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Transcript
Learning About Islam Week One World Religions Throughout time, around the world, human beings have sought to express a sense of ultimate meaning through their religious beliefs. Although there has been a lot of noise made by atheists in recent years about the evils of religion in general, you can see from the chart below that only about 14% of people worldwide classify themselves as non-religious. While there are thousands of religious groups in the world, 75% of people belong to one of the “big five religions, Christianity, the large majority belong to Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism. While Judaism and Buddhism receive a lot of attention. Their numbers are insignificant. For those of us in the West, the most significant religions are classified as “Abrahamic,” Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The Abrahamic label comes from the fact that all of these religions trace their origins back to Abraham. Religions can also be considered according to how old they are. Of the Abrahamic faiths, Judaism is by far the oldest dating to approximately 1500 BCE. Christianity dates back to the time of Jesus Christ in the First Century C.E. Islam in is the youngest of the world’s religions dating back to 622 C.E., the year that Muhammad and his followers fled Mecca. The evolution of all the religions is complex. Religions developed alongside tribal and cultural lines and eventually became associated with nation states. It is also beyond refute that religious conflicts have resulted in the loss of millions of lives. You could even go as far as saying that religion is involved in almost all conflicts. This is not so much and indictment of religion, however, as it is of the sinful nature of humanity in general. All religions have at their core a sense of love, peace, and justice. So far these values have been imperfectly, to say the least, expressed. Is there anything that surprises you about the distribution of religions? Where did Islam come from? The earliest history of the Abrahamic faiths is told in the book of Genesis. Abraham had been promised by God that he would be the ancestor of a great people. Abraham and Sarah were 1 without a child well beyond their child bearing years, so Abraham conceived a child by an Egyptian slave-girl named Hagar. Unfortunately for Hagar and her son Ishmael, Abraham miraculously produced a son, Isaac, so Ishmael had to go. According to tradition, Ishmael became the ancestor of the Arab people. In the year 570, about two thousand years after Ishamael was born, a child named Muhammad was born to a wealthy merchant in the tribal area of Arabia. Muhammad’s father died before his birth and he was raised by his grandparents. Beginning in the year 609 C.E., Muslims believed that God began a verbal recitation to Muhammad which continued over a period of 23 years. The Qur’an, which literally means “the recitation”, became the central religious text of Islam. The Qur’an was compiled by companions of Muhammad after his death. The Qur’an assumes knowledge of Biblical scriptures. Some stories of the Bible are summarized, some quoted verbatim, and some are presented in variant versions. The Qur’an is not the only authoritative text of Islam. The hadith are commentaries that were written describing the life, habits and teachings of Muhammad when he was alive. The hadith are second in authority only to the Qur’an. How does the revelation of the Qur’an differ from that of the Holy Bible? Who determines the authority of scripture? As Christians should we give any credence to the teachings of the Qu’ran? The God of Abraham A question that often comes up these days is whether or not Muslims and Christians worship the same God. As we have already seen from the succession of developing Abrahamic religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all identify their object of worship as the God of Abraham. From that perspective all three religions worship the same God. And linguistically the God’s of the three religions are also related. In Hebrew the root “El” is one of the designations for God or the Lord. Allah, the way the name of God is written in Arabic, is the equivalent of El. The confusion arises today, however, with regards to the attributes of God. In modern discussions, particularly with the association of Islam and terrorism, the God of the Muslims is seen to be a rigid, vengeful God while the God that Christians worship is the God of love. A more careful look at the God of Islam reveals that Allah is most often described as the merciful and the beneficent. Conversely, the God of the Old and New Testaments can at times be pretty harsh and vengeful. For the sake of interfaith conversations, it is most helpful to begin by assuming that all three Abrahamic religions worship the same God. It is clear that at times we perceive God and how God acts in the world very differently. It will be most productive so focus on the positive attributes of God in all religions. If we will truly listen and learn from each other we may find that we hold more in common than we think. 2 The Five Pillars of Islam Every religion has its foundational beliefs and practices. Turning to these beliefs and practices is a good place to start in order to compare what seem to be very different religion. The faith of Islam, no matter what sect, is built upon these five solid pillars. Pillar #1 – Shahada The first pillar of Islam is Shahada or the confession of faith. Christianity is known as a confessing religion, that is we confess or affirm what we believe according to a set formula. The main confessions of the Christian faith are the Athanasian, the Nicene, and the Apostles’ Creeds. All of them are quite complicated (especially the Athanasian). Lutheranism is a confessing church because we affirm these creeds in worship and hold them normative for the faith. The confession of faith of Islam is much simpler – “There is only one God and his prophet is Muhammad.” The Islamic creed is simpler for one reason because Islam is a radically monotheistic faith. Muslims consider the doctrine of the Trinity in indicate that we worship three Gods. Most of the language of our Creeds is used to explain, or try to explain, the Trinity. Pillar #2 -- Salah The second pillar of Islam is Salah or prayer. Islam prescribes that Muslims are two pray five times a day at particular hours. I find it ironic, considering that Christianity also has an emphasis on prayer, that Muslims are often ridiculed or criticized for taking prayer seriously. Pillar #3 – Zakat The third pillar of Islam is Zakat or giving alms to the poor (charity). Islam places a premium on community and caring for others in that community as a religious obligation. Pillar #4 – Hajj The faithful Muslim is required once in his or her life to make a pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca. Exception is made for those who cannot afford the trip or who are physically unable. Pillar #5—Sawn The final pillar of Islam is Sawm or fasting during the month of Ramadan. During Ramadan the faithful are to fast from dawn to dusk. Excepted from fasting are children, the sick, and the elderly. Compare the 5 Pillars of Islam to the religious practices of Christianity. 3