CHRISTIANITY AND

ISLAM

Unit 9

KEY TERMS
1. resurrection

9. Quran

2. apostle

10. caliph

3. salvation

11. Shia

4. martyr

12. Sunni

5. doctrine

13. mosque

6. gospel

14. bazaar

7. Islam
8. oasis

JESUS OF NAZARETH
Jesus was born in the small town of Nazareth in Galilee.
He began to preach and traveled with a group of close followers
called disciples.
Jesus was born and raised in a Jewish family.
He taught that God created all people and loved them the way a
father loves his children.
Jesus also preached that God was coming soon to rule the world.
For this reason, Jesus told people they had to do more than follow
the laws of their religion.
He told them they must love others and forgive them.

 The Romans saw Jesus as a threat to their power.

After a meal with his disciples (the Last Supper), leaders in
Jerusalem arrested Jesus and he was sentenced to death by
crucifixion. This meant he would be hung from a wooden cross until
he died.
According to Christian belief, three days after Jesus died, he rose
from the dead and appeared to some of his followers.
The message of his resurrection led to the birth of Christianity.

WHO WERE THE APOSTLES?

The apostles were early Christian leaders who spread the teaching
of Jesus after his death.
Christianity grew out of Judaism. Christians believe in the God of
Israel. However, they came to believe in God in a new way.
Christians believe that Jesus is the Son of God. Christians also
believe that people who accept Jesus will be saved from their sins.
After they die, they will one day be resurrected the way Jesus was
and enter heaven.

CHRISTIANITY AND THE

EMPIRE
The first followers of Jesus taught his messages to Jews and nonJews in the Mediterranean region. From there Christianity spread
throughout the Roman Empire.
Christianity promised a better life after death. It gave people hope,
something the Roman religion could never do.
Christian communities also took care of the needs of their
members.

 Rome saw Christianity as a dangerous threat to its empire.

ORGANIZING THE CHURCH

From most powerful to least powerful in the Early Christian Church:
Patriarchs, Archbishops, Bishops, and Priests.
Christians believed four apostles of Jesus wrote accounts of the life
and teachings of Jesus.

ARAB LIFE
If you lived in the deserts of Southwest Asia you would travel from
oasis to oasis, live in tribes led by sheikhs, and fight with others
over land and water.
If you lived in towns you would live near an oasis or trade route,
travel with others for protection.
You would also to the Kaaba (in Makkah).

 The most important god was Allah.

The Arabs believed Allah was the creator of the world.
They believed a stone inside the Kaaba came from heaven.

MUHAMMAD AND HIS

MESSAGE
Muhammad was born in Makkah in A.D. 570.
In A.D. 610, according to tradition, he was called by God to preach
Islam.
He preached that there was only one God, Allah.

BELIEFS AND PRACTICES OF

ISLAM
Islam shares some beliefs with Christianity and Judaism. For
example, all three religions believe that there is only one God.
They believe that God is all-powerful and created the universe.
The holy book of Islam is the Quran. The Quran teaches people to
be honest, treat others fairly, respect their parents, be kind to their
neighbors, be kind to the poor, not commit murder, not steal, and
not tell a lie.
Islam teaches people to worship Allah in five ways. The are called
the Five Pillars of Islam (Belief, Prayer, Charity, Fasting, and
Pilgrimage).

FOUNDING AN EMPIRE
Muhammad died in 632. A group of Muslim leaders selected a new
kind of leader, a caliph.
The first four caliphs were relatives or friends of Muhammad. After
that a new group called the Umayyads ruled.

DIVISION AND GROWTH

There were groups in Islam that argued about who had the right to
be caliph.
The Shia believed only people descended from Muhammads sonin-law, Ali, should be caliphs.
The Sunni, a larger group than the Shia, disagreed. They did not
think caliphs had to be related to Muhammad.

DAILY LIFE AND TRADE

From 700 to the 1400s, Muslims controlled trade in much of Asia
and Africa.
Cities had mosques and bazaars, women managed families and
had some rights, enslaved people were usually prisoners of war and
had rights, men were in charge of government, business, and
society, artisans, farmers, and workers had little power, the most
powerful people were landowners and wealthy merchants.

MUSLIM CONTRIBUTIONS
Muslim scholars in Spain translated many ancient Greek works into
Arabic.
Muslim scientists began what we know today as the study of
chemistry.
In mathematics, Muslim scholars invented algebra.