The religion which Mohammed preached is called Islam, an
Arabic word meaning "surrender," or "resignation." This
religion has its sacred book, the Koran ("thing read" or "thing
recited"). It contains the speeches, prayers, and other utterances of
Mohammed at various times during his career. Some parts of the Koran were
dictated by the prophet to his disciples and by them were written out on skins,
leaves of palm trees, bones, and bits of parchment. Many other parts remained
at first only in the memory of Mohammed's followers. Soon after his death all
the scattered passages were collected into one book. Since the middle of the
seventh century the Koran, every word of which the Moslems consider holy, has
remained unchanged.
RELIGIOUS TEACHINGS OF THE KORAN
The doctrines found in the Koran show many adaptations
from the Jewish and Christian religions. Like them Islam emphasizes the unity
of God. The Moslem cry—"_Allah Akbar!_" "God is
Great!"—forms its cardinal principle. Like them, also, Islam recognizes
the existence of prophets, including Abraham, Moses, and Jesus, but insists
that Mohammed was the last and greatest of the prophets. The existence of
angels and demons is recognized. The chief of the demons, Iblis, bears some
resemblance to the Jewish Satan and the Christian Devil. The account of the
creation and fall of man is taken, with variations, from the Old Testament. The
description of the resurrection of the dead, the last judgment, and the
division of the future world into paradise and hell, the former for believers
in Islam, the latter for those who have refused to accept it, seems to have
been based on Persian and Jewish ideas. These borrowings from other religions
facilitated the spread of Islam among eastern peoples.
