Islam in general

Islam is the dominant religion in the Middle East right now. Muhammed founded Islam in the early seventh century. When he was 40 years old. Muhammed claimed to be receiving messages from God. These messages were later recorded in the Koran--Islam's holy book. About this same time, Muhammed began preaching against the greed, economic oppression, and idolatry that plagued the Arab peoples. He called on the Arab peoples to unite under the worship of Allah, the …

…judge the works of all men. Those whose good deeds outweigh their bad deeds will enter into paradise (pictured in rather sensual terms). The rest will be consigned to hell. The paramount feature of Islamic belief, aside from its strong monotheism, is that it is a religion of human works. One's favor with Allah is determined by how well one keeps the laws of the Koran and whether your good deeds outweigh the bad ones.