RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD

ISLAM
JAMAL J. ELIAS

ATHING. CATCHUELA. CRUZ. LUCERO. REYES

Islam in Everyday Life and Society
(CHAPTER 1)
● Adhan (Azan) - The
absence of a sound, that
of the Islamic call to
prayer.

- Delivered shortly before

the times of the five daily
ritual prayers,which can be
performed in a mosque
- Directly evokes a
connection to the Qur’an
 Mosque - A mosque is
a place of worship for
Muslims.

Qur’an - The Islamic

scripture that isbelieved by
Muslims to be God’s literal
word
The Muslim World Today
● Islam is a religion with approximately 1 billion adherents
worldwide, with established populations on every inhabited
continent of the planet.
- Muslim communities could be found living in Asia, Africa, and
Europe
● Muslim scientists made major scientific contributions:
- The algebraic system
- The number zero
- The elliptical orbits in astronomy.
● The importance of Muslims to the development of western
Mediterranean culture is hinted at in some of the words of Arabic
origin which continue into English (there are far more examples in
Spanish and Portuguese): algebra, rice, admiral, sherbet.

● One remarkable feature of Islamic history:

- All lands to which Islam spread among the population
- The exception is Spain and Portugal, where the long process of
Christian reconquest (called the Reconquista), followed by the
Spanish Inquisition, systematically eradicated the area’s Muslim
population.
The Qur’an
● The single greatest sign of God in the physical universe
- Individual verses of the Qur’an are called ayat (literally“signs”).
● The text refers to itself as “guidance for the world” and “a clear
sign for those who can understand.” It provides instructions on
how to live one’s life and acts as a source of ethical guidance for
the things for which it does not provide clear instructions. It is a
common Muslim belief that, as God’s final revelation,the Qur’an
contains the sum total of what God plans to reveal to
humanity;therefore, behind the finite, literal message of the
Qur’an is an infinite reservoir of divine wisdom.
The Centrality of the Qur’an in Islamic Tradition
● Belief in the Qur’an being God’s literal word has had
far-reaching implications:there has traditionally been
some resistance to the Qur’an’s translation fromArabic
into other languages. And although this reticence is now
largely gone,traditional etiquette still requires that one
refer to printed volumes of the Qur’anas masahif (sing.
mushaf: literally, “binding” or “volume”), implying that the
divine word is singular and cannot be perfectly contained
in ink and paper. It is still uncommon for bookstores to
write prices on copies of the Qur’an; the appropriate
etiquette for a potential purchaser is to ask what the
suitable “gift” for the volume should be.
Hadith and Sunna
The word “hadith” primarily means a communication or a narrative in
general. In Islamic terms, it has the particular meaning of a record of
actions or sayings of the Prophet and his companions. In the latter
sense the whole body of the sacred tradition of Islam is called the
“Hadith” and the formal study of it the “Science of Hadith.”
Veneration of Muhammad
Muhammad’s presence in popular Islamic religious life is all-pervasive. There
is a long-standing tradition of writing poems in praise of the Prophet, the
most famous of which is the Burda (or “Mantle Poem”), composed in the
thirteenth century by al-Busiri, which has been frequently copied in a number
of languages. Other such poems in the large number of languages spoken by
Muslims are frequently set to music, of which some, such as Qawwali from
Pakistan, Rai from Algeria, and the songs of Moroccan Gnawa or
Bangladeshi Bauls, have enjoyed considerable commercial success in the
West.
The Birth of Islam
(CHAPTER 2)
Pre-Islamic Arabia
● Poor civilization
● No government but divided into tribes composed of clans (families)
● Patriarchal (Men rule) but women can also do trade and have properties
● Center of trading route
● No define religion (believe in supernatural beings, e.g. spirits and gods but do not
believe in afterlife)
● Divided into two:

-South Arabia (Yemen) - agriculture as living

- The Platu- Nomads ( moving from one place to another); Shepherding and
stealing (ethically accepted) as living where Muhammad was from

● Most respected people

- Poet - storyteller

- Soothsayer- foreteller

- judge- mediator
Muhammad’s Birth and Early Life
● Tribe: Quraysh (shark)- important and reputable merchant tribe in mecca; large
influence to islam e.g Hajj pilgrimage
● Clan: Hashim - not influential but respectable
● Father : Abdalla- died shortly after his birth
● Mother : Amina - naed him Ahmad
● Grandfather Ab-Muttalib- paternal guardian named him Muhammad
● Sent to a foster family in a nomadic tribe to have culturally purer Arabic life
● Muhammad became a merchant
● First wife: Khadija - a window
● Muhammad frequently goes to cave outside Mecca to meditate
● Foster Mother: Halima
● Legend: Two angels opened his chest and cleaned his heart with snow in a golden
basin
● His foster family feared for his life and sent him back
● His mother and grandfather died
● Paternal Uncle; Abu Talib - a merchant; joined by Muhammad in his travel
The Great Emigration: The Hijira
● Muhammad agreed to do so only if certain conditions were fulfilled:
- That his family and followers could move with him
- That they would be supported until they could find means of livelihood for
themselves: and
- That they were to be considered full citizens of the city, so that if the meccans
and their allies chose to attack the Muslims, all the citizen of Yathrib would
fight on the side of the Muslim.
● Hijra or “Great Emigration” the Muslims who emigrated are referred to as
Muhaijirs and those who helped them Ansar.
The Islamic: Community after Muhammad
● Caliphs (khalifa in Arabic), a word which means “representative” or
“delegate,” implying that they did not rule on their own authority but only as
the representatives of God and His Prophet.
● Umayyads (a reference to Mucawiya’s tribe) The pristine institution of the
Caliphate came to an end; they consider the first four Caliphs as truly
virtuous, as a result of which those four are referred to as “Rightly-Guided.”
●
Sectarian Division
● the Twelver Shicis, Ismacilis, and Zaydis, all of which are united by a
common belief that the only legitimate leader of the Muslim community is a
descendant
● Ali and his wife Fatima, the daughter of the Prophet. This leader is known as
the Imam, and is considered superior to other human beings on account of his
bloodline.
● The three main Shici sects agree on the identities of the first four Imams.
There is disagreement over the fifth, with the majority believing that Husayn’s
grandson, Muhammad al-Baqir was the rightful Imam, and a minority
following al-Baqir’s brother,on account of which they are called Zaydis.
Zaydis
● The first person after the massacre of Husayn and his family to try to wrest
political power from the Umayyads by force. After spending a year in
preparation in the heavily Shici city of Kufa in Iraq, he came out with a group
of followers but was killed in battle.
● For this reason, unlike in Twelver Shicism, no person who remains hidden
can be considered the rightful Imam. The Zaydi Imam is also required to
possess high moral character and religious learning.
Twelvers
● Jacfar al-Sadiq (d. 765), is especially important because he was a very great
scholar who is also highly regarded by the Sunnis. The major Shici school of
religious law is called “Jacfari” because of him.
● The “Greater Occupation” as distinct from the earlier one, which was called
the “Lesser Occupation.”
● IjtihadI - the sixteenth century. Shici clerics have been extremely conservative
in their exercise of ijtihad and, for all practical purposes, act exactly the way a
Sunni scholar does in the study of law.
Ismacilis
Theology, Law, and Mysticism
(CHAPTER 3)
Theology
● Muhammad’s role was more that of a preacher than a theologian. However,
the Qur’an brings up many philosophical and theological questions regarding
the nature of God, God’s relationship to our world, the problem of evil, and the
place occupied by human beings in the divine plan for the universe.
● The term most commonly used for theology in the Islamic world is Kalam,
which literally means “speech” or “dialectic.”
● Many of the major questions that were discussed in the earliest Islamic
theological circles arose out of the political crises that followed the
assassinations of the Caliphs Umar, Uthman, and Ali, and from the civil wars
that resulted in the division between the Sunni and Shici sects. The main
questions dealt with who was the rightful leader of the community, and what
was the status of a believer who committed a grave sin
● The main issues concerned the relationship between God’s omnipotence and
human responsibility.
● Nature of God and of how human beings gained the ability to differentiate
between right and wrong and to commit good and bad actions.
● The Qadariya believed that human beings have such extensive power over
their actions that they can determine the commission and outcome of their
acts.
● Jabriya, who took a diametrically opposite view to the original Qadariya. They
believed that divine compulsion (jabr) created human actions and that human
beings had absolutely no freedom in committing good or bad actions.
● human being could not be held responsible for committing a grave sin and
therefore would still be considered a Muslim.
● The Murji’ a occupied a position in-between the Qadariya and the Jabriya.
● they believed that a grave sinner’s future was held in suspense awaiting
God’s decision.
● Khawarrj. actions were the perfect mirror of an individual’s faith
● Muctazila, which for forty years in the mid ninth century held sway as the
official theological school of the Sunni world. Many religious scholars were
mis-treated if their beliefs did not tally with those of the Muctazila. But when
the Muctazila lost their official patronage, they came to be seen as heretical
and were themselves victims of discrimination and persecution.
● Ashcarha school, named for a scholar called al-Ashcari (d. 935), a
disillusioned former Muctazila theologian.
Islamic Law: Sharica
● Islamic religious law is an elaborate and dynamic system that has been
evolving from the time of Muhammad until the present. It continues to be
taken very seriously by a large number of Muslims, who use its rules and
values as guiding principles in their lives. They consider the law to be one of
the most remarkable aspects of their religion.
Sources
● Islamic law (Sharica) is believed to be the collected prescriptions dictated by
God for the running of the universe. The Qur’an provides very clear rules on
issues as diverse as how to perform acts of worship, what not to eat, and how
to distribute inheritance property. However, it does not provide clear rules for
all of the innumerable situations encountered in the course of human life.
● develop a system of law that provided a method by which rules could be
developed to deal with new situations. This system is called Fiqh and is
considered to have four principles called Usul al-fiqh (Principles of
Jurisprudence)
Principles of Jurisprudence
● The primary source of Islamic law is the Qur’an. Rules and precepts that are
clearly stated in the Qur’an are not open to debate and must be accepted at
face value
Beliefs, Rituals, and Practices
(CHAPTER 4)
Beliefs and Practices
● Muslims engage in a variety of devotional practices to increase their God-consciousness (taqwā) and to
discipline their attitudes toward others. Sunni Muslims have identified what they call the “five pillars of
Islam” as a focus for their ritual practices, with some variation in how they are prescribed across Islamic
legal schools. They are based on the Quran and Sunnah and were given their defining interpretations
by the ‘ulamā’ in the first three centuries of Islam. The five pillars are: the shahādah [the testimony of the
unity of God and the prophethood of Muhammad]; ṣalāt [canonical prayer]; zakāt [alms]; ṣawm [the fast
of Ramadan]; and ḥajj [pilgrimage to Mecca. Although categorized in different ways, most Shi‘a accept
these very same pillars, and many add that the acceptance of the authority and sanctity [wilāyah] of the
Imams is also a pillar.
● Although the canonical prayers, alms, pilgrimage and fast of Ramadan are almost universally shared
among Muslims, there is nonetheless much room for diversity in Islamic practice. The canonical prayers
can be performed individually or in congregation at the mosque or literally anywhere else. The Friday
prayers are a weekly gathering in which Muslims listen to a sermon and pray together. At homes and in
the mosque, the sight of Muslims reciting the Quran or using prayer beads for the invocation of sacred
litanies or particular praises of God or the Prophet is common. However, mosques are not the only
places that Muslims gather to worship, as diverse communities have meeting places suited to their
Islamic Thought in the Modern World
(CHAPTER 5)
● Islamic world continue to expand
● 1st half of the 13th century was a critical time in Islamic History (Mongol
invasion)
○ Spread across western Asia
○ Destruction of the imperial capital in 1258: Baghdad
● Mongol rule proved to be short-lived
● Islamic world shifted to other ethnic groups
● Arabic continued to be the language
● 16th century: Islam is est. in other countries
● Ijtihad (independent reasoning)
ISLAM IN THE COLONIAL AGE
- Post- colonial period have been critical in the development of Islam
- All islamic countries were once under colonial rule
- Flow of the media and technology of the west influenced every Muslim home
- 19th century: Islamic world needed to modernize its educational and state
institutions in order to compete favorably with the west
- Ottoman Empire: guardian of islamic traditionalism
- Tanzimat (1839-76): principal portion of the reform period
TRADITION AND REFORM
- Muslim thinkers preoccupied with the problem of strengthening and bettering
the communities
- Recent Muslim scholars:
- “Too materialistic”
- Emphasize “authenticity”
- Authenticity in 2 forms:
- Individual Authenticity
- Collective Authenticity
- This “authentic” Islam is attainable and is the sole way of vitalizing Islam and individual Muslims.
- Western commentators labeled Islamic movements and individual figures as
fundamentalists
TRADITION AND REFORM
- Traditionalists: Muslims who see a continuity in Islamic thought and culture
from the Prophet’s day forward, until the fabric of Islamic society was rent by
European colonialism.
- Islamists: believe in the necessity of establishing a society based on Islamic
principles and governed by their own understanding of Islamic laws and
values
- Modernist: acknowledges a new significance to the nature of human life,
characterized by particular forms of rational thinking and by a belief in the
importance of a individual
- Liberalist: embrace the differentiation between opinion and truth, and the
beliefs that individuals holding different opinions can engage in debate.
EARLY REFORMISTS
- Jamal al-Din Afghani (1839–97)
- Muhammad Abduh (1849–1905)

VISIONARIES OF POLITICS AND FAITH

- Rifah al-Tahtawi (1801–73)
- Ziya Gökalp (1875–1924)
- Ali Abd al-Raziq
- Muhammad Iqbal (1873–1939)
- Sayyid Abu’l-Acla Mawdudi (1903–79)
- Sayyid Qutb (1906–66)
THE IRANIAN REVOLUTION
- Twelver Shicism: major religion in Iran (classical Persia) from the 1600s
- Represented the oppressed, not the powerful
- All governments will inevitably be corrupt until the hidden Imam returned to redeem humanity
- Politics was seen as dirty business
- These same beliefs fostered a strong, independent religious hierarchy
- Accentuated in the 18th century
- Sunni Afghan occupation forced Iranian Shici scholars to flee to Ottoman-ruled Iraq
- Ayatollahs: senior clerics
- Even after Shicis recovered the Iranian throne, most Ayatollahs remained in Iraq and
continued to operate well beyond the reach of the Iranian state.
- These factors help to explain the ability of the Iranian ulama(religious scholars) to act independently
of and in opposition to the monarchy
- A series of protests led to a constitutional revolution in Iran in 1906.
THE IRANIAN REVOLUTION
- Ayatollah Khomeini (1902–89)
- Ali Sharicati (1933–77).
Looking to the Future
(CHAPTER 6)
Chap 6