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“Islam” means submission or surrender to God or Allah
ISLAM is the religion…..a MUSLIM is a
person who follows the religion of Islam
Crescent Moon and Star
Green
ORGANIZATION: A decentralized and egalitarian
system of tribes
CLIMATE: Mostly desert
WORK: Trade, camels (transportation and raising),
pastoralists (raising sheet and goats), cultivated dates
and other crops
Tribal conflicts (a lot of violence)
Religion: polytheism/animism
Muhammad in MeccaMuhammad was born around 570 CE
He annually went on a meditation retreat to a cave
In 610 CE he received revelations from the angel
Gabriel (which makes Muhammad a prophet)
These revelations became the holy Islamic book:
The Quran (Koran)
Muhammad taught a monotheistic religion
Corrupt government (Quraish), people believed in many
gods, a lot of inequality (women, slaves)
Muhammad‟s initial followers were his wife and other
family members
Islam offered social equality, especially for women
Why would the Quraish be afraid of this and what
would they do?
Muhammad‟s insistence on one God threatened the
position, power and roles of tribal leaders, including the
Quraish.
Tolerance of the religion but not acceptance….until
Muhammad‟s protectors died in 619 CE
The Quraish debate the impact of a new religion and
what to do about Muhammad (16th Century painting)
•The migration started on July 16, 622 CE
•This is the beginning of Islamic communal history and
calendar
•What year is it on the Islamic calendar?
(2010-622 = ?)
Uses AH, After Hijra instead of AD (Anno Domino)
•Muhammad and his followers fled to Medina where he
was welcome and had many followers
•In Medina Muhammad also became a government
leader
•He built an army and in 630 CE defeated Mecca's
army and took over the city.
•Muhammad passed in 632 CE
Tribes in the Arabian peninsula united and started conquering
other places.
Spread & adoption of Islam: political/economic advantage
(protection tax, ability to join army = advancement, religious
tolerance, stability, charged lower taxes)
The Five Pillars How a Muslim should live
Based on what is written in the Koran and on
Muhammad‟s life.
1. Faith
- Shahadah = “to bear witness”: “I bear witness that
thereis no God but Allah. I bear witness that
Muhammad is his Messenger.”
2. Daily Prayers
-Five prayers a day facing Mecca
- Pray at a mosque or on a mat
-Men and women can not pray together in a mosque
-Friday is the Muslim holy day
SalatMK Storm is a prayer time reminder for
Muslims who own a blackberry storm. Prayer times
are calculated based on celltower information or
based on the internal GPS, therefore its not required
anymore to select the city you are currently in.
SalatMK Storm Also contains a Hijri calander with
notification of important date
http://www.jonathantan.org/355/
The Koran
- It is the literal word of God, directly transmitted
to Muhammad who then recited it to his followers
- Written in 644-656 CE
- It is the focus of traditional Islamic education
- Oral recitation is highly valued
3. Zakat, “poor tax”
- Purifies one‟s profits and property
- 2.5% of accumulated annual wealth
4. Observance of Sawm, Ramadan
- Gives Muslims a sense of what it‟s like being
poor and to suffer
- 9th month of the lunar calendar
- Reminds people of their dependence on God
- Increases compassion
- It is a time of renewal
- Fasting (no food, no liquids, no injections
from dawn until dusk)
5. Hajj, Pilgrimage to Mecca
- 5 day journey by all physically and financially
able persons
- Once in a person‟s life
HISTORY
-2000 BCE/BC
-Ishmael (son of Hagar and Abraham) and Hagar
were stranded in the desert
-Ishmael was dying of thirst
-Hagar ran back and forth between the hills of Safa
and Marwa
looking for water when Gabriel (angel) descended
and created
a fresh water well which was named Zemzem
Muhammad made the first hajj in 630 AD to
Mecca when he went to the rock and removed all
polytheistic idols and re-dedicated the rock to Allah.
http://www.pbs.org/muhammad/index.shtml
• You are required to
dress only in an ihram,
a garment consisting of
two sheets of white
cloth draped over the
body
– Intended to show the
equality of all pilgrims
in the eyes of Allah
• The holiest part of the hajj is the
journey to the Kaaba
– The Kaaba is considered the
first sanctuary on Earth
dedicated to the worship of the
one God
– spiritually considered by
Muslims to be the center of the
world
– In the Masjid al-Haram mosque
in Mecca, Saudi Arabia
– The Kaaba is the building
towards which Muslims face 5
times a day, everyday, in prayer
– must circle the Kaaba 7 times in
a counter-clockwise direction
• Pilgrims next travel to visit the city of Medina and the
Mosque of the Prophet, where Muhammad is buried
-pilgrims then travel to the city of Mina
just outside of Mecca, and participate in
the stoning of the devil.
-Requires throwing 7 stones at the three
pillars at Mina, which represent the devil.
-The pillars stand at three spots where Satan is
believed to have tempted Abraham to defy God
- -After stoning the devil, many pilgrims will
then shave their head
- -women cut off a lock of their hair, as a symbol
of rebirth, to show that their sins have been
cleansed by completing the Hajj
Sharia Laws
- Primary source: Qur‟an/Koran and Hadith (a
book that tells you how Muhammad lived his life)
- “the path to the oasis”
- Aim: Build a just and peaceful society
- A path to reaching paradise
- Interpretations change with time and place but
the will of God to have a Sharia law in place
doesn‟t change.
Hadd offenses= sexual intercourse with someone outside
of marriage, alcohol consumption, highway robbery,
theft, murder
PUNISHMENTS OF HADD OFFENSES:
- Adultery: Stoning to Death (not written in Koran)
-Theft : Amputate Hand
- Alcoholism: 80 Lashes
- Being alone in the company of an unrelated person of
the opposite sex: 80-90 Lashes
In 2004, the province of Aceh in northwestern Indonesia adopted sharia
Egypt recognizes Sharia but chooses not to enforce severe
Hadd penalties as part of state law. Instead, adultery is often
punished with short prison sentences.
Not all Islamic countries use Sharia
Parts of Sudan, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Iran
are all known to have adopted the Sharia punishment code
but still enforce its harshest penalties with varying levels of
consistency
In 2000, 12 predominantly Muslim northern states in Nigeria adopted Sharia
• What can you conclude about Sharia and how it
compares to the system of law you may be most familiar
with, the American system, in terms of flexibility and
interpretation?
• What do you think should be allowable forms of
punishment for the most severe crimes? Why?
• Are harsh punishments, such as amputations and
death ever justified? Explain.
• Who should determine what the most serious crimes are
and how frequently the most severe punishments should
be used?
• When should individual freedoms (including freedom from
harsh punishments as well as intrusions into one's privacy)
be protected, regardless of the costs to society?
• What do you think about the charges?
Islam and Women
Single set of rules meant women were treated better in
Islamic society than they had been before
War meant that women could be widowed. So, men
could marry up to 4 women
as long as he could treat them EQUALLY
Women had rights in decision making and community
participation, and property/inheritance. Economic rights as
individuals and security (European women didn‟t gain
these rights until the 19th century)
“O Prophet, tell your wives and your daughters and the
women of the believers to draw their cloaks close round
them (when they go abroad). That will be better, so that
they may be recognised and not annoyed. Allah is ever
Forgiving, Merciful.” (Quran 33:59)
“And say to the believing women that they should lower their gaze and
guard their modesty; that they should not display their beauty and
ornaments except what must ordinarily appear therof; that they should
draw their veils over their bosoms and not display their beauty except
to their husbands, their fathers, their husbands‟ fathers, their sons,
their husbands‟ sons, their brothers, or their brothers‟ sons or their
sisters‟ sons, or their women or the servants whom their right hands
possess, or male servants free of physical needs, or small children
who have no sense of the shame of sex, and that they should not
strike their feet in order to draw attention to their hidden ornaments.
And O you Believers, turn you all together towards Allah, that you may
attain Bliss.” (Quran 24:31).
Veils and headdress existed before Islam (Greece, Persia,
Byzantine Christian world, India.
Muslims in their first century at first were relaxed about
female dress. When the niece of Aishah Bint Abu Bakr (the
Prophet‟s wife), Aisha bint Talha was asked by her
husband Musab to veil her face, she answered, "Since the
Almighty hath put on me the stamp of beauty, it is my wish
that the public should view the beauty and thereby
recognized His grace unto them. On no account, therefore,
will I veil myself."
In the second century, only the wealthy women wore it
as a status symbol.
Important to understand that Sharia is
DECENTRALIZED (no central authority)
so that means Sharia is dependent on the traditions
of the country in which Islam was adopted (as it
spread).
Example: Afghanistan – the harsh laws against women are
more based on tribal laws than Islam
Example: Malaysia – their tradition give women important roles
so they ignore the law of secluding women
The Qu'ranic prescription to "draw their veils over their
bosoms" became interpreted by some as an injunction to
veil one's hair, neck and ears.
Only her husband and close relatives are allowed to see a woman with her hijab off, and it must be inside
Otherwise, the woman commits a sin and embarrasses her family
The main principle reason for the hijab is modesty, which is
not wishing to receive unnecessary attention from people,
such as admiration and flattery
Muslim women are required in Islam to cover themselves whenever they are outside of their homes or in the presence men
BASIC REASONS FOR WEARING A HIJAB
• An Iranian school girl states, "We want to
stop men from treating us like sex objects,
as they have always done. We want them
to ignore our appearance and to be
attentive to our personalities and mind. We
want them to take us seriously and treat us
as equals and not just chase us around for
our bodies and physical looks."
• “It represents beauty to me.”
• “It's not oppression; it's not that I'm accepting degradation --it's about self-respect."
Rowaida Abdelaziz, a 17-yr.-old
Egyptian girl living in the US
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jZIaL2ECgY
Sunni-Shia Split
Shia are a minority (10-15% of the Muslim population)
Shia
Sunni
Iran, Southern Iraq, Southern Lebanon
Saudi Arabia, Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan
India
Muhammad dies…….so who‟s going to be the leader now?
Most of Muhammad‟s followers wanted the elders of the
Muslim community to choose who will be the next leader. A
person who is best able to lead the community (Sunni)
A smaller group believed that the Prophet‟s relatives or
descendants should become the next leader because they
have divine inspiration. (Shia)
Shia wanted Ali to become the next leader of Islam. He was
married to the Prophet‟s daughter Fatima.
The Sunni-Shia Split
-It‟s All About Family-
Abu Talib
Muhammad‟s Uncle
Khadija
(First Wife)Prophet Muhammad
Abu BakrFriend and Early Convert
Aisha
FatimaAliMuhammad‟s Cousin
Muhammad‟s Succession
• 632- Muhammad dies, leaving no confirmed successor*
• Disagreement among clans on who will lead the faith- bloodline (Ali) or the one most capable
• The Ummah (the Islamic community) elects Muhammad‟s father-in-law (through his wife Aisha) Abu Bakr to lead the faith. He becomes the first Caliph - the leader of the Ummah.
The Rashidun (632-661)The Rule of the Four Righted Guided Caliphs
Name Ruled Died Known For
Abu Bakr
1st Caliph
632-634
elected
Natural causes, appointed his
successor
Quelled rebellion and united
Arabia
Umar ibn al-Khattab
2nd Caliph
634-644
appointed
Stabbed in a Medina mosque by a POW with a personal grudge.
Wars of expansion (power not religion
but religion followed) to the
greater Middle East
Uthman ibn Affan
3rd Caliph
644-656
elected
Assassinated by those from the elite of
Medina over the rise of status and power of
the Umayyad clan.
Expanded the empire to North Africa and
Central Asia- but with much political cost. Standardized the
Qu’ran.
Ali ibn Abu Talib
4th Caliph/1st Imam
656-661
elected
Assassinated by Kharajiites, a
group of dissenters to Ali’s rule
Ruled during the first Fitnah (civil war). His
place in history is denoted more for who
he was rather than what he did.
The first two caliphs (God‟s rep on earth) were killed,
including Ali. Ali was killed in 661 in Iraq.
Ali‟s son Hussein became the next caliph. He was
decapitated (head chopped off) and the head was taken
to the Sunni leader at the time who lived in Damascus
(Syria). Buried in Karbalah (Iraq). MARTYR.
Sunni Shia
Violence
The Martyrdom of Hussein is celebrated by Shia, this day is called Ashura. http://video.nytimes.com/video/2009/12/29/world/1247466318663/ashura-in-afghanistan.html
Other differences between Sunni and
Shia
• Names of leaders
– caliphs (deputy, successor to the Prophet) or imams (religious leader)
- Shia call their leaders Imams, Ali being the first. The Imams have
taken on a divine qualities which the Sunnis view as going against
Islam and it is a sin because it is associating human beings with
divinity.
• Prayer
• Mosques
– Sunni mosques have domes and minarets, while Shi‟ites combine their mosques and community centers
– Sunni mosques also are more conservative, with no pictures as those are considered forms of idolatry, while Shi‟ite mosques are adorned with pictures of Imam Ali
Sunni Shia
Violence
Colonialism Bad government
decisionsPolitics
(=power)
Balance of power
Strategic interest: oil
RELIGIOUS VIOLENCEDifferent interpretation of religious text which
leads to sects and to sectarian violence
Blaise Pascal: "Men never do evil so cheerfully and
so completely as when they do so from religious
conviction."
Different levels: National, ethnic, family
Jihad- Important concept in both Sunni and Shia Islam, signifies a struggle. Two types, the struggle within (which the Qu‟ran deals mainly with), and the struggle (wars of religion) without. Shia consider the inner Jihad an essential element of the faith.
WAHHABISM
- Started in the 18th Century by Ibn Abd al-Wahhab in
present day Saudi Arabia to purify the corruption within
Islam
- Puritanical, extreme, austere, militant form of Sunni Islam
- They perceive non-Wahhabi Muslims to be sinners or
infidels.
- A belief that Islamic practice needed to return to a
"purer" interpretation of the religion's fundamental texts
“The religion of the Wahhabists may be called the
Protestantism or even Puritanism of the Muslims.”
J.H. Burckhardt in 1929
“The Wahhabi acknowledges the Quran as a divine
revelation; his principle is, „The Quran, and nothing
but the Quran‟… He reproves the Muslims of this age,
for their impious vanity in dress, their luxury in eating
and smoking. All of [the Wahhabists] dress in the most
simple garments, having neither about their persons,
nor their horses, any gold or silver; they abstain from
smoking… They reject music, singing, dancing, and
games of every kind…”
Wahhabism
• the guiding
ideology behind
modern Islamist
terrorism
– Osama bin Laden,
who grew up and
lived in Saudi
Arabia, adheres
to this sect
• True Muslims:
– Had to swear absolute loyalty to their imam
– Follow his teaching in every aspect
– Join him in armed jihad against all
apostates and unbelievers
• In return, followers were promised the
protection of God and were assured of
an immediate ascent to heaven if they
die as martyrs for Islam