The One Thread
Tradition reading page

Tradition

Islam

from the seventh century CE · originating in western Arabia; later worldwide

Islam is a monotheistic religion that began in seventh-century Arabia with the preaching of Muhammad. The Arabic word islam is often translated as surrender or submission: not limp passivity, but aligning one’s life with the one God. Muslims—the name for those who practice Islam—now live in every region of the world, with many languages, legal schools, and theologies.

The Sultan Ahmed Mosque in Istanbul, often called the Blue Mosque
Photograph by Kamiox, via Wikimedia Commons · Public domain

At the center is tawhid, the teaching that God is one. Allah is simply the Arabic word for God; Arabic-speaking Jews and Christians have long used it too. In Islam it names the Creator who is not a human being, not one god among others, and not a partner in a trinity. The Qur’an is received as God’s speech in Arabic. Prayer, fasting, almsgiving, and pilgrimage are among the practices that have carried the community—called the ummah, a fellowship bound by faith rather than by one tribe.

Islam is not one identical culture. Sunni and Shia histories diverged early. Legal and theological schools disagree. Sufism, already met here, is the mystical strand within Islam—not a separate religion, even when later readers treat Rumi as a generic poet of love. The One Thread includes Islam because its questions about God, revelation, justice, and how to live sit beside other traditions without being the same as them.

Words used here

Plain meanings for words on this page.

  • Islam

    A monotheistic religion that began in seventh-century Arabia with the preaching of Muhammad. The Arabic word islam is often translated as surrender or submission: aligning one’s life with the one God. It is not one identical culture, and Muslims disagree about law, theology, and practice.

  • Allah

    The Arabic word for God. Arabic-speaking Jews and Christians have long used the same word. In Islam it names the one God—not a tribal deity beside others, and not a human being.

  • tawhid

    The Islamic teaching of God’s oneness: God is one, without partner, child, or equal. Tawhid is not the same as saying the human self is identical with God, and it is not the Christian doctrine of the Trinity.

  • Qur’an

    The sacred scripture of Islam. In Muslim belief it is God’s speech revealed in Arabic through Muhammad—not Muhammad’s personal philosophy. Historians study how the text was recited, written, and compiled in the seventh century and after.

Featured connections

Where Islam meets other voices

IslamSufism

historical relationship

Sufism within Islam

Both belong to the worship of the one God named in the Qur’an, and both have shaped Muslim life across centuries.

Sufism is the mystical strand of Islam: prayer, remembrance, and often love-language directed toward God. It is not a separate religion, even when modern readers treat Sufi poetry as tradition-free spirituality.

Where they differ

Islam includes law, theology, and public worship that are not identical with Sufi orders. Sufism emphasizes nearness and inner refinement; it does not replace tawhid with the claim that the human self is God.

IslamMuhammad

historical relationship

Prophet and community

Islam begins, historically, with Muhammad’s preaching in seventh-century Arabia and the community that formed around the Qur’an. Muslims regard him as prophet, not as God.

IslamBahá'í Faith

historical relationship

Born in a Muslim land; not a second Islam

Both confess one God and honor many of the same earlier figures.

The Bábí and Bahá'í movements arose in nineteenth-century Iran, a Shia Muslim world. Islam teaches that Muhammad is the final prophet. Bahá'í teaching claims a further messenger. Related origin is not identity, and the disagreement is sharp.

Where they differ

Tawhid in Islam includes the finality of Muhammad’s prophethood. Progressive revelation in Bahá'í teaching continues after him. That is why many Muslim authorities rejected the new Faith.

IslamJudaism

historical relationship

Kinship of the one God, not one religion

Both refuse a pantheon of rival gods and treat the one God as the center of law, prayer, and community.

Islam honors Abraham, Moses, and the God of Israel’s story, and Jews and Muslims have lived as neighbors across many centuries. Tawhid and the Shema can be placed in one room. They are not the same sentence.

Where they differ

Islam receives the Qur’an as God’s speech through Muhammad and honors Jesus as a prophet. Judaism does not accept Muhammad as prophet or the Qur’an as its scripture. Abrahamic kinship is not merger.

IslamJalal al-Din Rumi

historical relationship

A Muslim poet, not a generic mystic

Rumi taught and wrote within Islam. The Beloved of the Masnavi is God as known in Muslim devotion, not a tradition-free spirit of love.

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Sources

What this reading rests on

  • Qur’an 112 (Surah al-Ikhlas)

    Islamic scripture (received in tradition as revelation through Muhammad) · seventh century CE (traditional dating of revelation; compilation history studied by historians)

    primary text

    A concentrated Qur’anic statement of God’s oneness.

    Citation

    Qur’an, Surah 112, al-Ikhlas (“Sincerity” or “Purity”). English wording depends on the translation; the Arabic text is short and widely memorized.

    Primary