In this century, the papacy was officially established. The etymology of the word pope, meaning father, is a reference used within the Church. The pope then became the highest authority in Christianity. What he said would be law, a determination to be obeyed by all councils, and by all cardinals, bishops, and priests.

However, some notable figures had appeared in earlier centuries and were considered popes, such as Leo I and Gregory I. The city of Constantinople then became the center of attention within Christianity after the fall of the Western Roman Empire.

In 610, the emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire, Phocas, decided to appoint a pope, Boniface III, who came to be considered the first pope after the papacy was officially established. When historians speak about the institution of the papacy, they list several positive aspects. Before the seventh century, there were many quarrels and conflicts. Some believed doctrine should be one way, while others had different opinions. In short, it helped maintain unity within Christianity. But there was also a negative aspect, because if the pope made a mistake in his decisions, if he committed an error, the Church as a whole would be led into error. And many mistakes occurred in the following centuries.

The tree of religions has two great branches: the Vedic branch and the Abrahamic branch. The Vedas, a polytheistic doctrine, became the wisdom of the East. Various Eastern traditions were inspired by Vedic teachings from India. On the other hand, in the West, we have the Abrahamic religions, monotheistic, and there are only three: Judaism, Christianity, and the third and most recent, Islam.

In exactly the year 610, the first expressions of Islam appeared, precisely when Christianity officially established the papacy. Its initiator was called Muhammad, son of Abdullah.

When Muhammad was born, his father had already died, and when he was two years old, his mother also died. He was then raised by his paternal grandfather, Abu al Muttalib, because in the tradition of his people the child belonged to the father. So he stayed under the care of his grandfather, who had married a second time and had children, some around Muhammad’s age. However, while still young, around six years old, his grandfather died.

From then on, one of his uncles, older than he was, became his guardian. This uncle traveled often and took him along. On one of these trips, when Muhammad was an adolescent, he had contact with Christianity. He met a pilgrim who traveled the roads preaching Christianity. Muhammad had never heard of Jesus. He absorbed the concepts of Christianity.

He lived in a society very different from the one he would later shape as Islam. The Arab peoples at the time of Muhammad’s childhood and adolescence were also polytheistic. There were many cultures of many gods and many different religions.

There in Mecca, where Muhammad was born, there was a cube shaped building made of bricks, which still exists today, called the Kaaba, meaning cube. To someone who sees it in photos today, it may look black, but it is simply covered with a black cloth. It was and still is a place of great reverence.

There is a very interesting tradition within Islam. They say that the Kaaba was built by Abraham together with his son Ishmael. Abraham had two sons: the first with his servant Hagar, Ishmael, who gave origin to the Arab people. Later he had a second son with his wife Sarah, named Isaac, who gave origin to the peoples of Palestine and to the Jews themselves.

When Ishmael was a teenager, Sarah forced Abraham to expel him, together with his mother Hagar, from the household. Abraham, deeply distressed, sent away his servant and his son, who was about thirteen years old. After Sarah’s death, tradition says Ishmael came close to Abraham again. Then, during one of the pilgrimages the two made, they would have built the Kaaba.

In the Kaaba there is a very interesting curiosity. On one of its sides, in one of the foundation stones, there is a rock called the stone that fell from the sky, which is actually a meteorite, much larger than the bricks. Since all the bricks are the same, this stone stands out completely from the rest of the structure. It is still there today.

At first, the Kaaba was venerated by polytheists and was filled with idols, statues of different gods. So Muhammad grew up in that polytheistic environment until he became an adult.

When we speak of Jews, Christians, and Muslims, we mean that we are all brothers, part of the same family. We come from the same root, Abraham. But why do we fight so much?

Let us return to the story and understand why. Abraham had a wife, Sarah, who could not give him children. So she allowed him to lie with her Egyptian servant Hagar so that he could have a child and produce descendants. From that relationship, Ishmael was born, who in theory was the firstborn. Ishmael, for Islam and the Quran, is the son of the promise.

But later Sarah, Abraham’s legitimate wife, even at an advanced age, had a son, Isaac. We know the story: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who generated the twelve tribes of Israel, one of which was Judah. From Judah comes the lineage that reaches Jesus. In other words, Christians come from Jesus, who comes from Judah, who comes from Abraham. Jews come from Isaac, who comes from Abraham. Our Muslim brothers come from the first son, Ishmael. We are brothers.

What we see today in the Middle East, the fights and disagreements, are family disagreements, as happens even in the best families. The rivalries exist in our interpretations. We could learn to live in harmony.

Interestingly, traditions say Ishmael also married an Egyptian, and from that union they likewise had twelve sons, who formed the twelve tribes that originated the Arab nations. One of these tribes is the Quraysh. From this tribe, in the year 570, Muhammad was born.

Then Muhammad, after meeting the Christian preacher, became a simple merchant without great possessions. When he was twenty five, he met a very wealthy forty year old widow named Khadijah. They married, and he rose socially and became a rich merchant. Their union lasted many years and Muhammad did not take any other wife during that time.

When Muhammad turned forty, in the year 610, he was already a shepherd and had sheep and properties. One time while he was tending his sheep on Mount Hira, he entered a cave, and there something happened that would change his life forever.

In that cave, Muhammad felt a spiritual approach. The angel Gabriel appeared to him, the same who announced to Mary that she would be the mother of the Savior. According to tradition, the angel Gabriel said to him that it was his task to reveal the one God, Allah, and that he would be His prophet.

Right there he entered trances in which the angel Gabriel spoke to him, but he wrote nothing down. The angel inspired him and Muhammad began to recite verses, not writing them anywhere, only reciting. People began to go to the cave to listen, and many noticed his altered state of consciousness.

From that year 610 onward, the angel began to inspire messages that gave origin to the surahs, which later formed the sacred book of Muslims, the Quran. He compiled the messages and began preaching to the people. But these were not sermons free of conflict, because the people were polytheistic and began to oppose him and persecute him.

Because the persecutions were very violent, in the year 622 he had to move to another city, Medina. This move is known as the Hijra, a very important event within Islam, because from Mecca he brought Islam to the city of Medina. The Muslim calendar begins precisely in 622.

There in Medina, Islam gained strength, grew, and became popular. During the period of persecutions and the move, his wife Khadijah died in 619. So Muhammad lost his father, mother, grandfather, uncle, and finally his wife. His story of being orphaned was very strong.

The persecutions were very violent. There were tortures and deaths against those who presented themselves as defenders of his ideas. There was martyrdom among his followers. This was the reason for his move to Medina. He had already become reasonably influential, which, according to historians, spared him from being sacrificed.

Muhammad remained ten years in Medina, organizing, making disciples, and guiding people in the doctrine. After those years, feeling strong enough to confront the people of his birthplace, he decided to return to Mecca.

Islam has five principles. First Shahada, profession of faith: there is only one God, Allah, and Muhammad is the greatest prophet among all others. Second Sawm, fasting: the sacred month of Ramadan, in which Muslims fast from dawn to sunset, dedicating themselves to prayer, reflection, charity, and reading the Quran. Third Hajj, pilgrimage to Mecca: obligatory for every adult Muslim who has the financial and health conditions. Fourth Salat, prayer: five daily prayers obligatory for Muslims, who must turn toward the direction of Mecca, where the Kaaba is located. Wherever one is on the planet, this is a duty, and its goal is to maintain constant connection with Allah. Fifth Zakat, charity: every Muslim must give charity, help those in need, and promote solidarity.

The problem is not in religions, but in human beings. Christ spoke of love, Moses spoke of love, the Quran speaks of love, and it is the book that most mentions the Virgin Mary and speaks of charity. If there are ill intentioned people, the fault is not religion, but people. The Quran is a rhymed, musical book, a very beautiful way of writing.

While Muhammad was still alive, there was a group of people who said he had stated that the one who would succeed him after his death would be his cousin and son in law, married to his daughter Fatimah, named Ali. However, when he died, Ali did not succeed him. Abu Bakr did. Those who defended Ali became very upset, and a rupture occurred. Those who wanted Ali as leader became Shiites, and those who did not want Ali became Sunnis. These groups began to fight soon after Muhammad’s death.

Abu Bakr was chosen because he was the first to convert, so he received that reverence. But he was already very old and did not remain long. After his death, people said Ali would take his place and become caliph, but that did not happen. Umar was chosen. Hatred and revolt grew even more. When Umar died, they again expected Ali, but Uthman took his place, worsening the situation. Only when Uthman died did Ali finally become the fourth caliph.

Caliphs are the successors of Muhammad. The caliph is to Islam what the pope is to Catholicism. However, Ali was greatly persecuted and ended up being killed. His sons Hassan, Hussain, and Muhammad assumed leadership afterward, but they were also killed. The lineage of Ali is composed in total of twelve caliphs.

The last of this lineage was Mahdi, who was thirteen years old when he assumed. However, he disappeared. In the view presented here, he did not die, but instead underwent transubstantiation and remains alive. So when his name is spoken, one must place a hand on the head. And according to Islamic traditions, when Jesus returns a second time, Mahdi will come with him, and they will come together to judge humanity, separating the good from the bad.

These first caliphs are the ones who wrote down the Quran. They gathered people who knew the prophet Muhammad’s verses and put them on paper. In this way, they organized the surahs Muhammad was said to have received. After that, all other texts were burned. No one could keep any text other than the one adopted by that group of specialists who compiled the Quran.

The Quran is made up of 114 surahs, but it is not a chronological sequence. They are organized by length, starting with the longest and ending with the last, which is very short. This was done because they did not know for certain the order in which they had been received. When questioned about why they were organized by length, the explanation follows the idea of organizing chromosomes by size. The same logic was applied to the arrangement of the surah texts.

Between the years 621 and 622, Muhammad had an insight, a kind of spiritual experience. Historians report that he was taken on a winged horse named Buraq from Mecca, he had not yet moved to Medina, to Jerusalem, more precisely to Mount Moriah. There he would have ascended to the seventh heaven, met Allah, and received the Quran from Allah’s own mouth. He would have received the revelation that Allah is the true God and that he was the greatest of prophets. He would also have met Abraham, Moses, Isaac, Jacob, and Jesus Christ.

This tradition helps explain the interest of the three monotheistic religions in Jerusalem. Mount Moriah was where Abraham received God’s request to take his son Isaac to the mountain and sacrifice him. According to Jewish traditions, it is the same mountain where Cain and Abel offered sacrifices to God, and the same place where Jacob wrestled all night with the angel. In Judaism, Mount Moriah is the location where various generations had spiritual experiences. So it is a place of sacrifice and offerings for many centuries.

Mount Moriah is sacred to Muslims. There is what remains of the last Jewish temple, known as the Wailing Wall. But it is a mistake to call it that, because for Jews it is the Western Wall, which is the correct name. Jews do not go there to lament. On the contrary, they go there to revere God through prayer. And for Christians, Mount Moriah is important because there is the church built on the site where Jesus was crucified.

The same Mount Moriah is revered by Jews, Muslims, and Christians. Reverence for the city of Jerusalem is very great because it is a key city for the three monotheistic religions. However, for the same reason, it is also a city that causes so much dispute.

After Muhammad’s death in the year 632, the expansion of Islam began and disputes between Christians and Muslims started. Places that had been Christian until then, such as Asia Minor, North Africa, and Turkey, began to become Muslim. In 632, Syria, which had been a Christian cradle, became Muslim. In 638, the caliph Umar, the second of the caliphs, took Jerusalem. And an interesting phenomenon occurred. Christianity, which had left the West with the fall of the Roman Empire and moved toward the East, began to shift back toward Europe as Muslim expansion advanced.

And moving toward the next century, Muslims prepared to invade Europe, and the conflicts between Christians and Muslims would take on great proportions.