Islam understands itself as a corrective to the Jewish and Christian
religions, stating that they have returned to and reclaimed the original
inspiration of these religions had they remained true to their original
inspiration.
In a 500-word discussion post, explain in detail (using your textbook)
how Islam builds on Christianity and Judaism, as well as how it is
different from them.
Luttio, Mark David. An Introduction to the Study of World Religions. Lynn University Digital
Press, 2017.
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In other words, this covenant is for all of Abraham's descendants-not just
the Jews, but also the Muslims of Ishmael's descent.
Abraham's firstborn son Ishmael-not Isaac, as is the case in the Jewish
narrative, who is the second son. It was Abraham who first declared,
“there is no God but God.” In doing so, God blessed him with a firstborn
son, Ishmael, through Hagar, the second wife of Abraham (according to
Jewish tradition, she was not a wife of Abraham but rather the
maidservant of Sarah).
INTERACTIVE 10.1 History of
Islam Timeline
Centuries later, after generations had
passed and Ishmael's progeny had
forgotten the monotheistic covenant
God made with Abraham and his
offspring, God came to the Prophet
Mohammed through the mouthpiece of
the Angel Gabriel, and over the
following 23 years, gave him the words
of the Qur'an-the book that calls
people back to true faith.
After Isaac's birth, through Sarah, Hagar and Ishmael were sent into the
Arabian desert by Abraham at Sarah's insistence after a fit of jealousy.
Ishmael and his mother Hagar settled in Mecca, which was the site of
Adam's first worship of God and the sanctuary which Abraham and
Ishmael constructed. There,
the Ka'bah (a large black
meteorite) was located.
"NO LONGER WILL YOU BE CALLED
According to tradition, God
ABRAM: YOUR NAME WILL BE
instructs Abraham to make
ABRAHAM, FOR I HAVE MADE YOU A
the Ka'bah a place of
FATHER OF MANY NATIONS. I WILL
MAKE YOU VERY FRUITFUL; I WILL pilgrimage. While Abraham
MAKE NATIONS OF YOU, AND KINGS
is the founder and model of
WILL COME FROM YOU. I WILL
ESTABLISH MY COVENANT AS AN
monotheistic faith (as
EVERLASTING COVENANT BETWEEN witnessed by his absolute
ME AND YOU AND YOUR
surrender to God's will in the
DESCENDANTS AFTER YOU FOR THE
GENERATIONS TO COME, TO BE YOUR
narrative of sacrificing
GOD AND THE GOD OF YOUR
Isaac), it is Ishmael that
DESCENDANTS AFTER YOU." GENESIS
gives rise to the line of
17:5-7
descendants that reclaim
and renew the faith of
monotheism with the birth of
Mohammed in the sixth
century. In short, Muslims understand themselves to be God's chosen
people through the lineage of Ishmael, Abraham's first-born son and true
heir, through which the blessing of God is handed down. Witness the
passage of sacred narrative from the first book of the Torah, Genesis:
When Mohammed was 40 years old, in
the year 610 C.E., he was making a spiritual retreat during the lunar
month of Ramadan and first heard the words of the Angel Gabriel while in
a cave in a high outcrop of rock on Mount Hira (seen on the next page),
outside the city of Mecca. The first word he heard was, “Recite!” or
“Proclaim!,” which in Arabic is “Qur'an!" But he hesitated, saying that he
was a man unschooled and illiterate. Three times the angel repeated
himself, and finally Mohammed cried out, "What say I proclaim?" The
answer came, “Proclaim, in the name of thy Lord and Cherisher...” For
the next 23 years, he received these messages from God, writing them
down on an assortment of parchments. Eventually, they were compiled
and meticulously transcribed by his followers in the wake of the prophet's
death, thus composing the Holy Qur'an, which was canonized in 650 C.E.
Today, a devout Muslim will commit all 114 chapters (called Surahs) to
memory, being assured of the exactitude of accuracy of the text handed
down over the past 1,400 years-hardly a small feat. It should be noted
that the veracity of the text is maintained, even while avoiding the
historical-critical scrutiny demanded by scholarship. For this reason the
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INTERACTIVE 10.2 Sects of Islam Map
Qur'an has always been understood as a sacred text to be spoken
(recited) aloud, rather than read silently.
The very sound of the text is understood as holy, and further, the very
language in which it was first recited (Arabic) is considered holy and thus
the only recognized version of the Qur'an. God gives the Qur'an
verbatim, to Mohammed. Interestingly, the Qur'an has many of the same
stories (sometimes told in different form) from Jewish and Christian
scriptures, as these narratives are considered to be part of the essential
fabric of Islam.
Iraq & Iran
Medina
Mecca
The ensuing story of Mohammed's life is a fascinating one, pocked with
struggle, doubt, flight, and final vindication among his kinsmen and the
people of Mecca. Trade was a vital economic stream for the Meccans,
and Mohammed's ideas threatened to disrupt business. In 622, in flight
SUNNI
HANAFI
HANBALI
MALIKI
SHAFI'I
SHIA
ISMAILI
JAFARI
ZAIDI
OTHER
OTHER
IBADI
'
am
اقرابه
نه نمل
الزيات
میلانیان
(in Arabic called the Hijrah) under cover of night to the city of Medina,
Mohammed made his new home where they accepted him and his
teachings, quickly converting the people to this new way of life, unifying
the political powers with the spiritual/religious powers of his new-old
religion, and seeing them integrally unified (rather than separate, as is the
case in much of the modern world). For this reason, Medina is
affectionately called, "City of the Prophet" and 622 C.E. is considered the
first year of the Muslim calendar. As an interesting side note, when
Mohammed was a teenager traveling with his uncle, a Christian monk in
Syria first noticed Mohammed and the “mark of God” upon him, calling
him a prophet (Fisher, p. 379). In the year 630 C.E., Mohammed
triumphantly returned to Mecca with a large army, bloodlessly taking over
Mt. Hira Cave
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the city as the inhabitants are persuaded not to fight. He
also commanded his followers to respect and protect the
Jews and Christians of his day as “people of the book,"
believing that they would eventually convert to his faith on
their own.
Two years later, the prophet passed away. With the
election of Mohammed's trusted friend and confidant Abu
Bakr as the first caliph (meaning “deputy of God” in
Arabic), the spread of Islam began in earnest. For the
next 100 years, Islam spread into Europe, North Africa,
the rest of the Middle East, and much of Asia. Though
the Qur'an forbids coercion as a means of conversion,
citing instead that people of other faiths will naturally want
to convert when they see the beautiful way of life of the
Islamic faith, subsequent history is rife with examples of
anything but this happening. It should be noted, though,
that nearly all religions of the world have the unfortunate
blot of forced conversion as a part of their history.
နိုင်
PONOSCO
PRADES
Succession: Sunni & Shi'a
i
After Mohammed's death, some of the followers felt
strongly that the successor (caliph) should be a blood
relative of the prophet. In this case, they insisted it should
be Ali, the cousin and son-in-law of the prophet, being
married to his favorite daughter Fatima. The prevailing
consensus was that the blood lineage of succession
should not matter, and rather it should be decided by
majority affirmation. Herein lies the greatest difference
between the two prevailing sects of Islam through the
ages. The former, those who insist on blood-lineage of
succession, are called Shi'ites, making up about 10-15%
of the world's Muslim population and primarily found in
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present day Iran, parts of Iraq, Pakistan, India and pockets elsewhere.
The latter, those who believe that succession should be decided by vote
of affirmation and consensus of the Muslim Ummah (Arabic for
"community'), are called Sunni, making up the majority of Muslims across
the globe at 85-90% of the population (Pew Research Center 2012.) It is,
in short, a problem of succession that divides the Muslim world from its
beginnings through the present.
Only with the abolishment of the Caliphate in 1924 by the Ottoman Empire
(and its Turkish National Assembly), after 1,300 years of an unbroken
chain of successors dating back to Mohammed, did this unified system of
governance and religious uniformity come to an end. That is, until the
specter of ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant/Syria) reared its
horrific head, claiming to be the legitimate successor to the caliphate, with
its self-proclaimed leader, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi. Nearly all worldwide
Muslim leaders, however, disavow this claim saying there is no legitimacy
to ISIS.
Though there are a small minority of Muslims who call themselves Sufi,
the mystical branch of Islam (some of the famous poets of this sect are
Rumi and Kahlil-Gibran) as well as other lesser known sects, the great
majority of Muslims understand themselves to be either Sunni or Shi'a.
Five Pillars of Faith
INTERACTIVE 10.3 Five Pillars of Islam
Islam teaches that there are five essential pillars to the practice of the
faith. Every Muslim is required to do these, to the best of their ability, in
response to God's command.
Five Pillars of Islam
Testimony of Faith
Hajj
1. The Shahadah: the witness of faith and proclamation that “there is no
god but God, and Mohammed is his prophet” (some say, “Mohammed is
his final messenger”). Shi'as notably add at the end of this, “Ali is the
Master of the believers.” Reciting the Shahadah in the presence of the
Muslim community with intent in one's heart to be a Muslim, makes one a
Muslim. This is all that is required. Shahadah is recited at other significant
moments in the religious life of a Muslim, such as during the Hajj
(pilgrimage) to Mecca.
Zakat (giving for the
needy)
Declaration
of faith
Obligatory
prayer
Compulsory
giving
Fasting in
the month of
Ramadan
Pilgrimage
to Mecca
Prayer
Fasting
2. The Salaat, or prayers: five times a day at dawn, midday, midafternoon,
sunset, and before bed, which unites Muslims in a single global family.
This act is predicated upon ritual ablutions (called wudhu) of washing the
hands, arms, neck, and feet, removal of shoes, laying a prayer carpet
facing Mecca, kneeling and bowing with head to the ground, saying
specific prayers depending on the time of day, and quoting passages from
the Qur'an. There is no imam or prayer leader required; all have access
to God directly. Friday at noon is when the entire Muslim community
gathers at the local mosque for corporate prayer (which may also include
شهادة
صلاة
زكاة
صوم
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