Islamic beliefs and practices Everything you need to know

1. Islamic beliefs and practices Everything you need to know Beliefs

2. “There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah” There is one God – Allah This is a fundamental belief called TAWHID which is found in the Quran Go cannot be divided into ‘different persons’ God has always and will always exist Was not made and has no children Is unique – cannot make anything that is meant to be ‘like’ God Gods will is supreme Nothing happens unless God wants it to happen. Muslims are to: They are to surrender to God’s will. Nothing can come before God – if it does this is the sin of shirk • “ONE” • “ETERNAL” • “NOT BEGOTTEN AND BEGOT NONE” • “NO ONE IS COMPARABLE TO GOD” Influence: accept life events, follow 5 pillars, worship Allah and Allah alone – nothing comes before Allah even family or football. Do not create idols.

3. Merciful Allah shows mercy to all , understands and cares for suffering, forgives those who are truly sorry. • Influence of these beliefs: • SURRENDER to Allah – God knows what is best. • You are tiny in comparison and need to accept God’s will. • Worship only God. • Create no images or idols in the likeness of God. • Trust God knows how you feel. • Return God’s love by showing love and fairness to others. Transcendent Above and outside of the universe, past and future. Beyond our understanding 99 Names of Allah: Demonstrate all these qualities and those from previous slide. They are also found in the Hadith (sayings of the Prophet) and Quran. Fair & Just God will judge fairly on Judgement day. ONLY God can judge. Shia particularly believe God will judge people based on their actions. Immanent Present within the universe & all living things “Closer than your jugular vein” Allah is… Omnibenevolent All loving and good. The Universe and all life within it is a gift from God. Omnipotent All powerful, creator and sustainer of the universe. Aware of all human thoughts an actions.

4. ALL Muslims share the same 3 key beliefs: Allah, Muhammad as prophet and the Quran as God’s message. But Sunni and Shia Muslims differ in other key beliefs. You may need to explain the difference between Sunni & Shia belief • Sunni – 6 articles • Tawhid: One God • Angels: Believe that Angels pass on Gods message. • Holy books: Respect the Quran as the highest authority in Islam. • Day of Judgement: Do good deeds in this life. The world will end all people will be Judged by God and sent to heaven or hell. • Supremacy of God’s will: Accept what happens to you. Nothing happens unless God lets it happen. • Shia – 5 roots • Tawhid: One God • Prophethood: Belief that Muslims must respect for all prophets especially Muhammad. • Justice of God (adalat): belief that God will judge you, • The imamate: show respect for the 12 Imams (those chosen by God to lead after Muhammad died) • Resurrection: Bodily resurrection on judgement day Remember: The Sunni and Shia split began whenMuhammad died and one group of his followers (Sunnis) claimed he chose Abu Bakr – his closest friend as leader, other group (Shia) said Muhammad chose his cousin/son-in-law as successor. They agreed to disagree and follow their chosen leader until a few decades later when the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson (a Shia) was killed during a battle against Sunni.

5. Angels: Pure, sinless, made from light, obedient to Allah, they have no free will, they can take human form. • Angels have 4 main roles: • To act as messengers to and from God. • To watch over us; guardian angels • Record your life; on angels records good deeds on one shoulder and the other bad deeds on the other shoulder. • Take souls to the afterlife Shia belief: God is transcendent and exists outside of time. Therefore Allah has seen your future not necessarily decided it. Only Allah is powerful enough to change events and may have done so. When you are punished it is because you are responsible for what happens. Sunni: God has predetermined events and recorded them in a ‘book’. You cannot change the future that God has decided for you. You are still responsible for your actions; as you don’t know what God has decided you can only act in the way you think is best. “Tie your camel” if you fail to act assuming God will just sort it out it’s still your fault if it all goes wrong. God is supreme, immanent & transcendent therefore your future has been predetermined (pre = before; determined = decided) also known as predestination (pre = before; destination = where you are going) There are 2 archangels in Islam: Mikail – friend to humanity & cares for the environment. Jibril– Passes messages from Allah: told Mary she was pregnant with Jesus, spoke to Muhammad and gave him the Quran. Influence: Muslims look left & right at the end of prayer, do good deeds, listen for Gods message. Influence: All Muslims may say “inshallah” (God willing)

6. The Grave & Barzakh: While in the grave the Angel of Death comes and takes your soul from your body. This brings down the barrier (barzakh) which cannot be crossed. The 2 angels who were watching you your whole life will ask “who was your God?” “”who was your prophet?” “what was your life like?” Depending on your answer you either see your rewards or punishment, then you wait for Judgement Day (akhirah). • Influence & importance of these beliefs: • Take responsibility for your actions, you will be held accountable. • Do good deeds with good intentions e.g. giving Zakat. • Read and follow the teachings in the Quran to answer the questions correctly. • Accept your own suffering God knows best and will reward you in heaven. • Do not get cremated, the body you died in will be resurrected The day of judgement (Akhirah): the Day of Judgement and the end of the World. The trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised, a battle between good and evil involving Jesus and the last Prophet vs Shaytan. After 40 days God end the world and call all for Judgement. You get the book the angels wrote of your life, if it goes in your right hand (more good deeds than bad) you go to heaven – in your left hand (more bad deeds) hell. Heaven and Hell: Heaven is paradise –a massive party with no unpleasant consequences, a beautiful garden in the presence of God. Hell is a place of suffering – fire and torment. Separate for God. Only God can decide who goes where and getting to heaven is very hard, however we all have the potential to get there through forgiveness.

7. Prophets are Allah’s messengers. There are 1000’s of prophets in Islam but their messages got forgotten/changed over time. Adam: First prophet, made from dust. Named all the animals and given the knowledge of farming. Was tempted with Hawa (Eve) to eat the fruit and was ejected from the Garden of Eden. Built the first temple to Allah – now the Kabah. Reunited with Hawa at the Plain of Arafat, begged forgiveness from God and were taken to heaven. The Imamate: Shia leaders are known as Imams, they believe Imams have to be descendants of Muhammad and there will be 12 in total. The Twelver branch of Shia Islam believe that the 12thImam has been hidden by God and will return to bring justice and equality. Imams are without fault and can interpret the Quran correctly. Ibrahim: Spread the teaching of One God while people worshipped many idols. Smashed idols in his village to prove they were not worth worshipping. When the villagers tried to put him to death God saved him. Was tested by God who asked him to sacrifice his son Ishmael. Instead a ram was sacrificed, He rebuilt the Kabah and remembered on Hajj, Muhammad is one of his descendants Muhammad: Gods final messenger – the Seal of the Prophets. Possibly the most important as he is God’s messenger & is named in the Shahadah. He founded the religion of Islam beginning with receiving the Quran, fighting the Meccans, travelled to Heaven to meet Isa and God – the miraculous night journey. Muhammad is considered the perfect human, Jibril removed his sin before giving him the Quran. Importance today: Muslim's follow has example from the Sunnahand read his teachings in the Hadith. Seen as the example of how to live and given utmost respect. Importance today: remembered on Hajj. Knowledge respected. Importance today: remembered on Hajj. Circumcision. No idols worshipped.

8. There are more holy books in Islam than just the Quran! But they all help to understand God’s message. Written in Arabic and can only be properly understood in Arabic Revealed to Muhammad by Jibril, considered to be the word of God over 22 years If you learn it by heart you become Hafiz and can go to heaven on judgment day. The Quran Never been changed or will be; the exact word of God as Muhammad learned the words by heart. Compiled later by his followers but checked for consistency. Room for interpretation: all knowledge is contained but may be interpreted but only by those trained to do so.

9. Reason to support this statement: Evidence & explanation: R: E: R: E: R: E: STRENGTHS: They make a good point when….. Reasons to against this statement: Evidence & explanation: R: E: R: E: R: E: STRENGTHS: They make a good point when: • ‘‘Ibrahim is the perfect role model for Muslims.’ Discuss • Evaluate this statement. In your answer you should: • refer to Islamic teaching • give developed arguments to support this statement • give developed arguments to support a different point of view • reach a justified conclusion. In conclusion I think…… (Evaluation: which side and why? Spend no more than 15 minutes planning this answer

10. R: However Ibrahim may not be the perfect role model. E: For instance the world today is very different from his time. Ibrahim cannot show Muslims how to deal with issues such as nuclear war. R: Muhammad sets a better example. E: Muhammad was without sin and so devoted he received the direct word of God – the Quran. He was the last prophet and the one who was given the best way to be a good Muslim. Muslims need to follow Muhammad’s example not just Ibrahim, if they are to submit to the will of Allah. Also by following Muhammad’s example they are following Ibrahim’s. R: Ibrahim is not the perfect role model as his teachings have been lost. E: If Ibrahim was such as good role model then why did Allah send other prophets? If Muslims just follow Ibrahim’s example they may be missing key teachings and not following the example properly. While Ibrahim sets a good example all of his life has been lost. Exam practice: 12 mark q The strengths of these arguments are: You could mention – They make a good point about Ibrahim setting an example. Muhammad was just following Ibrahims example. Without Ibrahim Muhammad would have no example to follow. They make a good point about Muhammad setting a better example. He was the ‘seal’ of the prophets, and his teachings include all those who came before him. Which means he is a much better role model than Ibrahim. R: Ibrahim set a good example for Muslims to follow. E: By destroying the idols in the temple he was showing the best way to honour Allah and avoid shirk (idol worship). He also rebuilt the Kabah giving Muslims a place to worship the One God, setting the example Muslims follow today by going on Hajj they follow his example. R: Ibrahim was totally devoted to God and therefore a good role model. E: He was asked to sacrifice his son to Allah. Ibrahim was willing to do this which shows his totally devotion and trust in Allah. Muslims are expected to show this level of submission to God in their lives. But this is very hard to do. R:Finally Ibrahim believed in one God when no one else did, this makes him a good role model. E: Today many Muslims are persecuted for their faith, they have to believe when people are against them. This links to the Greater Jihad, the struggle to keep their faith. Ibrahim can help give them the strength to do this.

11. Islam Practices

12. 10 obligatory acts of Shia The 5 pillars • These include the Shahadah & Hajj • Salah: prayer • Sawm: fasting • Zakah: charitable giving • Hajj: pilgrimage • Khums: 20% tax additional to Zakah • Jihad: Struggle for faith • Amr-bil-maruf: encourage good deeds • Nahi Anil Munkar: discourage bad deeds • Tawallah: show love for God and his followers • Tabarra: avoid enemies of God The Shahadahsaid by all Muslims: “There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his messenger” Saying this with belief makes someone a Muslim so it comes first in the pillars. It is whispered into a babies ear shortly after birth, heard in the call to prayer, try to be the last thing you hear when you die. Shia add “and Ali is the friend of God” to show their belief that Ali was the true successor of Muhammad.

13. Salat (prayer)is an important pillar. Muhammad prayed and instructed his followers to do so. It is a way of showing submission to Allah. It enables Muslims to have a personal connection with Allah. Communal prayers in the Mosque strengthen the Muslim community or Ummah. It motivates Muslims to do God’s will. Muslims can say a personal prayer at any time when the feel the need. Muslims face Mecca during prayer, either using a compass or facing the Qibla in the Mosque. This is important so that all Muslims are focussing on God. At home a compass is used. Muslims prepare for prayer by ritual washing (wudu) – washing hands, face and feet with water where possible. There are usually special facilities in the Mosque for washing. It is important to show they are ‘clean’ for Allah Shia combine midday and afternoon prayers & sunset and night prayers. They do extra prayers each time. They also put their head on a clay tablet or brick. Prayers are said 5 times a day: Just before sunrise, just after midday, afternoon, just before sunset, night. This was decided by Muhammadon the night journey after negotiation with Isa. All men should attend prayers on a Friday in the Mosque. The positions for prayer (rakah) show respect to God (bow), praise for God (stand), and submission to Gods will (head to floor)

14. Sawm: All Muslims who are able must fast during the month of Ramadan Zakah (alms): 2.5% of money left after essentials is given to charity at the end of Ramadan. The Quran says to give to “the needy” and God is “aware of the good you do” Ramadan is considered the holiest month of the year as Muslims also: Remember the Night of Power when the Quran was first revealed so Muslims stay awake and read the Quran, the time to pay Zakat and focus on their faith. In Islam greed is sin, money represents greed and is itself sinful. It is important to give Zakah helps to purify the money. Zakah can strengthen local community. Giving it also pleases God. Muhammad commanded his followers to fast the Quran says “It was in the month of Ramadan that the Quran was revealed as guidance for mankind… So any one of you who sees in that month should fast”. However vulnerable people are exempt. It is important as it follows the example of Muhammad, shows self discipline and sacrifice to Allah Zakah Is given either directly to charities, donated to the Mosque who pass it to local charities. Khums means ‘fifth’. Today Shia give 20% (1/5) of savings – half to religious leaders and the other half to charity. Anyone who cannot afford Zakah can do Sadaquah, good deeds.

15. Hajj: annual pilgrimage to Mecca. A chance to strengthen faith and visit the Kabah the holiest place. Importance: to produce inner peace, follow Muhammad's footsteps, show self discipline, surrender to Allah, strengthen Muslim communities. Hajj can cleanse you of sin. “Pilgrimage to the House is a duty owed to God by people who are able to undertake it” THEN NOW The Kabah is circled 7 times; a stone in the wall is meant to have come from paradise. The Kabah itself is an ancient relic going back to Adam. Before starting become ihram physically & spiritually clean. Wear robes of white cloth – Muslims will often be buried in these. They also show equality Hajj began 4000 years ago with Ibrahim taking his wife (Hijrah) and son (Ishmael) to Arabia. God told Ibrahim to abandon his wife and son but leave them supplies. When supplies ran out Hijrah ran 7 between the hills Safa & Marwah Ibrahim returned to them and was commanded by God to build a shrine – the Kabah, and call people to perform a pilgrimage (Hajj) there Meanwhile Ishmael was kicking the ground and when he did so water sprang from the Earth (the ZamZam well) They walk between the hills and collect ZamZam water – remembering Hijrah & Ishmael. They stand and pray at Arafat for hours – to understand what judgment day will be like, remember Muhammad’s last sermon. The shrine grew but people began to worship idols there until Muhammad visited and followed Ibrahims steps and visit the site where Adam and Eve were taken to heaven (Arafat; where he also gave his last sermon). This was the first Muslim pilgrimage Throw pebbles at Mina – pillars represent the devil who tempted Ibrahim to not sacrifice Ishmael. Shows they reject Shaytan. An animal is sacrificed – remember Ibrahim’s willingness to sacrifice his son.

16. Lesser jihad – Violent struggle against oppression / holy war Greater Jihad – The personal struggle to live according to Islam Putting God above everything else Lesser Jihad involves rules such as force decreed by a religious teacher, in self defence, not for selfish gain, not to convert to Islam, after negotiations have failed. Avoiding temptation, drugs and alcohol Helping care for those in need Greater Jihad Observing the 5 pillars Studying the Quran Greater Jihad is the most important as it involves surrender to Allah. Enables them to improve themselves spiritually. Influences them to think of God before themselves, and consider others. “this is My path, leading straight, so follow it, and do not follow other ways”

17. Muhammad told Muslims to set aside 2 days for Id celebrations • Id ul-Adha: Marks the end of Hajj • Muslims gather in Mosques • Sermons focus on sacrifice. • An animal is slaughtered. If on Hajj the meat is shared amongst all. • In the UK money is usually given instead & a butcher provides the meat. • Importance: • Links to Ibrahim & Ishmael. • Shows obedience to God. • Links to the end of Hajj, even if you could not go • Id ul-Fitr: celebrates the end of Ramadan • Muslims gather in Mosques • Sermons focus on helping the poor and ending disputes. • Homes are decorated. • Cards and presents exchanged. • Prayers said for deceased relatives. • Importance: • Marks the end of fasting. • A time thank God for strength to fast. • Thank God for the Quran.

18. Ashura is a very important festival for Shia. For them it remembers the sacrifice Husayn (Muhammad's Grandson, and their leader) made when he died in battle against Sunni Muslims along with a great number of his followers. For Shia it is a day of great sorrow and an important event in their history. For some Sunni it is seen as a day of atonement; for some it remembers the Israelites being freed from slavery in Egypt and for others it celebrates the day Noah left the ark after the flood.

19. Sentence starters: One festival is…. It is important because… Another festival is… It is important 2. One teaching is….. This means prayer is important because…. Another reason prayer is important is….. So what this means for Muslims is…. Activity time: Spend no more than 10 minutes answering these 2 questionsExam practice: 1. Explain the importance of 2 Muslim festivals (4 marks) ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 2. Explain the importance of prayer in Islam. Refer to religious teachings in your answer (5) ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

20. Mark your answer. For 4 mark answers you get one mark for a point (you can only make 2 points) and one mark for explaining each point. For a 5 mark answer you get a mark for one teaching you get one mark for a point (you can only make 2 points) and one mark for explaining each point. You may have different ideas, check with your teacher if you are unsure. Explain the importance of 2 Muslim festivals (4 marks) One festival is Ashura. It is important to Sunni Muslims as it remembers the death of Husayn, Muhammad's Grandson while fighting for their faith. It is important as it acts to bring the Shia community together and share grief for his death. One other festival is Eid ulFitr. This takes place at the end of Ramadan and reminds Muslims of Ibrahim being willing to sacrifice his son to God. For Muslims today this is giving them an example of how to live. Explain the importance of prayer in Islam. Refer to religious teachings in your answer (5) The Quran says “glorify your Lord with prayer” This means prayer is important prayer because prayer is a way of giving glory to Allah. Prayer was given to Muslims from God. It is a gift and way of communicating with Allah. Which means all Muslims should pray if they are to show surrender to God’s will. The miraculous night journey in the Quran and the teachings and examples of Muhammad are those which command Muslims to prayer. So prayer is important because it is a way of following the example of Muhammad who was perfect and without sin, something all Muslims should aspire to. Muslims try and always pray as Muhammad did.