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Muhammad and the Islamic EmpireL

A Lesson LearnedThis is a Muslim story about a boy who learned

an important lesson about patience.

Foundations of Islam

Arabic Language

Five Pillars of Faith

1.

2.

3.4.

5.

Hajj

Dome of the Rock

Ramadan

Muslim Contributions to the World

©World History Studies Weekly — Ancient History

Do you want to travel when you grow

who logged more miles than Marco Polo! Ibn Battuta was born in Tangier, Morocco. Battuta was 21 years old in A.D. 1325 when he went on a pilgrimage—his hajj—to see the holy city of Mecca. He took more than a year to travel the 3,000 miles from his home, something an airplane can do in several hours today. Battuta liked his adventure so much that he decided to spend his life traveling. His goals were to visit all the Islamic countries, called the Abode of Islam, and to never travel the same route twice.

Ibn Battuta traveled down the Red Sea to Makkah. He crossed the Arabian Desert. Battuta visited the present-day countries of Iraq and Iran, as well as what is now the African country of Tanzania. He traveled to India and China. In China, Battuta found

left. During his travels, he got involved in wars, was attacked by robbers, became very ill, dealt with pirates and survived

several shipwrecks. He eventually lost everything he owned and decided to return to his home. On his way, he encountered people dying of a plague (terrible disease) known as the Black Death. He crossed the Sahara Desert before returning to Morocco in A.D. 1354.

After traveling for 29 years and

covering more than 75,000 miles, Battuta had much to tell about his experiences. He wrote a book about his travels, the “Rihla.”

friends months to see all those vacation pictures! Ibn Battuta died when he was 64 years old around the year 1368.

World History

Mecca, the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammed. Muslims consider Mecca the holiest city in the Islamic religion.

shrine, or religious structure. They call the shrine the Kaaba, which is a square building housing a black stone. People also call it the House of God. Muslims believe that Abraham and his son, Ishmael, built the Kaaba. Wherever in the world a Muslim lives, he or she faces the direction

prayers. All Muslims try to visit the Kaaba at some time in their

lives. Muslims call the holy trip that they take to Mecca a hajj, or pilgrimage. Approximately 2 to 3 million people take a hajj to Mecca each year. Muslims forbid anyone not of their faith to enter the city. A famous explorer, Sir Richard Burton, pretended to be an Afghan Muslim and got into the city in 1812. He then wrote a book about Mecca.

today. Blockades have been set up along all roads leading to Mecca, and guards check papers to see if travelers truly are Muslim. Guards who catch a non-Muslim trying to

out of Saudi Arabia. Today, Mecca is known as Makkah or Mekka, because this spelling is closer to the Arabic word.

Muhammad wanted his followers to spread the Islamic religion beyond the Arabian Peninsula. So, Muslim armies expanded into other territories conquering the people and establishing the Islamic religion in these areas. Arab Muslims brought their ideas, inventions and foods to those they conquered. They arrived in horse and camel cavalries. Within about 150 years, Arab Muslims spread their religion throughout North Africa, Southwest Asia and into Europe. They were very successful conquering the Persian and Byzantine empires because the two empires had long fought one another to a point of weakness. Also, many people saw the Arabs as better than their current harsh rulers and welcomed Muslims to their area.

Today, people practice Islam all over the world, including the United States. Perhaps you yourself are Muslim and can share more about your religion with the rest of the class. People in most Middle Eastern countries practice Islam. Other countries with large Islamic populations include Indonesia, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Algeria and Morocco.

What year is it? Sounds like an easy question, but the answer depends on which calendar you use. For Muslims, the year 1430 began in what we called August 2009. Why the difference? People of the Islamic religion started

the city of Medina (in Saudi Arabia). That was A.D. 622 according to our calendar and was year 1 A.H. (Anno Hegirae, or year of the Hijra) of the Islamic calendar. Muslims base their calendar on the phases of the moon. There are 12 months in an Islamic year, but the Islamic calendar has 11 days fewer than our traditional Gregorian calendar. At this rate, the two calendars will not celebrate the same year until 20,874!

Other Muslim Empires in History

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ACROSS Muslim time of fasting sacred shrine in Mecca decorative and artistic handwriting Prophet of Islam

Islamic holy book

DOWN world traveler who set out to see all the Muslim lands character with a magic lamp language of Islam pilgrimage Muslim place of worship

The Middle East covers more than 5 million square miles and has a varied geography. It has large deserts including much of the Arabian Peninsula, appropriately called “The Empty Quarter.” Snow-covered mountain peaks rise above 19,000 feet. There are also a few major rivers such as the Tigris and Euphrates of Iraq, the Nile of Egypt and the Jordan River in the country of Jordan. Parts of the Middle East border several seas: the Mediterranean, Black, Caspian, Dead, Arabian and Red seas. Another important body of

of the Middle East to learn more about the region and solve a Mystery Message! (The numbers after each line will help you solve the mystery.)

Euphrates rivers:

__________________________ (2)

__________________________ (7)

Body of water that borders Kuwait:

__________________________ (1)

__________________________ (3)

The capital of Iraq:

__________________________ (5)

The capital of Jordan:

__________________________ (8) Body of water between Egypt and Saudi Arabia:

__________________________ (6)

Narrow body of water separating Turkey from Europe:

__________________________ (9)

Sea that borders Yemen and Oman:

__________________________ (4)

secret message.

____ ____ ____ ____ 1 2 3 4

____ ____ ____ ____ ____ 5 6 7 8 9

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