This is an arabesque. It's a form of Islamic art that uses geometric shapes.

Table of Contents

Magnus Makes a Friend......page 4

Glossary......page 21

Magnus and his mom just moved to Saudi Arabia.

Magnus feels lonely at school. He doesn’t know anybody or anything about the country!

Everyone, please welcome our new student, Magnus!

One day, Magnus was eating a snack during recess. A girl walked up to him.

“I’m Magnus,” he replied. “Nice to meet you!”

“Hi there!” she said. “My name is Samirah.”

Samirah sat down next to him. Magnus offered her part of his snack. “Do you want some?” he asked.

Samirah smiled, but didn’t take the snack. “Thanks, but I can’t have any. It’s Ramadan.”

“Ramadan?” Magnus was confused. “What’s that?”

“For one month every year, I don’t eat anything from sunrise to sunset,” Samirah explained.

“Not a thing?” asked Magnus, shocked. “Why would you do that?”

“As a muslim, it’s a part of my religion! We do it to honor the time Muhammad spent recording our holy book, the Qur’an.”

“Who’s Muhammad?” Magnus wondered.

“Well,” Samirah began, “he was a prophet who was born in a city

called Mecca several

hundred years ago.

?

One day, he was sitting in a cave when he heard a voice. It was the voice of Allah - God. He told Muhammad to write down everything He told him. Muhammad did so and created the Qur’an, which means "word of God." We still follow its teachings today.

Muhammad told the people of Mecca about the Qur’an, but they didn’t like it. They chased him out of the city. Muhammad escaped to a town called Medina. People call his journey the hijrah, or flight.

When Muhammad died, he ascended into Heaven. To honor him, we built something called the Dome of the Rock. It stands where he died in Jerusalem.

Some of Muhammad’s followers thought that his relatives should take power. These people called themselves the Shi’a. Others thought that rulers should be decided by the people. They were called the Sunni. These two groups still exist today.

Most muslims are Sunni.

Only a small amount of muslims are Shi'a.

Magnus was very curious about his new friend’s religion. “Samirah, you said that the Qur’an was God’s word. But what exactly does it say?”

“Well, it says lots of things,” said Samirah. “But there’s something in it that’s called the Five Pillars."

"There are five things every muslim should do: express your faith by saying you’re a muslim; pray five times a day; fast, or not eat, during Ramadan; give to charity; and go to Mecca to honor the hijrah.”