Being that my previous knowledge of the Muslim religion is nothing at all, I felt interested to learn more on the topic and enjoyed learning the foundations of the religion. The majority of my response will be on the teachings of Muhammad, as his work is what was most interesting to me.
In the beginning of the chapters, Armstrong tells how the religion of Islam initially had no direct prophet or revelation of their own, and that because of this, the Jews and Christians of the region pretty much dismissed the faith at first. Muhammed felt a divine voice inside him that inspired him to write the Quran for a total of twenty-two years, a feat in itself. I had never really considered the creation of the Quran before and found myself slightly surprised that one man wrote the entire scripture, as many different voices are present in the Bible. I also noticed that I am constantly comparing both the Jewish and Muslim faiths to my own faith, so sorry if that annoys anyone.
From what I understand, the most important thing about being Muslim is the relationship one has with God rather than any relationships with earthly locations or persons. I enjoy that Armstrong discusses the importance of "sharing your wealth" in the religion and to take care of the poor and then explained that this concept was applicable during the time period because Mecca was "in the throes of a capitalistic revolution in which the more vulnerable members of Muhammad's tribe of Qureish had been pushed aside in the stampede for wealth," (218). I find this to be an excellent concept for a faith and also reminds me of the Christian tradition of giving a offering during church service.
I tried to take a more active approach and looked up some pictures relating to the faith. I really liked this picture of the Dome, the third holiest place in the religion. This architecture is beautiful and really appealed to me in this beautiful picture.
picture credit here: http://basilspage.blogspot.com/2010/08/3-holy-places-of-islam.html
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