MUHAMMAD
Muhammad was the founder of Islam, whose prophetic teachings, surrounding political and social as well as religious principles, became the basis of Islamic civilization and have had a vast influence on world history.
Muhammad was born in Mecca and he belonged to the clan of Hashim, a poor but respected branch of the prestigious and influential tribe of Quraysh. His father died before he was born, and after his mother's death when he was six, he was brought up by his uncle Abu Talib. Pensive and withdrawn in temperament, he displayed an moral sensitivity at an early age, and he was known as al-Amin ("the trusted one"). Like his fellow tribesmen, he became a trader and made several journeys to Syria, where he may have met with Christians. He then began to manage the business of a rich widow, Khadija, who was greatly impressed by both his honesty and ability, and she shortly offered him marriage, which he accepted at the age of 25.
Muhammad probably heard Christians and Jews expound their religious views at commercial fairs in Mecca, and, troubled by the questions they raised, he occasionally withdrew to a cave outside Mecca to meditate and pray for guidance. During one of these retreats he experienced a vision of the archangel Gabriel, who proclaimed him a prophet of God. He was greatly mystified by the experience but was reassured by his wife and as new revelations followed, he came to accept his prophetic mission. His wife and his cousin Ali became his first followers, and eventually he began to preach in public, reciting the verses of his revelation, which came to be known as the Quran. He gained some important converts, but the movement grew slowly.
Muhammad's earliest teachings emphasized his belief in one inspiring but personal God, the Last Judgment, and social and economic justice. God, he asserted had sent prophets to other nations throughout history, but having failed to reform, those nations had been destroyed. Muhammad proclaimed his own message, the Quran, to be the last revealed Book and himself to be the last of the prophets, overruling the earlier ones.
Insisting on the necessity of social reform, Muhammad advocated improving the lot of slaves, orphans, women, and the poor and replacing tribal loyalties with the fellowship of Islamic faith. This democratic and reformist tendency quickly aroused the hostility of the rich merchants who dominated Mecca. They persecuted some of Muhammad's weaker followers, and in 615 he ordered 83 families to take refuge in Ethiopia.
But when both his beloved wife Khadija and his uncle and protector Abu Talib died in 619, he despaired of his position in Mecca. After an unsuccessful effort to convert the nearby town of AþÞâ’if, he was approached by a delegation from Yathrib (later Medina), a city about 300 km to the north that was divided by tribal feuds. They asked him to arbitrate the feuds, offering him considerable authority. After careful negotiations, Muhammad accepted and asked his followers to emigrate from Mecca to Medina.
Muhammad escaped Mecca just as his enemies were preparing to murder him, and he arrived in Medina eight days later. His flight became known as the Hijrah and marks the beginning of the Islamic calendar. Muhammad was soon given supreme authority in Medina, and he began to establish the ritual practices of Islam and to carry out social reforms. He created a charter that specified the rights and relationships of the Muslims, Jews and other groups of the city. The Meccans, meanwhile, persisted in their hostility, demanding the expulsion of Muhammad and his Meccan followers. They were supported in Medina by a group, referred to in the Quran as the Hypocrites, who had submitted to Islam but were secretly working against it. This group in turn was aided by the three Jewish tribes that were residing in Medina.
Muhammad's strategy in the developing conflict with Mecca was to attack Meccan trade caravans returning from Syria and so economically weaken the city. In 624, the first major battle occurred, in which the Muslims, despite their weakness in numbers and weapons, soundly defeated the Meccans. In the next major battle, the following year, the Meccans had the advantage but were unable to achieve a decisive victory. A Meccan army of 10,000 besieged Medina in 627 but failed to take the city. Muhammad meanwhile eliminated his enemies within Medina. After each of the first two battles he expelled a Jewish tribe, and after the third major battle he had the males of the remaining tribe massacred for collaborating with his opponents.
THE QURAN
Muslims regard the Quran as the speech of God to Muhammad, mediated by Gabriel, the angel of revelation. They believe that God himself, not Muhammad, is the author and therefore that the Koran is perfect. The document called the Quran is the collection of the passages revealed to Muhammad during the approximately 22 years of his prophetic life. It is divided into 114 chapters of unequal length, the shortest containing only 3 short verses, the longest containing 306 long verses. Both Islamic and non-Islamic scholars agree on the essential honesty of the text of the Quran throughout its history.
THE FIVE PILLARS
Five duties, known as the "pillars of Islam," are regarded as cardinal in Islam and as central to the life of the Islamic community.
In accordance with Islam's absolute commitment to monotheism, the first duty is the profession of faith (the Shahadah): "There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his Prophet and messenger of Allah ." This line of work must be made publicly by every Muslim at least once in his or her lifetime by the tongue and with full agreement from the heart. It defines the membership of an individual in the Islamic community.
The second duty is that of five daily prayers. The first prayer is offered before sunrise, the second in the very early afternoon, the third in the late afternoon, the fourth immediately after sunset, and the fifth before retiring and before midnight. In prayers, Muslims face the Kaaba, a small, cube-shaped structure in the courtyard of al-Haram meaning "inviolate place", in the great mosque of Mecca. A single unit of prayer consists of a standing posture, then a bow followed by two prostrations, and finally a sitting posture. In each of these postures prescribed prayers and portions of the Quran are recited.All five prayers in Islam are congregational and are to be offered in a mosque, but they may be offered individually if, for some reason, a person cannot be present with a congregation. Individual, devotional prayers are not obligatory, but Muslims are encouraged to offer them after midnight; they are called “tahajjud.” In the Middle East and Indonesia, women also join the congregational prayers, although they pray in a separate room or hall. In the Indian subcontinent, Muslim women pray at home. Before praying, the worshiper must make ablutions. Before every congregational prayer, a formal public call to prayer is made from a minaret of the mosque by the muezzin called “azan.” In recent times the call has been made over a microphone so that those at some distance can hear it.
Special early afternoon prayers are offered on Fridays in congregational mosques. These are preceded by a sermon from the pulpit by the imam, also called the Khatib. On the two annual religious festival days called “Eids” (one immediately after the end of the fasting month of Ramadan and the other immediately after the pilgrimage to Mecca), there are special prayers followed by sermons in the morning. These prayers can be held in mosques but are usually in a wide space outside set apart for this purpose.
The third cardinal duty of a Muslim is to pay zakat. This was originally the tax levied by Muhammad and later by Muslim states on the wealthy members of the community, primarily to help the poor. It was also used for winning converts to Islam, for the ransom of war captives, for the relief of people in chronic debt, for jihad (the struggle for the cause of Islam, or holy war), health and education and for facilitating travel and communications. Only when zakat has been paid is the rest of a Muslim's property considered purified and legitimate. In most Muslim states zakat is no longer collected by the government and instead has become a voluntary charity, but it is still recognized as an essential duty by all Muslims. In a number of countries strong demands have been made to reinstate it as a tax, but this would involve a complete revision of its rates and structure to conform with the needs of a modern state.
The fourth duty is the fast of the month of Ramadan. Because the Islamic calendar is lunar, Islamic festivals are not confined to any one season. Even during hot summers, most Muslims carefully observe fasting. During the fasting month, one must refrain from eating, drinking, smoking, and sexual intercourse from dawn until sunset. Throughout the month one must withhold from all sinful thoughts and actions. Those who can afford it must also feed at least one poor person. If one is sick or on a journey that causes hardship, one need not fast but must compensate by fasting on following days.
The fifth duty is the pilgrimage to the Kaaba at Mecca. Every adult Muslim who is physically and economically able to do so must make this pilgrimage at least once in his or her lifetime. Held during the first ten days of the last month of the lunar year, the rite requires that the pilgrims enter into a state of purity in which they wear only a seamless white garment, abstain from shedding blood and cutting either hair or nails, and avoid all forms of rudeness. The main constituents of this lengthy rite are seven circumambulations of the Kaaba, walking fast between two mounds near the refuge seven times, marching three miles to Mina, then proceeding six miles to Arafat, staying the afternoon and listening to a sermon there, then marching back to Mecca, offering a sacrifice in a memory of Abraham's attempted sacrifice of his son, and once again circumambulating the Kaaba. During recent years, air travel has allowed Muslims from all parts of the world to perform the pilgrimage. In 1977 the reported number was close to 2 million. Through the centuries, the Kaaba has played an important role as a meeting place of Islamic scholars for the exchange and diffusion of ideas. For the past two decades, the pilgrimage has also been used to promote unity in the Muslim world.
Besides these five basic institutions, other important laws of Islam include the ban of alcohol consumption and of eating the flesh of swine. Besides the Kaaba, the central shrine of Islam, the most important centers of Islamic life are the mosque, where daily prayers are offered and where Friday services are held.
JIHAD
The term “jihad”, usually translated "holy war," designates the struggle toward the Islamic goal of "reforming the earth," which may include the use of armed force if necessary. The agreed purpose of jihad, however, is not territorial expansion or the aggressive conversion of people to Islam, but the statement of political power in order to apply the principles of Islam through public institutions. The concept of jihad was nevertheless used by some medieval Muslim rulers to justify wars motivated by purely political ambitions.
According to classical Islamic law, the world was divided into three zones: the House of Islam, where Muslims are ascendant; the House of Peace, those powers with whom Muslims have peace agreements; and the House of War, the rest of the world. Gradually, however, jihad came to be interpreted more in defensive than in offensive terms. In the 20th century the concept of jihad inspired Muslims in their struggle against Western colonialism. As we saw on sept 11 the term jihad can be taken to an extreme and used as a cover to perform such atrocities.
Sharia meaning "the way", is a term that refers to the body of laws and rules that regulate Muslim life. These laws are an expression of God’s will, according to Muslim belief, although application of the laws depend on understanding by jurists-that is, leaders versed in Islamic law. So, while only one Sharia exists, it is expressed in legal explanation, or fiqh, and there can be many schools of fiqh. Although some commandments are clearly proclaimed in the Quran, the sacred text of Islam, jurists must obtain most of them along the principles of a tactic known as the science of the law or usul al fiqh.
According to usul al fiqh, four principal sources (known as legal indicators) provide the basis for the Sharia, the Quran, the Sunnah which is the collection of actions and sayings of the prophet Muhammad who is the founder of Islam, ijma, meaning "agreement," which for most jurists refers to the agreement over the centuries of the schools of law, but which may also refer to the consensus of the Muslim community.
DAY OF JUDGEMENT
The divine activities of creation, provisions, and guidance end with the final act of judgment. On the Day of Judgment, all humanity will be gathered, and individuals will be judged exclusively according to their deeds. The "successful ones" will go to the Garden (heaven), and the "losers," or the evil, will go to hell, although God is merciful and will forgive those who deserve forgiveness. Besides the Last Judgment, which will be on individuals, the Quran recognizes another kind of divine judgment, which is meted out in history to nations, peoples and communities. Nations, like individuals, may be corrupted by wealth, power, and pride, and, unless they reform, these nations are punished by being destroyed or dominated by more righteous nations. A person throughout its life has to angels on its shoulders that write in a book the good deeds and bad deeds of an individual. On the right shoulder the good are written and on the left the bad. On The Day of Judgment these books are weighed and obviously the larger heaver decides were you spend your eternal life.
ISLAM IN MODERN WORLD
The view of Islamic culture after the medieval period led to a reemphasis on original thinking and to religious reform movements. Unlike the first and foremost doctrinal and thoughtful movements of the Middle Ages, the modern movements were primarily concerned with social and moral reform. The first such movement was the Wahhabi, named after its founder, Ibn Abd al-Wahhabi, which emerged in Arabia in the 18th century and became a vast revivalist movement with branch throughout the Muslim world . The Wahhabi movement aimed at reviving Islam by purifying it of un-Islamic influences, particularly those that had compromised its original monotheism, and by stressing the responsibility of Muslims to think independently rather than blindly accepting tradition.
Other Islamic reformers have been influenced by Western ideas. The most important reformist of the 19th century was the Egyptian Muhammad Abduh, who believed that reason and modern Western thought would confirm the truth of Islam rather than weakening it, and that Islamic doctrine could be reformulated in modern terms. Sir Muhammad Iqbal is the most important modern philosopher to have attempted the reinterpretation of Islamic doctrines. Other intellectuals in Egypt, Turkey, and India attempted to resolve with the teachings of the Quran such ideas as those raised by legal democracy, science, and the release of women. The Quran teaches the principle of "rule by consultation," which in modern times, they argued, can best be realized by representative government rather than monarchy. They pointed out that the Quran encourages the study and use of nature, but Muslims, after a few centuries of brilliant scientific work, had passed it on to Europe and abandoned it. They argued that the Quran had given women equal rights, but these had been argued by men, who had foully abused polygamy.
Although the modernist ideas were based on likely interpretations of the Quran, they were bitterly opposed by Islamic fundamentalists, especially after the 1930s. The reaction against advance has been gathering energy since that time for several reasons. The fundamentalists do not oppose modern education, science, and technology, but they accuse the modernists of being purveyors of Western morals. They believe that the freeing of women, as conceived by the West, is responsible for the breakup of the family and for liberal sexual morality. Some fundamentalists are suspicious of democracy because they do not trust the moral sense of the masses. Moreover, modernist leaders and officials in some Muslim countries have failed to improve radically the condition of the mostly poor and rapidly increasing populations of those countries. Finally, and perhaps most important, the bitter dislike Muslims feel toward Western colonialism has made many of them regard everything Western as evil.
During the modern period Islam has continued to win new converts, especially among black Africans and some black Americans, to whom its basic social equality appeals.
