Brief History of Islam

By: Iftikhar Islam

The History of Islam starts right from the first man created and sent to this earth. (But in fact, it was present right before and practiced by other creatures of Allah i.e. Jinns and Angels). When God Almighty created the first man, Adam, and he sent him to this earth after creating his mate, Eve.

So, Islam started right from the first man who walked on this earth. God Almighty made him the first Prophet on earth and gave him guidance. After the death of Adam his progeny grew and some of them were righteous while the others transgressed and strayed away from the right path.

After the span of few years God Almighty sent again a messenger to the people to remind them of the true path which they had left. Some people agreed with the message and accepted the true path while the others rejected the messengers.

The Messengers include Noah, Idris, Lot, Abraham, Ismael, Isaac, Jacob, David, Solomon, Moses, Jesus and the final Muhammad (peace be upon them all). All the messengers came up with the same message to go back to the Almighty who created the Universe and the Earth and is the source of sustenance to all that exists in the universe. The Shariah (set of rules and regulations) of the different messengers slightly differed due to the changes that evolved in mankind.

Since Muhammad is the final messenger, he cannot be the founder of Islam. He came up with the same message as previous messengers, to worship the Almighty who created the Universe and all that exists and the source of sustenance and not to join partners with his dominion. As mankind evolved and developed, his Shariah differed from previous messengers.

Since there is no messenger to come after the Prophet Muhammad, the duty of conveying the message befalls on his followers. So Islam spread in the world by his companions. The immediate successors of Prophet Muhammad include Abu bakr, Umar, Uthman, Ali and so on.

While the other companions of the Prophet spread in the world with the message which they had learnt from the Prophet. The students of the companions started to record the narrations of prophet and the message of Islam in a systematic manner. The students gathered the knowledge in a systematic and technical manner which later formed the books of the sayings of the prophet known as Ahaadeeth. The books include Saheeh Al Bukhari, Saheeh Muslim, Tirmidhi, An-Nasai, Ibn Majah, Abu Dawood, etc.

On one hand the knowledge was stored systematically and on the other hand the Islamic territories increased. Later on the students of those who collected the ahaadeeth widened on the whole earth to spread the message of Islam. Till today the students of knowledge are striving to spread the message of Islam throughout the world, to each and every corner, and to each and every home.

Misconception:

People usually think that Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is the founder of Islam and Islam begins from 6th Century. In fact the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is the last Messenger with the final message from Almighty.

Some people also say that Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) spread Islam on the point of sword - by force. As Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is the final Messenger, he is an Ideal for all, he has various qualities and duties to be performed according to time and situation. As a political Leader, he had to pick up sword in self-defense and to increase Islamic territories. But Islam was not spread at the point of the sword, it was through Dawah.