Islam

Overview

No intermediaries
The role of humankind is to submit, stewardship
Born fit to go to heaven
Reward (paradise), or punishment (hell), based on an individuals deeds
o Christians and Jews will also be reawakened and judged at that same time
Muhammad was the final prophet whose word is superior to any of the previous
prophets

BackgroundHistory

Ishmael and Esau (son of Isaac), according to the Bible, are the common
ancestors of the Arab people
Muslims maintain that Ishmael all along was the one who was to inherit that
which Abraham had
Muslims say that it was Ishmael, not Isaac, who was offered as a sacrifice to God
Descendants of Ishmael and Esau were desert dwellers in Arabia
The black stone of Mecca, where the Kaaba is located, had become a site of
religious pilgrimage

LifeofMuhammadandOriginofIslam

Born approximately 570 CE

Orphaned by the age of six (an orphan was a social outcast)
His uncle, Abu Talib, took him into his family and raised him as one of his own
children
Was first a shepherd, later caravanned as a camel driver
595, he took an order, as part of a caravan, to Damascus, Syria, for a wealthy
widow by the name of Khadijah
o He returned and married Khadija
By the year 610 or 612 CE, he had begun a personal religious quest
He would go into the caves that were in the mountains near Mecca, meditating
and seeking and searching
One day in the year 610 or 612 CE, he claimed an angel, Gabriel, appeared to him
o Revealed to him that Allah had heard his prayers and wanted him to know
that there was but one God, Allah
o Allah was calling him to go back to his people and to proclaim this to
them
Muhammad returned to the city of Mecca and began proclaiming this message
o Most people in Mecca resisted it
619 both his uncle, Abu Talib, and his wife, Khadijah, died

o The death of Abu Talib removed all political and social protection from
Muhammad
o By 621, Muslims could no longer continue to live in Mecca
o Migration of Muslims to Medina- Hijrah(migration)
Marks beginning of Muslim calendar
He became a political, economic, and social leader in Medina
o Result was a religious tradition in which one cannot separate the political
and the religious spheres
Raid on Meccan caravan
o Leads to retaliation
o Both perceived as victories
628 CE, Muhammad sought to make a pilgrimage to Mecca
o Took a large group of followers
o 629 CE, first Hajj-pilgrimage
o Meccans the pilgrimage
o city became a religious center for Islam
Tension between Jews
o Some accounts of Jews being massacred
626 onward, a tremendous rift exists between the Jews and the Muslims
Prayer towards Mecca instituted
Month-long Ramadan celebration was instituted
o Became the celebration of Muhammads receiving the first of what he
claimed were revelations from Allah in 610 or 612 CE
The Umma
o Shift from the tribal character of Arabia
o Muslims had to give up individual identities and become part of the
Umma
Islam conceives of the world as two spheres
o The Muslim sphere
o The sphere of war or struggle/jihad (the non-Muslim sphere)
Muhammad considered himself Moses of the Arabs
Muhammad died in 632 CE after a weeks illness
Whoever succeeded Muhammad would only be a temporal religious leader
o Assume the religious as well as the political leadership

IslamaftertheDeathofMuhammad:DevelopmentandDivision

Abu Bakr- first Caliph (successor)

o Abu Bakr died in 634 CE
Umar- second caliph
o Major military power
o 635 CE, he entered Damascus and the region of the Levant
o 636 CE, new front going the opposite direction, toward the east into the

Mesopotamian Valley and Iran

o 639 CE, Egypt began to fall to his control.
o Died in 644 CE
Had not named his successor
Two factions again arose among the elders
Ali vs Uthman
o Uthman had a reputation as a drunk, and a licentious womanizer who grew
fat and happy off of the wealth of the raids that the army continued
prosecuting.
In 656 CE, Ali was chosen to be the new Caliph
o Damascus, Levant, Egypt, and other areas in North Africa refused to
recognize Ali as the Caliph
In 661, in a battle located in Mesopotamia, the forces of Ali were overpowered by
the forces of Muawiya(nephew of Uthman)
o Ali was killed
o Muawiya gained complete control of the Muslim world
Made Damascus his capital
The supporters of Ali came together, ideologically speaking, as Shiites
o An Imam was a religious leader who had divinely endowed authority to
interpret the Quran
o Shiism believes Ali was the first Imam
Those who support the Caliphs of Muawiya and his family are known as the
Sunni

Division

About 90 percent of all Muslims are Sunni

Sunni have dominated the political world of Islam
o Wherever Islam has spread, almost always it has been Sunni Islam
The Shiites have always been in the minority
o Poor and the oppressed within the Muslim world
The word Sunni means orthodox
Dont consider each other true Muslims
Shiites celebrate the martyrdom of a son of Ali

SourcesofAuthority

Quran, is considered to be the very words of Allah

o Not open to inter- pretation or criticism, and is the only basis for
submission
o Contains 114 chapters, called Suras, and is a little bit shorter than the New
Testament in length
o Themes in the Quran include the nature of Allah, the eternity of the human
soul, and judgment

o Directions on day-to-day life in the religion: worship, marriage, divorce,

the position of women, fasting, alms, and pilgrimage
The Hadiths: a collections of three different traditions:
o Sayings of Muhammad (not included in the Quran)
o Deeds of Muhammad (not in the Quran)
o Things to which Muhammad gave his silent approval
o The Sunni have six collections of Hadiths. The Shiites have five
o Contain detailed instructions on prayer and other Muslim practices and
beliefs
o Hadiths are not regarded as the very words of Allah
o Are open to scholarly criticism
Sharia: Muslim religious law
o Is believed to be structured from decisions that have been based in the
Quran and the Hadiths
There are no clergy in Islam as such, only religious leaders such as Mullahs and
Ulamas and the Ayatollahs
o Serve as an information reservoir and interpreter of Islam
Sufi movement attempts to have a more personal religious experience
o Sufism is found today among both the Sunnis and the Shiites

FivePillars

The prayer(Salat)
o Five times a day (morning, noon, mid-afternoon, evening, and bedtime)
o Act of submission to Allah, an act of love
o At the appointed time, one must wash certain portions of the body, remove
the shoes, and turn in the direction of Mecca
Alms (Zakat)
o Tax imposed by the Muslim religion on all Muslims
o 2 1/2 percent of certain kinds of income
Ramadan(Sawn)
o Ninth month of the Muslim year
o Month of fasting
o Commemoration marking the first revelation that Muhammad claimed to
have received from Allah
o Approximately twenty-eight days
The Hajj
o Pilgrimage to Mecca, every Muslim who can afford to do so is required to
perform at least once
o Emphasizes the oneness and equality of all Muslims
o The person who has made the pilgrimage to Mecca then receives the title
Haj or Haji/Haja
The Witness (Shada)
o Confessions or creeds

o There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is his prophet

Temples,Worship,andDevotion

Mosque
o Constructed like a square box
o Each corner is a tower, one being higher than the others
Minaret, from which a Muezzin sings forth the call to prayer
o Wall nearest to Mecca is a niche, the Mihrab, which points in the direction
of Mecca
The Muslim holy day is Friday
o Men go to the Mosque for prayer
Usually the noontime prayer
Jihad
o Means a struggle
o Muhammad himself probably meant the inner struggle to be obedient to
Allah more than a military action or holy war

IslaminAmerica

Probably, the second largest religion and the fastest growing religion in America
About two-thirds are immigrants; one-third are converts, mostly African
Americans
Conversion of African American was encouraged as a separation from white
oppression who were mostly Christians
Christianity was seen as part of the scheme of oppression
Islam was interpreted as a means to regain self-pride and self-identity
Conversion to Islam was strongly encouraged in the early twentieth century
Islam in America is not monolithic
Muslim movements in the United States
o Noble Drew Alis Moorish Science Temple of America
1913Noble Drew Ali started a movement which later became
known as the Moorish Science Temple of America
Ali declared his mission as divinely inspired to uplift fallen
humanity
The movements modest lifestylemodest dress, gender roles,
traditional family structure, and community solidaritywas a
model of attraction
o The Ahmadiyyah Movement
A missionary movement from India with over ten million global
membership
Published tracts and the Quran in the English language
Helped converts to learn Arabic
Has branches in thirty-eight cities in the United States

o Nation of Islam (Black Muslims)

Founded by Elijah Muhammadthe messenger of Allahin the
1920s
Political focus against white oppression and to empower blacks in
America
Movement undermined by internal conflicts and by allegation of
Elijah Muhammads sexual scandal
Prominent members and subsequent leaders included Malcolm X
(later moved closer to mainstream Islam) and Louis Farrakhan,
current leader
Achievements include combating violence, drug abuse, modest
living, responsibility to ones family, sex education, spiritual
discipline and nurturing, and combating social and political
injustice