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ISLAM. Did you know?. At least 42 nations are almost completely Islamic. There are 1 billion Muslims in the world. Only 20% of the world’s Muslims are Arabs. Arabia before Muhammad (born 570 AD). Madinah(Medina). Makkah (Mecca).
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Did you know? • At least 42 nations are almost completely Islamic.
Arabia before Muhammad (born 570 AD) Madinah(Medina) Makkah (Mecca)
Arabia was occupied by warring clans of nomads. Madinah(Medina) Makkah (Mecca)
Most worshiped idols, especially in Mecca at the Ka’aba, the large stone shrine to a “goddess from heaven,” though a few still believed in one God.
There were Jews and Christians in Arabia, too, but Christians didn’t translate the Bible into Arabic until after 700 AD. • There was a political and religious void that Islam was about to fill.
Muhammad • Born in Mecca in 570 AD, orphaned at age 6, taken in by grandfather and uncle, both in the caravan business.
Muhammad met Jews and Christians on his travels, learned stories from the Old and New Testaments.
Married Khadijah, a wealthy widow, in 595 AD, and was freed from the life of a traveling merchant.
In 610 AD, Muhammad claims that the archangel Gabriel appeared to him and told him to “recite” (qur’an in Arabic) everything he said. These were the first alleged revelations from Allah.
His messages attacked idolatry. By 622 he had gathered enough followers that they were forced to leave Mecca for Medina. Muslims refer to this event as the Hijra; it is the year “0” on the Muslim calendar; A.H. = “year of Hijra.” Madinah(Medina) Makkah (Mecca)
By 630 the believing community was large enough to return to Mecca in triumph and establish Islam as the official religion.
Muhammad died suddenly in 632 before appointing a successor. Arguments over the rightful heir to his leadership caused the divisions within Islam that persist to this day.
Sunnis believe the true Caliph should be chosen by those close to Muhammad; did not have to be a relative of Muhammad. Most Muslims (85%) are Sunni.
Shi’as (word means “division”) believe Muhammad appointed Ali, his son-in-law, before he died, even included the choice in the Qur’an, but others secretly burned those copies. They maintain that the true Caliph must be a direct descendant of Muhammad.
The disagreement led to internal battles and assassinations of leaders, but Islam spread rapidly throughout the Middle East and into Europe, stopped in France at the Battle of Tours in 732 AD.
What made Islam so appealing? • Christians were perceived by non-Christians as prejudiced; Muslims were not.
Arabs were traders; it became profitable for non-Muslims to convert for business purposes.
Qur’an • Called the “book of heaven,” supposedly dictated to Muhammad by angel Gabriel.
Divided into 114 chapters called suras, arranged from longest to shortest; a little shorter than the NT.
The Qur’an refers to the Torah, Psalms, and “Gospel” (only the sayings of Jesus) as “Scripture.” but retells some biblical stories inaccurately.
The Qur’an mentions Jesus many times, but declares that Jesus is only a prophet and that he was not crucified.
“People of the Book, go not beyond the bounds in your religion, and say not as to God but the truth. The Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, was only the Messenger of God, and His Word that He committed to Mary, and a Spirit from Him. So believe in God and His Messengers, and say not, ‘Three.’ Refrain; better is it for you. God is only One God.” Qur’an, chapter 4:168
It was composed throughout Muhammad’s life, sometimes at convenient moments for him personally.
Muslims consider the Hadith, the words and deeds of Muhammad, to be authoritative also.
What are the main concepts in the Qur’an? • Submission. The word “Islam” means “submission”; a “Muslim” is “one who submits.”
The oneness of God. Muslims confess throughout the day, “There is no God but Allah, Muhammad is His prophet.” (The confession is called the Shahada.)
What are the main practices? • They are called the “five pillars of Islam”.
2. Pray five times daily, facing Mecca. • Each prayer begins with a recitation of the opening chapter from the Qur’an.
“In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate Praise belongs to God, the Lord of all Being, the All-merciful, the All-compassionate, the Master of the Day of Doom. Thee only we serve; to Thee alone we pray for succour. Guide us in the straight path, the path of those whom Thou hast blessed, not of those against whom Thou art wrathful, nor of those who are astray.”
Prayers are formal and memorized and prayed in various postures, from bowing to kneeling. The word mosque means “place of prostration.”
Muslim communities gather for collective prayer mostly on Fridays.
3. Alms: Muslims are required to give 2.5% of their income to the poor.
4. Pilgrimage to Mecca (Hajj) • Every able bodied Muslim must make this pilgrimage once.
Activities during hajj re-enact important events in life of Muhammad
Focal point of the pilgrimage is the Ka’aba, recast as an Islamic, not a pagan shrine. (Muslims believe the Ka’aba houses the stone Allah gave Ibrahim when he almost sacrificed Ishmael.)
Fasting in the daylight hours during Ramadan, the month the Qur’an “came down.”
What about the “Nation of Islam” in America? • Wallace Fard started “Nation of Islam” in Detroit in 1920s to fight white oppression with mixture of Muslim and African ideas.
Elijah Poole (Muhammad), son of a Baptist preacher, took the lead when Fard disappeared in 1934.
Malcolm Little (alias Malik Shabazz or Malcom X) became a prominent leader, but fell out of favor after the Kennedy assassination, returned from the pilgrimage to Mecca and advocated reforms to make “Nation of Islam” more Islamic. He was assassinated by Muslims on February 27, 1965.
Warith Muhammad succeeded his father Elijah in 1975, and aligned “Nation of Islam” with Sunni Islam worldwide, changed name to American Muslim Mission.
