ISLAM IS A WORLD RELIGION followed by around one-fifth of the world’s population.
At one stage it was the dominant religion everywhere between what is now Western
China in the ‘Far East’, and Spain/Morocco in the West. Although Islam is most often
portrayed as a Middle Eastern – specifically Arab – religion, the countries with the
largest numbers of Muslims are, respectively, Indonesia, Pakistan and India.1 The two
main rites of Islam are Sunni (about 85%) and the Shi‘a (about 10-15%), the latter being
most closely associated with Iran.2 This article will give an overview of key Islamic beliefs
and practices, as well as a brief account of the life of Islam’s most important person: the
Prophet Muhammad.

Tracing it back to its Arabic root, the word ‘islam’ comes from salima, which
means ‘to be safe and secure’ with the connotation of being complete or whole.3 From
a religious perspective, Islam describes the believer’s spiritual state in ‘surrendering’ or
‘submitting’ (aslama in Arabic) throughout life in a state of deference and service to God
in the hope of attaining spiritual peace and wholeness (salam in Arabic) both in this life
and the next. This is achieved by believing in the oneness of God, the messengership of
Muhammad, and acting according to Islam’s teachings. Adherents believe that in being obedient to God and living a pious life, they will attain nearness to the divine and be granted paradise in the afterlife, as opposed to being punished in the hellfire for disbelief
and disobedience. A believer in Islam is called a Muslim: the one who surrenders himself
or herself into peace and spiritual wholeness.4Muhammad and the Establishment of Islam
In discussing the importance of a global figure like Muhammad, both the ‘pious legend’
accepted and promoted by Muslims and the ‘facts’ are important, especially if we want
to understand how Muslims today relate to him. These two broad categories, however,
are not mutually exclusive.5 Such a short article cannot claim to do justice to the many-
faceted character of Muhammad’s place in history, Muslim beliefs, cultures and societies,
although a brief overview is both possible and necessary to help understand Islam. This
should not obfuscate ‘the beliefs and devotions of generations’,6 which indicates a much
larger role for Muhammad in the believer’s life than a mere historical outline.
As Muslims understand it, Muhammad was born in Mecca (in what is now Saudi
Arabia) in 5707 into the aristocratic ruling family of Quraysh who were responsible for
maintaining the sacred space (haram) in Mecca. The most important structure in the
haram was the Ka‘ba, which housed the various idols worshipped by the Arabs and those
from surrounding areas, which Muslim tradition gives as 360 in number.8 The Arabian
Peninsula was peripheral to the main imperial societies of the time – the Byzantine and
Persian Empires in the north-east and north-west – though connected to them through