progression of the ancient Persian religion to a minority; a progression that is more contiguous with the trends of the late Antiquity period. These trends are the conversions from the state religion that had already plagued the Zoroastrian authorities that continued after the Arab conquest, coupled with the migration of Arab tribes into the region during an extended period of time that stretched well into the Abbassid reign.
While there were cases such as the Sassanid army division at Hamra, that converted en masse before pivotal battles such as the Battle of Al_Qadsayya, conversion was fastest in the urban area where Arab forces were garissoned slowly leading to Zoroastrianism becoming associated with rurel areas. Still at the end of the Umayyad period, the Muslim community was only a minority in the region.

Turkey

See also: Byzentine Arab-Wars

Indian sub-continent

Main articles: Islam in India and Muslim conquest in indian subcontinents

Islamic influence first came to be felt in the Inian subcontinents during the early 7th century with the advent of Arab traders. Arab traders used to visit the Malabas Region, which was a link between them and the ports of South East Asia to trade even before Islam had been established in Arabia. According to Historians Elliot and Dowson in their book The History Of India as told by its own Historians, the first ship bearing Muslim travelers was seen on the Indian coast as early as 630 AD.
H.G. Rawlinson, in his book: Ancient and Medieval History of India claims the first Arab Muslims settled on the Indian coast in the last part of the 7th century AD. This fact is corroborated, by J. Sturrock in his South Kanara and Madras Districts Manuals, and also by Haridas Bhattacharya in Cultural Heritage of India Vol. IV.The Arab merchants and traders became the carriers of the new religion and they propagated it wherever they went. It was however the subsequent expansion of the Muslim conquest in Indian subcontinents over the next millennia that established Islam in the region.
Considerable controversy exists both in scholarly and public opinion about the conversions to Islam. Some Indian historians, such as K.S,Lal, suggest that some 80 million Hindus could have been killed over the centuries, through the Islamic conquest of the Indian subcontinents. Embedded within this lies the concept of Islam as a foreign imposition and Hinduism being a natural condition of the natives who resisted, resulting the failure of the project to Islamicize the Indian subcontinent and is highly embroiled with the politics of the partition and communalism in India. These are typically represented by the following schools of thought:

That the bulk of Muslims are descendants of migrants from the Iranian pleatu or Arabs.
That Muslims sought conversion through jihad or political violence
A related view is that conversions occurred for non-religious reasons of pragmatism and patronage such as social mobility among the Muslim ruling elite or for relief from taxes
Conversion was a result of the actions of Sufi saints and involved a genuine change of heart
Conversion came from Buddhists and the en masse conversions of lower castes for social liberation and as a rejection of oppressive existent Hindu castes stricturea.
Was a combination, initially made under duress followed by a genuine change of heart
As a socio-cultural process of diffusion and integration over an extended period of time into the sphere of the dominant Muslim civilization and global polity at large.

Southeast Asia

Main articles: The Coming and Spread of islam in Southeast Asia and The Spread of islam in Indonesia(1200-1600)

Islam came to the Southest Asia, first by the way of Muslim traders along the main trade-route between Asia and the Far East, then was further spread by Sufi missionaries and finally consolidated by the expansion of the territories of converted rulers and their communities. The first communities arose in Northern Sumarta (Aeh) and the Malacca's remained a stronghold of Islam from where it was propagated along the trade routes in the region. There is no clear indication of when Islam first came to the region, the first Muslim gravestone markings date to 1082.
When Marco polo visited the area in 1292 he noted that the urban port state of Perlak was Muslim, Chinese sources record the presence of a Muslim delegation to the emperor from the Kingdom of Samudra(pasai) in 1282, other accounts provide instances of Muslim communities present in the Melaye Kingdom for the same time period while others record the presence of Muslim Chinese traders from provinces such as Fujian. The spread of Islam generally followed the trade routes east through the primarily Buddhist region and a half century later in the Malacca's we see the first dynasty arise in the form of the Sultanate of Malacca at the far end of the Archipelago form by the conversion of one Parameshwara Dewa Shah into a Muslim and the adoption of the name Muhammad Iskandar Shah after his marriage to a daughter of the ruler of Pasai.
In 1380 Sufi missionaries carried Islam from here on to Mindanao. Java was the seat of the primary kingdom of the region, the Majapahit Empire, which was ruled by a Hindu dynasty. As commerce grew in the region with the rest of the Muslim world, Islamic influence extended to the court even as the empires political power waned and so by the time Raja Kertawijaya converted in 1475 at the hands of Sufi Sheikh Rahmat, the Sultanate was already of a Muslim character.
Another driving force for the change of the ruling class in the region was the concept among the increasing Muslim communities of the region that only the descendants of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad (Sayyaid) were fit to rule them causing the ruling dynasties to attempt to forge such ties of kinship by marriage. By the time the colonil powers and their missionaries arrived in the 17th century the region up to New Guinea was overwhelmingly Muslim with animist minorities.

Inner Asia and Eastern Europe

Little is known about the timeline of the Islamization of Inner Asia and the Turkic People who lay beyond the bounds of the caliphate. From the the ninth century onwards, the Turks (at least individually, if not yet through adoption by their states) began to convert to Islam. Histories merely note the fact of pre-Mongol Asia's Islamization. The Bulgar of the Volaga are noted to have adopted Islam by the 10th century under Almus, to whom the modern Volga Ttar's trace their Islamic roots. When the Friar William Rubruck visited the encampment of Batu Khan of the Golden Horde, who had recently completed the Mongol invesion of Volga Bulgariya, he noted "I wonder what devil carried the law of Machomet there".
Another contemporary known to have been Muslim, was the Qarakhanid dynasty of the Kara Khanid Khanate which lay much further east. However, the modern day history of the Islamization of the region - or rather a conscious affiliation with Islam - dates to the reign of the ulus of the son of Genghis Khan, Jochi, who founded the Golden Horde. Khazaks, Uzbeks and some Muslim populations of the Russian Fedreation trace their Islamic roots to the Golden Horde and while Berka Khan was the first Mongol monarch to officially adopt Islam and even oppose his kinsman Hulagu Khan in the defense of Jarusalem at the Bettle of Ain Jalut, it was only much later that the change became pivotal and the Mongols converted en masse when a century later Uzbeg Khan converted - reportedly at the hands of the Sufi Saint Baba Tukles.
Some of the Mongolian tribes became Islamized. Following the brutal Mangol invesion of Centrl Asia under Hulagu Khan and after the Battle of Baghdad(1258) Mongol rule extended across the breadth of almost all Muslim lands in Asia,and the caliphate was destroyed and Islam was persecuted by the mongol and replaced by Bhuddism as the official religion of the land. In 1295 however, the new Khan of the Ilkhanate, Ghazan converted to Islam and two decades later the Golden Horde followed suit. The Mongols had been religiously and culturally conquered, this absorption ushered in a new age of Mongol-Islamic synthesis that shaped the further spread of Islam in central Asia and the Indian subcontinents.
In the 1330s the Mongol ruler of the Chagatai Khanate converted to Islam, causing the eastern part of his realm called Mogghulistan to rebel. However during the next three centuries these Bhuddist, Shamanistics and Christins Turkic and Mongol nomads of the Khazak Steppe and Xinjiang would also convert at the hands of competing Sufi Orders from both east and west of the Pamirs. The Naqshbandi's are the most prominent of these orders, especially in Kashgaria where the western Chagatai Khan was also a disciple of the order.

Africa:

North Africa

See also: Umayyad conquest in North Africa, Islamization in Egypt, Islamization in Sudan

In Egypt, the victorious Muslims granted religious freedom to the Christian community in Alexander, for example, and the Alexandrians quickly recalled their exiled Monophysite patriarch to rule over them, subject only to the ultimate political authority of the conquerors. In such a fashion the city persisted as a religious community under an Arab Muslim domination more welcome and more tolerant than that of Byzantium .
Byzantine rule was ended by the Arabs, who invaded Morocco in 682 in the course of their drive to expand the power of Islam. Except for the Jews, the inhabitants of Morocco, both Christian and pagan, 10 years later they accepted the religion of their conquerors. Berber troops were used extensively by the Arabs in their conquest of Spain, which began in 711.
No previous conqueror had tried to assimilate the Berbers, but the Arabs quickly converted them and enlisted their aid in further conquests. Without their help, for example, Andalusia could never have been incorporated into the Islamicate state. At first only Berbers nearer the coast were involved, but by the 11th century Muslim affiliation had begun to spread far into the Sahara.
The Marwanid Magribh illustrates a kind of conversion more like that of the peninsular Arabs. After the defeat of initial Berber resistance movements, the Arab conquerors of the Maghrib quickly incorporated the Berber tribes en masse into the Muslim community, turning them immediately to further conquests. In 710 an Arab–Berber army set out for the Ibreian Peninsula under the leadership of Tariq bin Zayad.

Horn of Africa

See also: Islam in Somaliya, Isalam in Ethoipia

The history of commercial and intellectual contact between the inhabitants of the Somali coast and the Arabian Peninsula may help explain the Somali people's connection with the Prophet Muhammad. Early on, a band of persecuted Muslims had, at the Prophet's urging, fled across the Red Sea into the Horn of Africa. There, the Muslims were granted protection by the Ethiopian negus (king). Islam may thus have been introduced into the Horn of Africa well before the faith even took root in its place of origin.

East Africa

On the east coast of Africa, where Arab mariners had for many years journeyed to trade, Arabs founded permanent colonies on the offshore islands, especially on Zanzibar, in the 9th and 10th century. From there Arab trade routes into the interior of Africa helped the slow acceptance of Islam. In the 20th cent. Islam has gained more converts in Africa than has Christianity, which labors under the burden of identification with European imperialism.

West Africa

The spread of Islam in Africa began in the 7th to 9th century CE, brought to North Africa initially under the Umayyad Dynasty. Extensive trade networks throughout North and West Africa created a medium through which Islam spread peacefully, initially through the merchant class. By sharing a common religion and a common language (Arabic), traders showed greater willingness to trust, and therefore invest, in one another.

Europe

Hispania /Al-Andalus

Balkans

In Balkan history writing the question of conversion to Islam was, and still is, a highly charged political issue. It is intrinsically linked to the issues of formation of national identities and rival territorial claims of the Balkan states. The generally accepted nationalist discourse of the current Balkan historiography defines all forms of Islamization as results of the Ottoman government's centrally organized policy of conversion or dawan. The truth is that islamization in each Balkan country took place in the course of many centuries and its nature and phase was determined not by the Ottoman government but by the specific conditions of each locality. Ottoman conquests were initially military and economic enterprises, and religious conversions were not the their primary objective. True, the statements surrounding victories all celebrated the incorporation of territory into Muslim domains, but the actual Ottoman focus was on taxation and making the realms productive, and a religious campaign would have disrupted that economic objective.
Ottoman Islamic standards of toleration allowed for autonomous "nations" (millets) in the Empire, under their own personal law and under the rule of their own religious leaders. As a result, vast areas of the Balkans remained mostly Christian during the period of Ottoman domination. In fact, the Eastern Orthodox Churches had a higher position in Ottoman Empire, mainly because the Patriarch resided in Istanbul and was an officer of the Ottoman Empire. In contrast, Roman Catholics, while tolerated, were suspected with loyalties to a foreign power (the Papacy). It is no surprise that the Roman Catholic areas of Bosnia, Kosovo and northern Albania, ended up with more substantial conversions to Islam. The defeat of the Ottomans in 1699 by the Austrians resulted in their loss of Hungary and present-day Croatia. The remaining Muslim converts in both elected to leave "lands of unbelief" and moved to territory still under the Ottomans. Around this point in time, new European ideas of romantic nationalism started to seep into the Empire, and provided the intellectual foundation for new nationalistic ideologies and the reinforcement of the self-image of many Christian groups as subjugated peoples.
One by one, the Balkan nationalities asserted their independence from the Empire, and frequently the presence of members of the same ethnicity who had converted to Islam presented a problem from the point of view of the now dominant new national ideology, which narrowly defined the nation as members of the local dominant Orthodox Christian denomination. Thousand of Muslims chose to leave, and in some cases were expelled, to what was left of the Ottoman Empire. This demographic transition can be illustrated by the decrease in the number of Mosques in Belgrade, from over 70 in 1750 (before Serbian independence in 1815), to only three in 1850.
As an example of what most indigenous Muslims endured when the new Christian nation-states emerged in the 19th century, peninsular and Cretan Greeks, who saw themselves as Greek first and spoke the Greek language, eventually were still forced to leave Greece. In the long run, with the exception of Bosnia, Albania, and Kosovo, the vast majority of descendants of Balkan converts to Islam emigrated to Turkey and integrated themselves into Turkish society.

Prophets of Islam

Prophets of Islam:
Muslims regard as prophets of Islam (Arabic: نبي‎) those non-divine humans chosen by Allah (the standard Arabic-language word for "the GOD"). Humans rely on revelation or tradition to identify Prophet.
Each prophet brought the same basic ideas of Islam, including belief in a single God and the avoidance of Idolatry and Sin. Each came to preach Islam and told of the coming of the final law-bearing prophet and messenger of God: Muhammad. Each prophet directed a message to a different group and each prophet taught minor variations in sharia (or the practice of religion) to a different target-audience. These variations constitute applications of Islam: mainstream Muslims do not consider them discrete versions of Islam.
Islamic tradition holds that God sent messengers to every nation. Muslims believe that God sent only Muhammad to convey the divine message to the whole world, whereas he sent other messengers (rusul) to convey their messages to a specific group of people or to an individual nation.
Muslims regard adam as the first prophet and Muhammad as the last prophet; hence Muhammad's title seal of the prophets. Islam regards Jesus as a rasul (and sometimes as a nabi) because he received wahy (revelation) from God, through which God revealed the Injil (Gospel) to him.
Islamic theologic recognises as many as 124,000 prophets. Five of them (sometimes known as Ulul Azmi or the Imams — literally: "leaders" — of the Rasuls) receive the highest reverence for their perseverance and unusually strong commitment to God in the face of great suffering, namely:

Nuh (Noah)
Ibrahim (Abraham)
Musa (Moses)
Isa (Jeasus)
Muhammad

Etymology:

In both Arabic and Hebrew, the term nabī (plural forms: nabiyyūn and anbiyāʾ) means "prophet". These terms occur 75 times in the Quran. The term nubuwwa (meaning "prophethood") occurs five times in the Qur'an. The terms rasūl (plural: rusul) and mursal (plural: mursalūn) denote “messenger” or "apostle" and occur more than 300 times. The term for a prophetic “message”, risāla (plural: risālāt) appears in the Qur'an in ten instances.
The Syriac form of rasūl Allāh (literally: "messenger of God"), s̲h̲eliḥeh d-allāhā, occurs frequently in the apocryphal Acts of St Thomos. The corresponding verb for s̲h̲eliḥeh — s̲h̲alaḥ, occurs in connection with the prophets in the Old Testament (Exode 3:13__14, 4:13; Isaiah6:8; Jereminah 1:7).

Prophets and messengers in the Bible:

The words "prophet" (Arabic: nabi, نبی) and "messenger" (Arabic: rasul, رسول) appear several times in the Old Testament and the New Testament.
The following table shows these words in different religious languages:

Prophet and Messenger in Bible
Arabic	Arabic Pronunciation	English	Greek	Greek pronunciation	Hebrew	Hebrew pronunciation	বাংলা
نبی	Nabi	Prophet	προφήτης	prophētēs	נביא	nâbîy'	নবী
رسول	Rasool	Messenger, Apostle			מסנג 'ר

In the Old Testament the word "prophet" (Hebrew: nabi) occurs more commonly, and the word "messenger" (Hebrew: malak) refers to Angels, But the last book of the Old Testament, the Book of Malachi, speaks of a messenger that some commentators interpret as a reference to the future prophet John the Baptist.
In the New Testament, however, the word "messenger" becomes more frequent, sometimes in association with the concept of a prophet.
"Messenger" can refer to Jesus, to his Apostles and to John the Baptist.
It seems that in the New Testament messengers have a higher rank than prophets: Jesus Christ said about John the Baptist:

But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet. For this is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.

Prophets and messengers in the Qur'an:

The table below charts the Qur'anic verses which explicitly reference a prophet (nabi), a messenger (rasul) , a leader (imam) or Christs (Messi). It also includes explicit references to prophets' book(s) / people / divine law (Qur'an).

Men of Allah in Qur'an
Name	Prophet	Messenger	Imam	Messiah	Book	People	Qur'an
Adem (Adam)
Idris (Enoch)	Prophet
Nuh (Noah)	Prophet	Messenger				People of Noah	Qur'an
Hud (Eber)		Messenger				ʿĀd
Saleh (Salih)		Messenger			Dhikr	Thamud
Ibrahim (Abraham)	Prophet	Messenger	Imam		Suhuf Ibrahim (Scrolls of Abraham)	People of Abraham	Qur'an
Lut (Lot)	Prophe	Messeng				People of Lut
Isma’il (Ishmael)	Prophet	Messenger
Is'haq (Isaac)	Prophet		Imam
Yaqub (Jacob)	Prophet		Imam
Yusuf (Joseph)	Prophet
Ayyub (Job)	Prophet
Shu'ayb (Jethro)		Messenger				Midian
Musa (Moses)	Prophet	Messenger			Scrolls of Moses (Suhuf Mossa)	Pharaoh and his chiefs	Qur'an
Harun (Aaron)	Prophet
Dawud (David)	Prophet				Zabur (Psalms)
Sulayman (Solomon)	Prophet
Ilyas (Elijah)	Prophet	Messenger				People of Elijah
Al-Yasa (Elisha)	Prophet
Yunus (Jonah)	Prophet	Messenger				People of Jonah
Dhul-Kifl (Ezekiel)
Zakariyya (Zechariah)	Prophet
Yahya (John the Baptist)	Prophet
Isa (Jesus)	Prophet	Messenger		Messiah	Injil (Gospel)	Sent to Children of Israel	Qur'an
Muhammad	Prophet	Messenger	Imam		Qur'an	Sign for the Whole World	Qur'an

For Ahl al-Kitab (followers of the Holy Books), see People of the Book

Distinguishing between prophets and messengers

In short, in Islam every messenger is also a prophet, but not every prophet is a messenger. The Qur'an, like the New Testament, ranks a messenger higher than a prophet. For example, whenever both titles appear together, "messenger" comes first. The crucial criterion is that a messenger delivers a new religious law ummah (Sharia) revealed by God, whereas a prophet continues an old one. God sends both prophets and messengers as givers of good news and as admonishers to their people. In the case of messengers, however, it appears that a close relationship exists between them and their people (). A messenger will become the witness that God will take from that community on the Day of Judgment (see the following Sura; Yunas 10:48; An-Nahl 16:38; Al Mu'_Minoon 23:46; Ghafir 40:5; An_Nisa 4:45; Al_Qasas 28:75). According to the Qur'an, God sent Muhammad to all of humanity and to the Djinn.^{[Need quotation on talk to verify]}
Muslims distinguish between celestial and human messengers. In the Qur'anic world, God has made the angels messengers but not prophets. The human messengers, however, also function as prophets — though not every prophet serves as a messenger. Angels always carry "orders" to the human prophets or messengers on what to say, what to do, and so forth. While human messengers deliver some messages about new orders to the people, prophets only reinforce previous orders by earlier messengers or prophets, but since the angels carry orders to prophets to do their duty, then all angels of revelations count as messengers

The status of prophets:

The Qur'anic verse 4:69 lists various virtuous groups of human beings, among whom prophets (including messengers) occupy the highest rank. Verse 4:69 reads

All who obey Allah and the messenger are in the company of those on whom is the Grace of Allah,- of the prophets (who teach), the sincere (lovers of Truth), the witnesses (who testify), and the Righteous (who do good): Ah! what a beautiful fellowship!
—Quran 4:69

Jesus as an apostle:

Qur'an, 4:157-159

That they said (in boast), "We killed Christ Jesus the son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah";- but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but so it was made to appear to them, and those who differ therein are full of doubts, with no (certain) knowledge, but only conjecture to follow, for of a surety they killed him not:- Nay, Allah raised him up unto Himself; and Allah is Exalted in Power, Wise;-
And there is none of the People of the Book but must believe in him before his death; and on the Day of Judgment he will be a witness against them;-

—An_Nisa , Quran 4:157_159.

Miracles:
Islam views Muhammad's greatest miricals as the revelation of the Qur'an to mankind; Muslims regard this as the last in a series of divine revelations, one delivered word by word by the Angel Garbeil. At the time of the revelation of the Qur'an, Arabs who stood at the pinnacle of linguistic and poetic eloquence expressed astonishment at its linguistic perfection. The Qur'an seemed even more miraculous to the Arabians of his time given Muhammad's illiteracy (a very common state in the 7th century, especially in Arabia). Moreover, Muslims believe he had not read or written down any of the previous religious scriptures. Muslims used this situation as an argument and evidence against those who opposed Islam during the Muhammad's day, to testify to the fact that Muhammad couldn't have produced such perfect eloquence as appears in the Qur'an without divine intervention.
The Qur'an has survived in stable form since its compilation of 653/654 (but compare History of Quran). Muslims up until present times have memorized it, making it the most memorized^[] book in human history. Muslims believe that, unlike other miracles performed by other prophets who came before Muhammad, all ages can witness the miracle of the Qur'an. With the revelation of the Qur'an came a revolution in science, literature and philosophy that not only took place in the Islamic empire but worldwide.

Prophets and scriptures

The prophets and Muhammad

Islam views every single prophet from Adam (Arabic: ادم) to Muhammad as important. According to the Qur'an, the prophets 'Isa (Jesus), Musa (Moses), Dawud (David), Ibrahim (Abraham), Saleh (Shelah), and Muhammad had the responsibility of ushering in their own holy scripture, given to them by God. 'Isa received the Injil (Gospel), as expressed in the following verses from the Qur'an:

At length she brought the (babe) to her people, carrying him (in her arms). They said: "O Mary! truly an amazing thing hast thou brought! "O sister of Aaron! Thy father was not a man of evil, nor thy mother a woman
But she pointed to the babe. They said: "How can we talk to one who is a child in the cradle?"
He said: "I am indeed a servant of Allah: He hath given me revelation and made me a prophet;
"And He hath made me blessed wheresoever I be, and hath enjoined on me Prayer and Charity as long as I live;
"(He) hath made me kind to my mother, and not overbearing or miserable;
"So peace is on me the day I was born, the day that I die, and the day that I shall be raised up to life (again)"!
Such (was) Jesus the son of Mary: (it is) a statement of truth, about which they (vainly) dispute.

—Maryam , Quran 19:27__34.

However, Muslims believe that humans have altered the Injil, therefore, it now does not represent the full truth, as given by God.^[] Musa received the Books of Moses, and Ibrahim the Books of Abraham. Dawud is responsible for the Zabur (Psalms). Saleh is responsible for the Dhikr, which is a practice that focuses on the remembrance of God. It often includes the repetition of the names of Allah. On the other hand, Muhammad was given the Qu'ran, which is believed by Muslims to be the purest and truest holy book of God. In Islam, it was believed to have been given to Muhammad through divine revelation by the angel Jibreel (Gabriel). Its purpose was to perfect the beliefs of the one true God, Allah, because of the turning away of the Jews and Christains from the true religion, into dogmas and doctrine.

The scope of the prophetic mission

The purpose of messengers

The following list summarises the purpose of sending Gods messengers:

God sent messengers to every nation to guide them to His path
Messengers warned nations to follow God'ss commands and gave them glad tidings
Messengers gave guidance from Allah, taught knowledge and provided a path to purification
God explained that obedience to Him and to His Messenger will earn Paradise
And those who disobey will earn Hell fire
God said that He will judge people only after receipt of the Message from His Messengers, judging everyone based on their own actions
Thus, those who received His message can not claim ignorance as an excuse

Distinguishing Muhammad from other messengers

Muhammad differs from other messengers in two respects:

God sent all previous messengers to a specific nation in specific regions of the Earth. Their teachings also applied in a limited way for a specific time and period. But God uniquely sent Muhammad to the entirety of creation (mankind and Djinn), intending his message (the Qur'an) to serve until the end of time.
The teachings of previous messengers confined themselves to specific nations and times, thus their laws relating to ethics and moral code, justice, trade, financial deals, and civil law remained incomplete. God through his final messenger, Muhammad, completed the religion and perfected it. It includes all the teachings from previous messengers, and abrogated those portions specific to separate peoples and times.

Most Muslims thus believe that since the days of the prophet the teaching of Muhammad remains as the only trustworthy source to reach the guidance of God, and that the Qur'an contains the true teachings of Moses and Jesus.

Nabi, Naba

The word used in this verse, naba, relates to the word nabi.

Nabi (prophet) means: "one who informs others".
Naba means: "news", "announcement", "information".
Anbiya represents the plural form of nabi.

Anbiya inform others of a coming naba. The Qur'an says that the naba is not the Qur'an itself but that it comes in the future.

Rasul, Mursil

Note that the word rasul relates to the word mursil.

Rasul means: "a messenger", "a bearer of a message".
Mursal(een) also means: "a messenger", "a bearer of a message".
Mursil means: "one who sends", "a sender".
Risalat means: "messages".
Rusul also represents the plural form of rasul.

So a mursil sends a rasul to give risalat. The Qur'an says that risalat of the mursil (Allah) form His kalimat. The Quran says that risalatullah cannot end.

All together

Putting these together, we see that the mursil sent both Jesus and Muhammad (each a rasul) to act as a nabi and to inform of the naba.
The Qur'an itself even states that the messages (risalat) — by definition the kalamat (words) of God — remain inexhaustible. Therefore the naba which the anbiya (plural of nabi) announced must itself precede more risalat (messages).
If or when the naba appeared, no further need exists for any more nabi (who give the news of the naba). What about rusul (messengers) and risalat (messages)? Does the mursil stop sending rusul to give his risalat? The Qur'an says no.
Note that the sender of messages and messengers (mursil) functions as a rasul if he gives the risalat himself. And note that the mursil can send rusul who are not anbiya.

Summary

To summarize, we have four words: nabi, naba, rasul, and mursil.

Some rusul (plural of rasul) rank as anbiya (prophets) if sent (arsala) before the naba.
Some rusul are not anbiya if sent after the naba.
The naba itself is a risalatun.
The Qur'an associates the naba with the mursil.
Risalat cannot be exhausted.
The mursil sends rusul to give risalat even after naba.
Nothing prevents a mursil giving risalat himself (and acting as a rasul).

The reception of the prophets:

.. Like Christanity, [Islam] claimed to be a common heir of the Abrahimic traditions. Unlike Judasims, it taught that much of that tradition had been corrupted by false prophets and evildoers. Like Christianity, it claimed a continuum with the prophets of old; unlike Christianity it made little use of any specific passages of the Hebrew Bible, did not incorporate it into its own sacred library, and did not regard the finality of Muhammad’s prophethood to be based on any adumbration in the books of the Jews or Christians.... Islam alone found error not merely in interpretation but in the sources themselves. The idea of error was both tied to and a consequence of the doctrine of finality: Muhammad is the prophet of God in a conclusive and indubitable sense. What is contained in the book revealed to him is true beyond question.

Table of prophets in the Qur'an:

We did aforetime send messengers before thee: of them there are some whose story We have related to thee, and some whose story We have not related to thee. It was not (possible) for any messenger to bring a sign except by the leave of Allah: but when the Command of Allah issued, the matter was decided in truth and justice, and there perished, there and then those who stood on Falsehoods.
—Ghafir , 40:57

Name (Arabic & Arabic Translit.)	Name (Biblical)	Main Article(s)	Number of times mentioned by name
آدم Adam	Adam	Main articles: Islamic view of Adam, Adam, and Adam and Eva	25
آدم Adam	"Adam, the first human being, ranks as the first prophet of Islam.

إدريس Idris	Enoch	Main articles: Islamic view of Enoch and Enoch(Bible)	2
إدريس Idris	Idris lived during a period of drought inflicted by God to punish the people of the world who had forgotten God. Idris prayed for salvation and for an end to the suffering, and so the world received rain.^[]

نوح Nuh	Noah	Main articles: Islamic view of Noah and Noah	43
نوح Nuh	Although best known for his role in the story of the Deluge, Nuh became a primary preacher of monothesims at his time. Muslims believe his faith in God led to his selection for building the Ark^[].

هود Hud	Eber	Main articles: Hud(prophet) and Eber	7
هود Hud	Muslims believe that only Hud, for whom the elevent chapter of the Qur'an takes its name, and a few other people survived a great storm, similar to the Deluge five generations earlier. God inflicted the storm to punish the people of Ad who had forgotten about God.

صالح Saleh	Shelah	Main article: Saleh	9
صالح Saleh	According to the Qur'an God ordered Saleh to leave behind his people, the tribe of Thamud, after they disbelieved and disobeyed God's order to care for a special camel and instead killed it. In Saleh's and his followers' (believers') absence, God punished the people with an utter cry from the skies that killed his people instantly. Note that Saleh does not equate to the Shelah mentioned in the Old Testament.

إبراهيم Ibrahim	Abraham	Main articles: Islamic view of Abraham and Abraham	69
إبراهيم Ibrahim	Muslims regard Ibrahim as one of the significant prophets, because they credit him with rebuilding the Kaaba in Mecca. His family, including his son Ismael, also receives credit for helping create the civilization around Mecca that would later give birth to the final prophet of Islam, Muhammad. Significantly, Ibrahim almost sacrificed his son Ismail (Ishmael) to God in an event now commemorated annually by Eid_al_Adha. He is also the first prophet to name the believers as Muslims" meaning "those with full submission to God".^[]

لوط Lut	Lot	Main articles: Islamic view of Lot and Lot(Bible)	27
لوط Lut	Muslims know Lut best for attempting to preach against homosexuality in Sodom and Gomorrah, in addition to preaching for his people to believe in the Oneness of God, although his community mocked and ignored him. Islam also denies^[] the acts which the Old Testament attributes to Lut, like drinking and becoming drunk, and having intercourse with and impregnating his two daughters.

إسماعيل Isma'il	Ishmael	Main articles: Islamic view of Ismael and Ismael	12
إسماعيل Isma'il	Muslims regard Ismaïl, first-born son of Ibrahim, as a notable prophet in Islam for his near-sacrifice in adulthood. As a child he and his mother, Hjar (Hagar), searched for water in the region around Mecca, wleading God to reveal the ZamZam Well, which still flows to his day.

إسحاق Is'haq	Isaac	Main articles: Islamic view of Isaac and Isaac	17
إسحاق Is'haq	According to Islamic tradition, Ishaq, the second-born son of Ibrahim, became a prophet in Cannan. He and his brother Ismaïl carried on the legacy of Ibrahim as prophets of Islam.

يعقوب Yaqub	Jacob	Main articles: Islamic view of Jacob and Jacob	16
يعقوب Yaqub	The Qur'an portrays Yaqub as "of the company of the Elect and the Good". He continued the legacy of both his father, Ishaq, and his grandfather, Ibrahim. Like his ancestors, he deliberately worshipped God exclusively.

يوسف Yusuf	Joseph	Main articles: Islamic view of Joseph and Joseph(Bible)	27
يوسف Yusuf	Yusuf, son of Yaqub and great-grandson of Ibrahim became a prominent advisor to the paraoh of Egypt after he interpreted the pharaoh's dream which predicted the economic state of Egypt. He spent a large part of his life away from his eleven brothers, who showed jealousy of Yusuf because their father favored him. They took him out one day, telling their father that they would play and have fun, but they planned to kill him. Instead, they threw him down a well and told their father Yaqub that a wolf had eaten him. According to Islam Yusuf received the gift of half of the beauty granted to mankind.

أيوب Ayyub	Job	Main articles: Islamic iew os Job and Job(Bible)	4
أيوب Ayyub	According to Islamic tradition, Ayyub received the reward of a fountain of youth, which removed all illnesses, except death, for his service to God in his hometown outside Al_Ma. Legend recounts that Ayyub suffered an illness for 18 years as test of patience carried out by God.

شعيب Shu'ayb	Jethro	Main articles: Shoaib and Jethro(Bible)	11
شعيب Shu'ayb	Shu'ayb descended directly from Ibrahim. According to Islam, God appointed him to guide the people of Midian and Aykah, who lived near Mouth sinai. When the people of the region failed to listen to his warnings, God destroyed the disbelievers' villages. Although the Qur'an and the reported speeches of Muhammad mention that Musa married one of Shu'ayb's daughters, the Old Testament tells the same story of a man named Jethro. Some scholars^[who?] regard Jethro in the Old Testament as distinct from Shu'aib in the Qur'an.

موسى Musa	Moses	Main articles: Islamic view of Moses and Moses	136
موسى Musa	Moses, whom the Qur'an refers to more than to any other prophet, had the distinction of revealing the Tawrat (Torah) to the Israelites. The Qur'an says Musa realized his connection with God after receiving commands from him during a stop at Mount Sinai. He later went on to free the enslaved Hebrew after the Egyptian pharaoh denied God's power. Musa subsequently led the freed Hebrews for forty years through the desert after they refused to obey God's command and enter the Holy Land, saying to Moses (as mentioned in the Qur'an, Sura Al Mai'da Quran 5:24, "They said: "O Moses! while they remain there, never shall we be able to enter, to the end of time. Go thou, and thy Lord, and fight ye two, while we sit here (and watch)." " On another trip to Mount Sinai during this long journey, Musa received the Tawrat and the Ten Commandments. At the end of his life, according to Islamic tradition^[], Musa chose to die to become closer to God instead of taking an offer that would have extended his life.

هارون Harūn	Aaron	Main articles: Islamic view of Aaron and Aaron	20
هارون Harūn	Harun (Aaron) served as an assistant to his older brother Musa (Moses). In Islam, he, like Musa, received the task of saving the Israelites from the Egyptian pharaoh. He would often speak for Musa when Musa’s speech-impediment prevented him from doing so himself.

ذو الكفل Dhul-Kifl	most likely Ezekiel	Main articles: Dhul_Kafi and Ezekiel	2
ذو الكفل Dhul-Kifl	The status of Dhul-Kifl as a prophet remains debatable within Islam, although all parties to the debate can agree in seeing him as a righteous man who strived in the way of God. Some studies^[which?] identify Dhul-Kifl with Obadiah, mentioned in the Old Testament as taking care of a hundred prophets: see 1_King 18:4.

داود Dawud	David	Main articles: Islamic view of David and David	16
داود Dawud	In Islam, God revealed the Zabur (Psalms) to Dawud (David). Dawud also has significance as the conqueror of Goliath. Note that Islamic tradition and the Bible differ in their accounts of the story of King David and Uriah. Islam denies acts attributed to King David in the Old Testament like sending Uriah to be killed so that David could marry his wife.

سليمان Sulayman	Solomon	Main articles: Islamic view of Solomon and Solomon	17
سليمان Sulayman	Sulayman (Solomon) learned a significant amount from his father David before God made him a prophet. According to Islamic tradition, Sulayman received power to manipulate nature, including the jinn and the power to communicate with and control animals. Known for his honesty and fairness, he also headed a kingdom that extended into southern Arabia.^[]

إلياس Ilyas	Elijah	Main article: Elijah	2
إلياس Ilyas	Ilyas, a descendant of Harun (Aaron), took over control of the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula after the kingdom of Sulayman (Solomon) collapsed. Islamic tradition says he attempted to convince the people of the peninsula of the existence of only one God, but when the people refused to listen they were smitten^{[by whom?]} with a drought and famine.

اليسع al-Yasa	Elisha	Main articles: al_Yasa and Elisha	2
اليسع al-Yasa	Al-Yasa (Elisha) took over the task of leading the Israelites after the death of Ilyas (Elijah). He attempted to show the king and queen of Israel the power of God, but they dismissed him as a magician. Subsequently, the Assryians could make people burn and inflict significant damage on them.

يونس Yunus	Jonah	Main articles: Islamic view of Jonah and Jonah	4
يونس Yunus	Islamic tradition states that God commanded Yunus (Jonah) to help the people of Nineveh towards righteousness. However, after Nineveh's people refused to listen to God, Yunus became disgruntled and angry with God. After an incident where Yunus escaped death, he decided to re-commit himself to striving for God, attempting to lead the people of Nineveh to righteousness. But after the Ninevites returned to evil, illicit ways, the Scythians conquered them.

زكريا Zakariyya	Zechariah	Main articles: Islamic view of Zichariah and Zichriah(Priest)	7
زكريا Zakariyya	A descendant of Sulayman, Zakariya (Zachariah), became a patron of Marram (Mary) the mother of 'Isa (Jesus). According to the Qur'an, he prayed to God asking for a son, since his sterile wife al-Yashbi (Elizbeth) could not provide one. God granted his wishes, temporarily lifting his wife's sterility and allowing her to give birth to Yahya abn Zakariyya (John).

يحيى Yahya	John the Baptist	Main articles: Yahyaibn Zikariyya and John the Baptist	5
يحيى Yahya	Of Yahya (John), cousin to Isa, Islam says that, throughout his lifetime, he captivated audiences with his powerful sermons that preached Abrahamic monotheism. The Qur'an does not mention baptist.

عيسى Isa	Jesus	Main articles: Jesus in Islam and Jesus	25
عيسى Isa	God sent one of the highest-ranked prophets in Islam, Eisa al-Maseeh, (Jesus the Messiah) to guide the Children of Israel. The Qur'an makes the nature of Jesus very clear, portraying him not as the begotten (physical) son of God, but rather as a nabi and rasul (messenger) of God.^[] 'Isa Performed many Miricals with the permission of God, for example: raising the dead, creating a bird from clay, and talking as an infant. Islamic traditions states that he abstained from drinking alcohol. It also states that he received a revelation, the Injil (Gospel), though according to Islam, it subsequently suffered from distortion. Muslims believe that no crucifixion of 'Isa took place, meaning he did not die on the cross. Muslims believe that God raised Isa up to himself and that Isa will return to Earth to fight the Dajjal (the imposter) and to break the cross. The Qur'an and Saheeh Hadith tell a consistent story. That they said (in boast), "We killed Christ Jesus the son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah";- but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but so it was made to appear to them, and those who differ therein are full of doubts, with no (certain) knowledge, but only conjecture to follow, for of a surety they killed him not:- Nay, Allah raised him up unto Himself; and Allah is Exalted in Power, Wise;- And there is none of the People of the Book but must believe in him before his death; and on the Day of Judgment he will be a witness against them;- —Qur'an , Sura An-Nisa 4:157_159 From Hadith as translated: Narrated Abu _Huraira: Allah's Apostle said, "By Him in Whose Hands my soul is, son of Mary (Jesus) will shortly descend amongst you people (Muslims) as a just ruler and will break the Cross and kill the pig and abolish the Jizya (a tax taken from the non-Muslims, who are in the protection, of the Muslim Government). Then there will be abundance of money and no-body will accept charitable gift —sahih_al_bukhari , Volume 3, Book 34, Number 425

محمد Muhammad	Ahmad أحمد: in the original Gospel and Bible	Main article: Muhammad	5
محمد Muhammad	Habib u'l A'zam, Imam u'l Anbiya Sayyidina Muhammad ibn 'Abdullah, (53 B.H-11 A.H; 571-632 AD) ranks as the last prophet in Islam ("seal of the Prophets"). Muslims shun [[idolatry of any of the prophets, as their messages from God hold the most weight. Muhammad appeared on earth as the son of his father Abdullah ibn ' abd al_Muttalib and of his mother Amina bint Wahb az_ Zuhriyya. Born in Mecca in 571 AD (53 AH), Muhammad spent the first part of his life as a well-travelled merchant. He would often spend his time in the mountains surrounding Mecca in prayer contemplating the situation with the city. At the age of forty, during one of those trips to the mountain, Muhammad began to receive and recite verses from God which today make up the Qur'an. He quickly spread the message he was receiving, converting a few others in the city, including his wife. He is the last (seal) of the prophets with a message to all humanity. When oppression became intolerable for his followers, Muhammad first asked his fellow Muslims to migrate to Madina and later himself migrated to madina away from the oppressors in Mecca. Muhammad served not just as a prophet, but as a militry leader who helped defeat the Meccans in 624 during the Battel of Bdar. He continued to lead the Muslims as Islam spread across the Arabian Peninsula. He performed the first hajj in 629 and established Islam in the form that Muslims still practise it. Others continued Muhammad's legacy after his death in 632, having been given the position of caliph (or successor) to Muhammad. The Five pillers of Islam were established from his Hadiths after Muhammad's death.

Other prophets:

The Qur'an mentions only 25 prophets by named but there might have many other prophets and messengers sent by the God as mentioned in the Qur'an. Many verses in the Quran discuss this:

"We did aforetime send messengers before thee: of them there are some whose story We have related to thee, and some whose story We have not related to thee. ..."
"For We assuredly sent amongst every People a messenger, ..."

Historic narratives^[which?] suggest there existed a prophet named Khalid_bin_Sinan in pre Islamic Arabic.
The Qur'an mentions Al_i_Imran as the father of Maryam. It does not mention Al_Khidr by name, but tradition assumes the reference Sura Al_Kahf 18:66 to relate to him. Ibn_Khatir in his book mentions the Biblical Prophets Danyal (Daniel), Ishaia (Isaiah), Armeya (Jeremiah), and Samuel as prophets.
The Qur'an mentions Luqman in the sura named after him, but does not clearly identify him as a prophet or a wali. The most widespread Islamic belief^[] views Luqman as a wise man, not as a prophet or as a wali. Legend recounts that Luqman had a dream, and in that dream he faced the choice between becoming a King and a wise man, and he chose the second.
Numerous other historical figures may rank as prophets, but debate and contention surround this matter. Such figures include: Zoroaster, Gautama Buddah, Socrates, Merlin, Laozi, Confucius, Krishna, (also mentioned in some books of Hadith) and Rma. However, Muslims will argue that one cannot know this for certain, since the Qur'an does not mentioned them by name. Those in favour of counting such men as prophets often argue that they came with the word of God, but that it later became corrupted, which accounts for the differences between Islam and the various religions and philosophies associated with which each man.

Maryam mother of 'Isa

Main article: Maryam

A few scholars (such as Ibn_Hamz)see Maryam as a nabi and a prophetess, since God sent her a message via an angel. The Qur'an, however, does not explicitly identify her as a prophet. Islamic belief regards her as a holy woman, but not as a prophet. The Qur'an usually refers to 'Isa as 'Isa ibn Maryam (Jesus, son of Mary), the matronymic indicating that Jesus had no father.
The world of Islam sees Maryam as a very holy and important woman. She alone of all the women in all of Islam has a sura attributed to her: Sura Maryam, the ninteenth sura of the Qu'ran.

Ilah
Major prophets in the Bible
Minor prophets in the Bible
Names and title of Jesus in the new testament
Names of GOD
Nevi'im (Prophets in Judaism)
Nabuwwah
Table of prophets of Abrahamic Religions
Tawhid
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