Understanding Islam:A Brief Introduction

with information from Wendy Frey and Alan D. DeSantis

Islam Today: Demographics• There are an estimated 1.5 billion

Muslims worldwide– One out of five people in the world is

Muslim

• Where Do Muslims Live?– Muslims live in nearly every country in the

world– Most people in the Middle East and North

Africa are Muslim– The majority of Muslims are Asian

World Religions

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/files/2013/08/world-map-all-religions-1.png

Understanding Muhammad:

His Life and Times

The Life of Muhammad:The early years

• Muhammad was born in Mecca around the year 570

• Lived with a nomadic family in the desert

• Orphaned early and left in the care of his grandfather

• Tribes all worshiped many different gods (polytheistic)

• Muhammad began working as a merchant and was known for his trustworthiness

• Muhammad and Khadija (wife) had 4 daughters and 2 sons; only one daughter, Fatimah, continued the bloodline of Muhammad

The Life of Muhammad: The Visions and the Message

• Fifteen years after his marriage, he began to have visions and hear mysterious voices

• When Muhammad was about 40 years old an angel appeared to him in the form of a man

• This revelation was soon followed by others about the one true God; illiterate Muhammad recited messages directly from God

• Unlike Jesus (who Christians believe was God's son) Muhammad was a mortal, albeit with extraordinary qualities

• He preached a strong social justice message about equality and poverty

• Khadijah became the first convert to Islam

• Muslims “those who surrender to God”

The Life of Muhammad:The Trouble

• Muhammad slowly began to attract some followers, most of them young and of modest social standing

• Khadijah (Muhammad’s dear wife) and Abu Talib (Muhammad’s protector) die in 619

• In the same year, Muhammad’s Night Journey takes place. A winged horse carries Muhammad to meet earlier prophets (like Abraham and Moses) and then finally through the seven layers of heaven to meet God.

• The ruling elite feared Muhammad and his followers and began to persecute them; Makkans refused to do business with Muslims (in 624, fighting broke out between the Muslims and the Makkans;; after a rief truce, Muslims took Makkah and destroyed idols at the Ka’ba and rededicated it to Allah.)

The Life of Muhammad:Conclusion

• Muhammad's life was cut short by his sudden death on June 8, 632 at about 60 years old

• Within 100 years, Islam spread across the world, occupying more territory than the Roman Empire

The Expansion of Islam, 632-750

Koran (or the Qur'an)

• Introduction– God's revelations to Muhammad

• The Creation of the Book– Muhammad and his followers recited and

memorized these verses (Muhammad was illiterate)

– Scribes wrote down the passages

– 651 Caliph Uthman established an official edition of the Qur’an and destroyed other versions

– Muhammad called the Qur’an Allah’s “standing miracle”

– Muslims memorize the Qur’an in Arabic

Koran (or the Qur'an)

• The Content

– A) The Koran as a book is comparable in length to the Gospels

– B) Chapters of the Koran follow in descending order of length

– C) Many commandments, few stories

– D) Introduced life after death and heaven & hell (divine reckoning)

– E) The Qur’an provides general commands to perform The Five Pillars of Faith

The Sunnah

• “The Practice”– The example that Muhammad set for Muslims during his

lifetime

– “God forbids all of you to disobey your mothers.”

– Guests should never leave a table hungry.

– Muhammad’s Sunnah is seen as his words and deeds as the chief role model for Muslims

– Hadith (“tradition”): the collection of stories collected by scholars about Muhammad’s behavior

– Explains how to perform The Five Pillars of Faith

The Five Pillars• The believer worships God directly without the intercession of

priests or clergy or saints.

• The believer's duties are summed up in five simple rules, the so-called Five Pillars of Islam:

• 1) Belief SHAHADAH– Declaration of Faith:A Muslim says, “There is no god but God, and Muhammad is

the messenger of God.” (monotheism)Day of Judgment: God will weigh people’s actions The good enter paradise. The evil are sent to hell.

• 2) Worship SALATA) Daily, ritual Prayer Worship God five times a day — at dawn, noon, mid- afternoon, sunset, and nightfall Perform ritual washing Face qibla (the direction of Mecca)

B) All males gather together on Friday for the noon prayer and listen to a sermon by the leader of the community.

The Five Pillars

• 3) Almsgiving ZAKAT– The word means “purification” and purifies

wealth– Muslims must give 1/40 (2.5%) of their

income to the poor– Helps take care of the community

• 4) Fasting SIYAM– Ramadan (9th month on Islamic calendar);

the month God first revealed his message to Muhammad

– Encourages generosity, community, equality, and charity

– Teaches self-control and empathy for the poor and hungry

The Five Pillars

• 5) Pilgrimage HAJJ– The pilgrimage to Makkah in theIslamic year’s 12th month

– All Muslims who are able are expected to go once in a lifetime

– Follow the steps of Abraham and Muhammad

– Wear simple, white clothes and announce themselves by saying, “Here I am, Oh God, at thy command!”

– Circle the Ka’ba seven times

– Run between two small hills as Hagar did

– Pilgrims drink from Zamzam as well

– Sleep in tents at Mina

– Climb Mt. Arafat

– Reject evil by casting stones at pillars representing Satan

– Afterwards, pilgrims celebrate with a four day feast

– Sacrifice animals

– Circle the Ka’ba seven more times before leaving

Jihad

– The word means “to strive”

– Originally meant physical struggle with spiritual significance (Early on this mean protecting territory and extending rule over other regions, but the Qur’an forbad forcing others to convert and set specific terms for fighting…)

– Jihad represents the struggle to overcome difficulties and do things that would be pleasing to God.

– Examples include: working to become better people, reforming society, or correcting injustice

– “Lesser jihad” = external struggle against oppression “Greater jihad” = the fight against evil within oneself (e.g. giving up a bad habit)

– Muslims should fulfill jihad with heart, tongue, and hand

Shari’ah: Islamic Law

• “The path to be followed” • Covers Muslims’ duties to God• Guides Muslims in behavior and relationships• Promotes obedience to the Qur’an and respect for others• Islamic Law guides Muslim life by placing actions into one of

five categories:– Forbidden– Discouraged– Allowed– Recommended– Obligatory (required)

• Today most Muslim countries apply only some parts of Islamic Law, but it continues to develop in response to modern ways

Two Main Braches of IslamThere are two main branches of Islam today:

•Sunni recognized Mu’awiyah, the leader of the Umayyads, as a Caliph, Muslim Ruler.

•Shi’a “party” of Ali ibn Abi Talib•Believe that only people directly related to Muhammad through his son-in-law Ali should be caliph

•In all other ways Sunni and Shiite are very similar, but this split lasts to this day.

Muslims view other religions:

• Muslims believe that God had previously revealed Himself to the earlier prophets of the Jews and Christians

• Muslims therefore accept the teachings of both the Jewish Torah and the Christian Gospels and consider them “People of the Book”

• They believe that Qur’an contains God’s final revelations to the world

Moses

Contributions of Muslims to World Civilizations

• Islamic civilization flowered throughout the vast Muslim Empire, from Cordoba, Spain to Baghdad, Iraq

• Muslims learned from other cultures and passed this information on to Europeans

• Also learned from Greek works and produced new scientific, medical, and philosophical texts

City Building and Architecture

• Abbasid capital of Baghdad

• “The round city”

• Soon Baghdad was one of the world’s largest cities

• The Mosque

Muslim House

of Worship

Scholarship & Learning

• “The ink of scholars is more precious than the blood of martyrs.” --Muhammad

• Arabic language promoted learning; scholars far and wide could share ideas

• Great centers of learning sprung up

• Studied Greeks

• Ibn Sina: Islam’s most famous philosopher

Science and Technology

Qur’an instructed Muslims to learn more

Zoology• Presented theories about evolution

and established zoos

Astronomy• Wanted to learn more about the universe

• Used compasses and astrolabes

Irrigation and Underground Wells• Helped them make the most of their scarce water supplies

• Built dams, aqueducts, canals, underground wells, and water wheels

Geography and Navigation• Geography: Muslim scholars

examined plants, divided the world into climate zones, created accurate maps and travelers’ guides, calculated the Earth’s circumference within 9 miles of its actual size (during Medieval times when most educated people believed the Earth was round)

Mathematics

• Based ideas on Greek and Indian knowledge

• Al-Khwarizmi = the father of algebra

• European scholars studied Al-Khwarizmi’s work

• We still use Arabic numerals today

• Muslims also spread the Indian concept of zero (zero=“something empty” in Arabic)

Medicine

• Learned from Greeks, Mesopotamians, and Egyptians and improved on this earlier knowledge

• World’s first hospitals (governmnet sponsored)• Pharmicists: made hundreds of medications• Doctors conducted surgeries• The Canon of Medicine by Persian philosopher

Ibn Sina• Impacted Western Medicine a great deal

Bookmaking and Literature

• In the 8th century, Muslims learned the art of bookmaking from the Chinese

• Craftspeople turned bookmaking into an art form

• Storytelling and Poetry were highly prized

• Arabian Nights was hugely popular

• The poetry of 13th century

Sufi Poet, Rumi

Art and Music• Art of shapes and patterns found in

nature

• Illuminated manuscripts

• Arabesque

• Calligraphy: art of beautiful handwriting (Wrote poetry everywhere)

• Textiles: clothes showed rank and status

• Music—Ziryab established Europe’s first music conservatory

• Singing was essential in Muslim Spain’s musical culture

Recreation

Muslims helped popularize two favorite

pastimes:

Polo – Muslims learned from the Persians

= “Sport of Kings”

Chess – probably invented in India; Persians introduced chess to the Muslim world in 600s

Popular in all levels of society

Muslims adapted and improved these games