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“Islam”
Rev. Roger Fritts
February 24, 2013
Unitarian Universalist Church of Sarasota
Most Muslims are not Arabs. Still, for most of the 20th Century, American popular culture often
portrayed the typical Muslim as a fanatic, a crazed Arab. The Muslim man was a strange figure
dressed in robe and turban with deep burning eyes, carrying a long knife. The Muslim women
either were belly dancers or covered in cloth.
Let’s look at a small sample. [Video]
Of course, most Arab Muslims are not violent and most Muslims are not even Arabs. It is a tragic
mistake for us to fear all Muslims. Imagine a world where we judged all the members of
Christianity on the actions of the members of the Ku Klux Klan. Imagine a world where we
portray all Christians in movies, novels, and cartoons as dressed in white sheets, carrying
shotguns, lynching Blacks, and burning crosses. If we can imagine such a world, we have some
perspective on how the non-Islamic world has slurred Muslims.
The violent actions of a minority should not obscure the peaceful activities of the majority. There
are angry, violent Muslims; but like the angry violent people in the Christian religion, they are
the minority. The moderate majority of Muslims do not support them.
The attacks of 2001 led to an increased interest in Islam. More books have been published. More
classes have been offered. For example, in the 1970s Starr King School for the Ministry that I
attended had one class in Islam. Today this Unitarian Universalist school has a professor in
Islamic studies and field trips to Turkey so that Unitarian Universalist ministers can graduate
with firsthand knowledge of Islam. In general more young Americans are studying abroad in
countries where Islam is the dominate religion.
Movies have also changed. Before 1998, no mainstream American movie had ever had a positive
main character who was Muslim. This has changed. The 2005 American made movie Kingdom
of Heaven about the crusades of the 12th century portrayed Muslims as the “good guys” and the
crusaders as the “bad guys.” The 2007 movie the Kite Runner portrayed diverse Muslims
characters and gave a positive view of Islam. The 2007 movie The Kingdom is about Americans
and Muslins working together in a decent and human way. The leading Saudi Arabian character,
a senior police officer, is one of the heroes of the movie. Although the movie Argo does include
some stereotypes of Muslims, it starts with a history lesson that tries to explain rationally why
some of the people in Iran were so angry at the United States.
The result is an increase in sophistication among some Americans about the Muslim world.
Many Americans understand that Muslims are not the most terrible people in the world nor are
they the most wonderful people in the world. They are fundamentally just like us, human beings
with strengths and weaknesses. Their religion is very similar to Judaism and Christianity.
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The Islamic people are capable of warmth, generosity, and hospitality. Their ancestors were
innovators in medicine and mathematics. Their art and architecture are magnificent. Although the
Arabic language, history, and culture have played central roles in Islamic history, Islam is not an
Arabic religion, it is a world religion. The largest Islamic population is in Indonesia. The second
largest Islamic population is in Pakistan; the third is in India; and the fourth is in Bangladesh.
Islam is the youngest of the major religions of the world. Muhammad was born in the middle of
the sixth century. At that time, the Arabian Peninsula was enjoying a period of great economic
growth, but the weaker and poorer members of society were suffering neglect. Lucky entrepreneurs could make fast money in the caravan trade but the trade left most ordinary people out. It
was a time of a highly competitive, heartless race for wealth.
Muhammad's father died before he was born and his mother died before he was two. A grandfather who died when the boy was six raised him. After his grandfather’s death, Muhammad's
uncle looked after him. The boy grew up a poor orphan, working as a shepherd in the fields
around Mecca. He developed a reputation as a trustworthy person with a good sense about human
relationships. In his twenties, he married a widow who owned a caravan business. His wife was
about fifteen years older than he was. The marriage lasted for twenty-four years until his wife's
death in 619.
During his marriage, Muhammad increasingly engaged in private religious meditation, including
retreats in a mountain cave outside Mecca. One day when Muhammad was meditating at the
mouth of the cave and he heard a voice coming from a gigantic figure he saw on the horizon.
Frightened, Muhammad hurried to his wife to tell her of his experience. She became the first to
believe and submit to her husband's revelation. Soon others followed, both within Muhammad's
family and outside it. The revelations continued until the end of Muhammad's life. The followers
of Muhammad called the accumulated revelations “recitations” or “Qurans,” both because they
were first revealed to Muhammad in recited form and because Muhammad in turn recited them to
his followers. This is why we call Scripture of Islam the Quran.
This call of Muhammad to become a prophet occurred in 610, when he was about forty years of
age. In the years that followed, Muhammad built up a following in Mecca composed mainly of
poor citizens. The center of the faith that Muhammad preached was submission to the one true
God, who had spoken before to Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and other prophets known in the biblical
record of Judaism and Christianity. Islam is Unitarian in that Muslims believe that Jesus was a
great human prophet but not God. Muhammad taught that Muslims should believe in the Garden
of Eden with Adam and Eve, in Moses and Jesus, in the veneration of Mary and in the sacred
shrines of Judaism and Christianity. Muhammad taught his followers to respect the ethical
teachings of the Jews and Christians. Today a good Muslim is aware of these historical links of
Islam to Judaism and Christianity and treats both religions with respect.
Muhammad escaped assassination attempts and for safety, he had to move several times.
Following his first wife's death in 619, he was married several times. He never became wealthy.
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He often had to meet with members of the community to judge disputes just as Moses had done
in the Sinai Wilderness. The Quran draws parallels between Muhammad and Moses. By the time
of his death in 632, he had extended his influence throughout Arabia.
The name of the new religion was to be Islam, which means “voluntary submission to God,” and
a “Muslim” describes a person who submits. Muslims do not see submission to God as a grim
totalitarianism. They teach that being in the service of God is liberating. They teach that freely to
submit to God is to reject the slavery of greed, the slavery of anxiety, and the slavery of statusseeking.
Muhammad spoke of the responsibility of men to treat women with respect. Compared to the
pre-Islamic position of women, Islamic law meant an enormous progress. Before Muhammad,
the bride’s father paid a dowry to the father of the groom. After Muhammad, the dowry became a
gift retained by the wife as part of her personal property. Under Islamic law, marriage became a
"contract," in which a woman's consent was necessary. Islamic law gave women inheritance
rights. Before Islam, only males could inherit. And Islamic law gave a woman the right to control
the wealth she brought into the family or earned by her own work.
The Quran does not require women to wear veils. It was a social habit picked up with the
expansion of Islam. The veil was neither compulsory nor widely adopted until generations after
Muhammad’s death. As for polygamy, in Saudi Arabia and parts of Africa, Muslim men may
have up to four wives as long as they treat them all equally. In other Islamic countries, polygamy
is rare or non-existent.
In some countries, at sometimes, Muslim attitudes towards women have been more progressive
than in the United States. In 1988, the people of Pakistan elected a woman as prime minister,
something not yet accomplished by the people of the United States. Researchers in the field of
gender equality say that Islam is neither more nor less patriarchal than Hinduism, Christianity,
and Judaism.
The core of Islam consists of the five Pillars.
The first Pillar of Islam is to utter these words: “I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, I
bear witness that Muhammad is the messenger of God.” To become a Muslim it is necessary to
say these words with sincere conviction.
The Second Pillar of Islam is prayer to Mecca five times daily. The purpose of the prayer is to
discourage arrogance. Prayer reminds Muslims to lay aside their pride and selfishness. The prayer
ties the Islamic community together across time and across geographic frontiers. Muslims learn
early how to perform the prayer as they are trained to form straight rows behind the prayer leader
who serves as a pattern and pacer for the series of standings, bowings, prostrations and sittings
that make up a cycle within the prayer. Those praying direct their eyes straight ahead, with their
hearts and minds focused on precisely what they are to do during the service. The entire
congregation faces in the direction of Mecca. Muslims observe the prayer at dawn, at noon,
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during mid-afternoon, just after the sun has set, and in the evening. A prerequisite for doing the
prayer is ritual purification, usually washing of parts of the body. All Muslims must learn the
prayer and be willing to lead it, when called on to do so.
The third Pillar of Islam is the religious obligation of giving money for support of the poor.
This is not optional charity but an obligation of service to God. To give money to the less
fortunate is to worship God. The Quran likens the gift of money to a good loan paid to God that
God will repay many times over.
The fourth Pillar of Islam is to fast during the whole month of Ramadan. The fast is to remind
Muslims of what it is like to be poor, what it is like to go without food or water. No food, drink,
medicine, or sensual pleasure may be taken from dawn until dark. In the evening, Muslims may
eat and enjoy marital relations. Before dawn, they eat a meal to provide strength for the coming
day's activities. The ill, children and the aged are excused from the fast. The benefit of this fast is
that it reduces differences of rank, status, and wealth and creates a shared feeling of common
humanity.
The fifth Pillar of Islam is the pilgrimage to Mecca, the hajj. This is the only Pillar that is not an
absolute requirement. Muslims make the pilgrimage only if their personal, financial, and family
circumstances permit. The cube-shaped structure in the heart of Mecca is an ancient center of
Arab worship. Muslims believe that Adam and Eve lived at this site; and on this site, Abraham
and his son Ishmael built the first house of worship of the one true god. When he was alive
Muhammad often prayed at this shrine. Traveling to Mecca, they experience the thrill of seeing,
hearing, and meeting fellow believers of all races, languages and cultures from the corners of the
globe. In a symbolic demonstration of the radical equality of all Muslims, they all wear only
common white cloth. During the hajj pilgrims are not permitted to carry firearms. They are
prohibited from arguing, or even speaking an angry word.
We can learn about how to create a religious community by looking at the five Pillars of Islam,
which together form a religious discipline.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
The first is sincerely to say these words: "There is no god but God, and Muhammad is the
messenger of God."
Second is to pray five times each day.
Third is the religious obligation of giving money for support of the poor, the debtor, the
stranger.
Fourth is the obligation to fast during Ramadan.
Fifth is the religious obligation to make a pilgrimage to Mecca.
One American Muslim, who a few years ago, made the pilgrimage to Mecca described the
experience this way:
“Reaching Mecca was only the beginning. The goal of the hajj was to perform it well. The rites
were hard, sometimes unfathomable--like living. Yet they provided a counterweight to the usual
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view of life as a dog-and-cat fight. Elsewhere, except at the best of times, every person looked
out for himself. During the hajj, people looked out for each other. The hajj is a shared rite of
passage . . . In that way it was like an act of love . . . [and] it provided a service missing in the
West . . . it offered a climax to a religious life.”