History is a little boring for me, too.
But Islam, if you go back to the original sources and time period in history when it was revealed (ignoring the various historical and scholarly outgrowth), presents a very simple concept: That there is one God who is the source of all creation and he has created mankind as his representative on earth for the purpose of growing through learning and experience into righteous individuals, and to assist mankind is achieving this goal, there are the five pillars of Islam.
That's the short version, but if you really want to spend some time to understand what Islam is, I recommend the book The Vision of Islam, by Sachiko Murata and William C. Chittick.
But Islam, if you go back to the original sources and time period in history when it was revealed (ignoring the various historical and scholarly outgrowth), presents a very simple concept: That there is one God who is the source of all creation and he has created mankind as his representative on earth for the purpose of growing through learning and experience into righteous individuals, and to assist mankind is achieving this goal, there are the five pillars of Islam.
That's the short version, but if you really want to spend some time to understand what Islam is, I recommend the book The Vision of Islam, by Sachiko Murata and William C. Chittick.
