In Brief—The Beliefs and Laws of Islamalws.s3.amazonaws.com/New ALWS Web Site/Discover More/Schools... · Email: [email protected] Ph: 1300 763 407 ... Ali ibn Abi Talib. This division

In Brief—The Beliefs and Laws of Islam

Australian Lutheran World Service

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Islam is the religion of allegiance to God and his prophet Mohammed, who lived around 570-632 and came from a family of traders at Mecca. The religion's book of revelation, mediated by the prophet, is the Koran. Islam means "entering into a condition of peace and security with God, through allegiance or surrender to him". Mohammed is said to have received his revelations over a period of 23 years from the Angel Gabriel, who was relaying the word of God. Islam was not a completely new faith but is the third great monotheistic religion. In Muslim eyes, Moham-med completes a succession of prophets, including Abraham, Moses and Jesus, each of whom refined and restated the message of God. Muslims believe the Koran, therefore, corroborates, updates and expands the Old and New Testaments. It contains 114 chapters, written in vivid, rhyming prose, and was settled in its current form within 30 years of Mohammed's death. Main tenets central to Islam is the absolute sense that there can only be one God - Allah - and that he is the source of all creation and disposer of all lives and events. All people should become a single Umma - community - witnessing to that fact. On the day of judgment, all will rise from the dead and be sent to heaven or hell. The Koran contains many moral exhortations, forming the basis of Islamic (Sharia) law. It lays down generosity and fairness and the require-ments for daily prayer, alms giving, abstinence during daylight hours in the month of Ramadan and pilgrimage to Mecca. The five pillars of the Islamic faith - the fundamental constituents of Muslim life - are: • Shahada—the profession of faith in the unique-

ness of Allah and the centrality of Mohammed as his prophet

• Salat—formal worship or prayer • Zakat—the giving of alms for the poor,

assessed on all adult Muslims as 2.5% of capital assets once a year

• Hajj—pilgrimage to Mecca, which every Muslim should undertake at least once in their lifetime

• Sawm—fasting during Ramadan, the holy ninth month of the lunar year.

In 622, Mohammed travelled from Mecca to Medina in the hijrah (emigration) - this forms the starting point in the Muslim dating system. 2010 AD for Christians is Islamic year 1430 AH. After the prophet's death his community split into followers of the successor Abu Bakr and those who supported Mohammed's closest relative, his son-in-law, Ali ibn Abi Talib. This division between Shia (Shiite) (followers of Ali) and Sunni (followers of the custom of the successor) persists to this day. Although both share most of the customs of the religion, Shiites place more emphasis on the guiding role of the imam (priest). About 84% of the world's Muslims are Sunni and about 16% Shiite. Sharia is the divine law of Islam by which Muslims should live their lives. It embraces every aspect of life, including family relations, inheritance, taxation, purification and prayer and observes no distinction between secular and religious law. How far modern Islamic states follow this principle depends on the degree of secularisation they permit. It is essentially laid down by the Koran but has been updated and extended by legal opinion, consensus and custom. Adapted from an article by Stephen Bates, where he explains the basics of Muslim life to non-Muslims with little previous knowledge.

What do Muslims Believe?





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1. What is Islam? The word "Islam" means peace and submission. Peace means to be at peace with yourself and your surroundings and submission means submission to the will of God. This is a religion with a name which signifies a moral attitude and a way of life. 2. Who is Allah? Allah is the Arabic word for "one God". Muslims be-lieve Allah is God of all creations. 3. Who is a Muslim? The word "Muslim" means one who submits to the will of God. In a broader sense, anyone who will-ingly submits to the will of God is a Muslim. Thus, all the prophets preceding the prophet Muhammad are considered Muslims. There are Muslims who are not submitting at all to the will of God and there are Muslims who are doing their best to live an Islamic life. One cannot judge Islam by looking at those individuals who have a Muslim name but in their actions, they are not living or behaving as Muslims. The extent of being a Muslim can be according to the degree to which one is submitting to the will of God, in his beliefs and his actions. 4. Who was Muhammad? In brief, Muhammad was born in a noble tribe of Mecca in Arabia in the year 570 AD. His ancestry goes back to Prophet Ishmael, son of Prophet Abraham (from the Old Testament). His father died before his birth and his mother died when he was six. He did not attend a formal school, but was raised first by a nurse as was the custom those days, and then by his grandfather and uncle. As a young man, he was known as a righteous person who used to meditate in a cave. Muslims believe at age 40, Muhammad was given the prophethood when the angel, Gabriel, appeared in the cave. Subsequently, the revelations came over 23 years and were compiled in the form of a book called the Koran which Muslims consider as the final and the last word of God. Muslims believe the Koran has been preserved, unchanged, in its original form and confirms the truth in the Torah, the psalms and the Gospels. 5. Do Muslims worship Muhammad? No, Muslims do not worship Muhammad or any other prophet. Muslims believe in all prophets including

Adam, Noah, Abraham, David, Solomon, Moses and Jesus. Muslims believe that Muhammad was the last of the prophets. They believe that God alone is to be worshiped, not any human being. 6. What do Muslims think of Jesus? Muslims think highly of Jesus, but do not see him as God, rather as another prophet. The Koran tells Muslims that Jesus was born of a miraculous birth without a father. He was given many miracles as a prophet. God's gifts to Jesus included healing the blind and the sick, reviving the dead and most importantly, the message he was carrying. These miracles were given to him by God to establish him as a prophet. According to the Koran, he was not crucified but was raised into Heaven. 7. Do Muslims have many religious groups? In Islam, there are two major schools of thought, the Shiite and the Sunni. Both have many things in common. They follow the same book - the Koran. They follow the same prophet Muhammad. Both offer their prayers five time a day. Both fast in the month of Ramadan. They both go for hajj, pilgrimage to Mecca. Those who follow Prophet Muhammad, in accordance with his sayings and actions, are called Sunni and those who in addition follow the sayings and views of Ali (Muhammad's son-in-law), as the rightful successor to Prophet Muhammad, are called Shiite. Most Shiites live in Iran and Iraq while the rest of the Muslim world is mostly Sunni. Shiites comprise about 16-percent of the Muslim population.

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8. What are the pillars of Islam? There are five major pillars of Islam which are the articles of faith. These pillars are 1. the belief in one God and that Muhammad is His

messenger, 2. prayers which are prescribed five times a day, 3. fasting which is required in the month of

Ramadan, 4. Charity—giving to the poor, and 5. hajj which is the pilgrimage to Mecca once in a

lifetime if one can afford it physically and financially.

Muslims believe all the pillars of the faith are equal, similar to a building. In their faith, all the pillars should be of equal height and strength in a building in order to give the building its due shape and proportions. It is not possible that one would do hajj without observing fasting or without practicing regular prayers. Likening the faith to a building, the walls of the building are the moral codes, such as honesty, truthful-ness, steadfastness and many other human moral qualities. Thus in order to be a Muslim, one should not only be practicing the pillars of Islam but should also have the highest possible attribute for being a good human being. 9. What is the purpose of worship in Islam? The purpose of worship in Islam is to be God conscious. Thus the worship, whether it is prayer, fasting, or charity, is a means to achieve God consciousness so that when one becomes conscious of God, in thought and in action, he is in a better position to receive His bounties both in this world and the hereafter. 10. Do Muslims believe in heaven? Muslims believe God is just, and those who do good will be rewarded and those who do wrong will be punished accordingly. Thus, they believe he created heaven and hell and there are admission criteria for both. Muslims believe that the present life is a temporary one. It is a test and if we pass the test, we

will be given a life of permanent pleasure in the company of good people in heaven. 12. What is the dress code for Muslims? Islam emphasises modesty. No person should be perceived as a sex object. There are certain guide-lines both for men and women that their dress should neither be too thin nor too tight to reveal body forms. For men, they must at least cover the area from the knee to navel and for women, their dress should cover all areas except the hands and face. The veil is not essential according to the Koran.

13. What are the dietary prohibitions in Islam? Muslims are told in the Koran not to eat pork or pork products, meat of the animals who died before being slaughtered or the carnivo-rous animals (as they eat dead animals), nor drink blood or intoxi-cants such as wine or use any illicit drugs. 14. What is Jihad? The word "Jihad" means struggle, or to be specific, striving in the cause of God. Any struggle done in day-to-day life to please God can be considered Jihad. One of the highest levels of Jihad is to stand up to a tyrant and speak a word of truth. Control of the self

from wrong doings is also a great Jihad. One of the forms of Jihad is to take up arms in defense of Islam or a Muslim country when Islam is attacked. This kind of Jihad has to be declared by the religious leadership or by a Muslim head of state who is following the Koran. The understanding and acceptance of warring jihad is one of the great challenges the Islamic faith faces today. 15. What is the Islamic Year? The Islamic year started from the migration (Hijra) of Prophet Muhammad from Mecca to Medina in 622 AD. It is a lunar year of 354 days. The first month is called Muharram. 2010 AD is in Islamic year 1430 AH.

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16. What are the major Islamic festivals? Idul Fitre marks the end of fasting in the month of Ramadan and is celebrated with public prayers, feasts and exchange of gifts. Idul Adha marks the end of the Hajj or the annual pilgrimage to Mecca. After the public prayers, those who can afford, sacrifice a lamb or a goat to signify Prophet Abraham's obedience to God, shown by his readiness to sacrifice his son Ishmael. 17. What is Sharia Law? Sharia is the comprehensive Muslim law derived from two sources, a) the Koran b) the Sunnah or traditions of Prophet Muhammad. It covers every aspect of daily individual and collective living. The purpose of Islamic laws are protection of individuals' basic human rights to include right to life, property, political and religious freedom and safeguarding the rights of women and minorities. The low crime rate in Muslim societies is due to the application of the strict Islamic laws. 19. Does Islam promote violence and terrorism? Islam in the pure sense is a religion of peace and submission and stresses on the sanctity of human life. A verse in the Koran says that "anyone who saves one life, it is as if he has saved the whole of mankind and anyone who has killed another person (except in lieu of murder or mischief on earth) it is as if he has killed the whole of mankind." This image of Islam is one of the religion’s greatest challenges.

21. Does Islam promote polygamy? Polygamy in Islam is permissible but not an obligation. For Muslim men to have more than one wife is a permission which is given to them in the Koran, not to satisfy lust, but for the welfare of the widows and the orphans of the wars. In the pre-Islamic period, men used to have many wives. One person had 11 wives and when he became Muslim, he asked the Prophet Muhammad, "What should I do with so many wives?" and he said, "Divorce all except the four." The Koran says, "you can marry 2 or 3 and up to 4 women if you can be equally just with each of them" (4:3). Since it is very difficult to be equally just with all wives, in practice, most of the Muslim men do not have more than one wife. 22. Does Islam oppress women? The issue of the treatment of women in Islam is highly controversial. Although many Muslims would say ‘no’ to this question, there is much debate surrounding the treatment of women in many Islamic countries (including Indonesia). Some Muslims argue that Islam elevated the status of women 1,400 years ago by giving them the right to divorce, the right to have financial independence and support and the right to be identified as dignified women (wear a Hijab) when in the rest of the world, women had no such rights. They say that women are equal to men in all acts of piety (Koran 33:32). Islam allows women to keep their maiden name after marriage, their earned money and spend it as they

wish, and ask men to be their protector. Prophet Muhammad told Muslim men, "the best among you is the one who is best to his family." Most Muslims would agree that some Muslim men do oppress women today, but would say it is not part of the Islamic faith, rather it is because of their cultural habits or their ignorance about their religion. Some Muslim women will say in public that they do not mind the strict controls on their life, but many women want more freedoms. Information for What Do Muslims Believe comes from a variety of sources: Islam Guide: What do Muslims Believe about Jesus? www.islam-guide.com/ch3-10.htm What Do Muslims Believe? www.islamic-dictionary.com/what-do-muslims-believe.php Islamic Information Centre www.islamicinformationcentre.co.uk

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Adapted from an essay by Fr. Theodore Pulcini Muslims now constitute a significant minority in Western countries, most notably France, Britain, Germany, Canada, and the United States, and are becoming more popular in Australia. Islam is no longer just "over there," an exotic feature of distant cultures; it is a well-established component of our own religious landscape. In some cases, people have an alarmist view that fuels the antagonism ("Muslims are taking over the world!"); in others, the indignation of post-modern Westerners who resent the very existence of a powerful religious tradition which seems to foster "unenlightened" values ("Islam is intolerant, it oppresses women”, etc.). It is a situation fraught with the real possibility of bigotry and violence. We can either stoke the fires of antagonism, feeding into the dominant societal trend of "demonising" Islam and Muslims; or we can fight those fires, challenging people to come to a well-informed, balanced appreciation of this "other" in our midst. Here are some ways we can become more informed and appreciate the Islamic faith: First, expose the caricatures—both our own and those of others. Such caricatures are usually based on the assumption that Islam is monolithic and that Muslim communities are homogeneous. Both assumptions are false. Just as there are many "Christianities," there are many "Islams" and most have very little to do with "Islamism," that militant, extremist fringe of Islam which, despite its claim to "traditionalism," actually violates such perennial Islamic values as tolerance, forbearance, hospitality, and broad-mindedness. Second, reflect on what underlies our tendency to caricature Islam. Many in the Christian world have thrown themselves headlong into the process of challenging the traditional shape of our society and want to eradicate the very memory of its "oppressive" structures. Modernity is uncomfortable with the demands of

tradition. When Islam presents itself—unabashedly, unashamedly—as a traditional religion, i.e., as a religion based on the structures and values of a traditional cultural system, those who are shaped by secular culture wince. They are reminded of what our own communities once affirmed (and in some quarters, still do affirm) to be true and what was once imposed (and in some quarters, still is imposed) as obligatory. In short, the growing

strength of Islamic identity and the resurgence in Islamic practice only serve to underscore the progressive weakening of Christian identity and the steady diminishment of Christian practice in secular-ised Western societies. We resent Islam's newly found vitality because it draws attention to our present malaise. Third, appreciate the practical, external expres-sions of faith that typify Islamic life. We have much to learn in this regard from Islam. A few years ago even Pope John Paul II pointed to the Muslim fast during the month of Ramadan as an example of the kind of zeal and discipline Christians should, but today rarely do, bring to Lenten fasting. Islam also requires regular prayer -- at least five times a day for the observant Muslim. How many Christians can claim to set aside time for prayer so regularly? Muslims must give alms (zakat), not just when they feel moved to do so but as a requisite part of their religious practice; year by year they return a certain percentage of their wealth to the community to even up the inequalities that separate the "haves" from the "have nots." Do we feel so obliged to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor in our communities? Islamic life requires pilgrimage, an experience now largely de-emphasized in modern Christian life. It requires bodily acts of worship like bowing and prostrating, gestures often dismissed as archaic to the "sophisticated" modern Christian. In short, for all of our talk of "incarnational" Christianity, we are becoming a religion less and less likely to enflesh our religious sentiments in external expression. We stress thought and emotion over physicality, enforcing a kind of neo-Gnosticism that sees religion primarily as a "spiritual" sentiment, having little to do with bodily performance. Islam reminds us of the need for physical religious enactment.

Christians and Muslims

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Christians and Muslims Continued Fourth, highlight the Islamic emphasis on community life and on the individual's account-ability to community standards. As Christianity in the Western world becomes more atomized and Christian spirituality more privatised, Islam provides a strong testimony to the power of community. In a culture where commitment to religious community is becoming increasingly rare, and accountability of any sort (whether to a religious tradition or any other "authority") is seen almost as an infringement of personal rights, the communocen-tric emphasis of Islam can seem somewhat archaic. It should, however, challenge us Christians in particular to revitalize our communal structures, even if that means drawing boundaries between ourselves and "the world," boundaries that have been blurred by encroaching secularization. In re-thinking our definition of religious communities and re-shaping the dynamics of life within them, we can learn some valuable lessons from the Muslim experience. Fifth, use dialogue with Islam as a way not only to increase our appreciation of the Islamic tradition but also to deepen our appreciation of the distinctive features of our own. Make no mistake about it: despite sizeable areas of "common ground," there is a wide theological chasm between Islam and Christianity. It was largely in

reaction to an often distorted presentation of Christian doctrine that Islam formed its own doctrinal heritage. Islamic doctrine challenges us to embrace anew those facets of Christian theology which differentiate us from Muslims—especially the mystery of the Trinity and the divine Sonship of Christ—and then to find new and ever more insight-ful ways of articulating these dogmas. In questioning the central Christian doctrines, Islam serves us well: it requires us to focus specifically on those distinctive beliefs that are constitutive of our view of God and the world and to find more effective ways of proclaiming and explaining them both to those within the "household of Christianity" and to those without. Sixth, and finally, make personal contact with Muslim communities and individuals. It is much more difficult to caricature people we know than those we keep at a distance. Call the local Islamic centre and ask to be put on the mailing list. These centres often sponsor lectures of public interest; attend one and talk to members of the host community. Groups from the mosque and your church may want to exchange visits. Social service programs can provide opportunities for mosque and church to join together in a common cause. The possibilities for such encounters abound and, if realized, usually bear much good fruit.

Challenging people to come to a well-informed, balanced appreciation of Islam will enable us not only to affirm this important "other" in our midst and but also to clarify our own identity as Christians.

Presenters at the Christian Muslim Forum 2009—a Mul ti-Faith event to

encourage people to learn about other faiths in an accurate and informative way.

Fr. Theodore Pulcini, a priest of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America, is Assistant Professor of Religion at Dickinson College, Carlisle.

Documents

In Brief—The Beliefs and Laws of Islamalws.s3.amazonaws.com/New ALWS Web Site/Discover More/Schools... · Email: [email protected] Ph: 1300 763 407 ... Ali ibn Abi Talib. This division