Research Paper on:
Islam's Early Rise

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
the purpose of confirming scriptures already given to the Jews and Christians but man disobeyed Gods commandments, including dividing himself into religious sects. According to the Muslims, God had commanded  man to worship none but Him and mankind had not done that. God, through the angel Gabriel, then revealed the Word to Mohammed in about 631. Mohammed was chosen because  he was a direct descendent of Ishmael who was Abrahams first son. As such Mohammed was and is known as the "unlettered prophet, the last prophet, and therefore he would  be the seal of the prophets (Encarta CD-ROM, 1996). As the last and final messenger of God to mankind, the messages/revelations given to Mohammed are considered by Muslims to be  sent to all other religions, not just to Muslims, and are seen as messages to inform the world about the true mission of Jesus, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses. Mohammed  is perceived to have purified all previous messages and to complete Gods message to humans (Sakr, 1996). In terms of age, Islam is the youngest religion; it is the faith  of those who follow Muhammad (Fiero, DATE). Islam was a unifying force in Arabia and acted as a bridge between Europe and East Asia (Fiero, DATE). This religion provided "spiritual  unity and cultural cohesiveness to people of a wide variety of languages and customs" between the eighth and fourteenth centuries (Fiero, DATE, PAGE). By the middle of the eight century,  the Islamic community has stretched across miles of diverse cultures and communities covering the areas from Spain to North Africa and into India (Fiero, DATE, PAGE). The Koran or Quran  is the sacred book of Islam that was reportedly "revealed by God" to the Prophet Muhammad. The revelations took place during Mohammeds time at both Mecca and Medina and began