WORLD HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -The start of Islam is marked in the year 610, following the first revelation to the prophet Muhammad at the age of 40. Muhammad and his followers spread the teachings of Islam throughout the Arabian peninsula.

Detailed explanation-2: -Although Muhammad died in 632, his followers, led by a series of four caliphs (Arabic: khalifa, “successor”) known as the Rightly Guided, continued to spread the message of Islam.

Detailed explanation-3: -Arabian polytheism, the dominant form of religion in pre-Islamic Arabia, was based on veneration of deities and spirits. Worship was directed to various gods and goddesses, including Hubal and the goddesses al-Lāt, al-’Uzzā, and Manāt, at local shrines and temples such as the Kaaba in Mecca.

Detailed explanation-4: -In the 18th century, a pact between Islamic preacher Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab and a regional emir, Muhammad bin Saud, brought a new form of Islam (Salifism) of Sunni Islam first to the Najd region and then to the Arabian Peninsula.

Detailed explanation-5: -During the seventh century, after subduing rebellions in the Arabian peninsula, Arab Muslim armies began to swiftly conquer territory in the neighboring Byzantine and Sasanian empires and beyond. Within roughly two decades, they created a massive Arab Muslim empire spanning three continents.

Detailed explanation-6: -Around 600 CE, the Middle Eastern religion Islam began in Mecca, which is located in western Saudi Arabia. At that time, the lands of the Middle East were under the rule of a number of competing empires.