Download Notes - John Provost, PhD

Introduction to Islam
Introduction
Islam is the world’s 2nd largest as well as the fastest growing
religion. “Over 1 billion, or nearly one-fifth of the world’s
population adhere to the faith of Islam, the youngest of the world’s
great religions” (MPMF, p. 377.)
It is important to note that Muslims trace their ancestry back to
Abraham, as do the Jews and Christians. When Abraham’s wife
Sarah could not have children he had a son by Hagar, his wife’s
maid, named Ishmael. Arabs trace their ancestry back to Ishmael
just as Jews trace their ancestry back to Abraham’s son through
Sarah (who eventually conceived) named Isaac. Some people
would trace the Jews and the Arab’s problems all the way back to
these two half brothers!
Islam is a monotheistic faith that believes surrendering to the will
of God is the greatest human task. “The very heart of Islam is
submission to the total will of Allah, or God. (Allah is not the
name of a god, but simply means “The God” – the one and only
God.) God’s will for humanity, Muslims believe, was most fully
given in the Qur’an, the book revealed through the prophet
Muhammad. The word Islam means “submission,” and the name
tells us that the central idea of this faith is simply full and complete
submission to the will of God. An adherent of the faith is called a
Muslim, one who has made the submission” (MPMF, pp. 377378.) It is important to note right away that Islam is about God and
his teaching, not Muhammad the Prophet of God. Muhammad is
not worshipped or considered divine as Jesus is in Christianity.
These messages were revealed to Muhammad by an angel. They
were revealed over many years as an oral tradition for as long as
Muhammad lived and led his people. These teachings and
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revelations “were recorded by scribes after the Prophet’s death
[and then] were compiled into the Qur’an, the book believed by
Muslims to be the last and greatest Divine revelation to humanity,
just as Muhammad is seen as the last and greatest in a line of
prophets sent to restore the simple, primal religion of justice and
pure monotheism” (MPMF, p. 430.)
The Five Pillars
There are a few religious duties that all Muslims agree to abide by
as being standard. “The practice of Islam centers on what are
commonly called its Five Pillars: reciting the creed that states that
there is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is his Prophet; praying
five times daily; giving alms; keeping a fast during the month of
Ramadan; and once in one’s life, if possible, making the
pilgrimage to Mecca” (MPMF, p. 430.)
Reciting the creed is what makes one officially a Muslim. There is
not a formal baptism ceremony as in Christianity. By agreeing to
submit one’s will to God, called Allah by Muhammad, one
becomes a Muslim. The confession of faith is much like the Creed
in Christianity. It is a simple statement of faith. It is a way of
stating “this I hold to be true.” “The first of the five pillars is to
say, “There is no god but God (Allah), and Muhammad is the rasul
(Prophet or messenger) of God.” (MPMF, p. 386.) While short and
succinct it nevertheless has the power of implying “and therefore
what God and the prophet of God require I will believe and do.” It
is also a community statement. Like the Pledge of Allegiance
before public events in the United States, it is a statement declaring
one’s union with, and commitment to, the community.
Praying five times a day is a way of consecrating all of our days to
Allah. The prayers are not lengthy. It is not that you are supposed
to spend hours in prayer and neglect your other duties, but it is a
way to try and remember what is most important in one’s life. In a
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traditional Islamic culture, everyone stops to worship. This makes
it easier to pray at the five times a day that are required. In some
countries the call to prayer is quite public. “On the streets of a
Muslim country, the pervasive influence of the religion is felt, too.
Five times a day – sunrise, noon, afternoon, just after sunset, at
dark – a crier, called the muezzin (nowadays often replaced by a
recording and a loud-speaker system), summons the faithful to
prayer from the minaret, the tower attached to every mosque. His
plaintive cry replaces the bells of Christendom. Then believers
prostrate themselves in prayer in shops and homes, wherever they
are, as well as in mosques” (MPMF, p. 377.) Muslims in America
find ways to make this practice possible by praying during breaks
at work and school, but it is much simpler to live in a society
where everyone stops for the few minutes necessary for prayer.
One takes time in prayer to renew the effort to submit one’s life to
the will of Allah, which means recognizing God’s greatness in all
of one’s affairs and in the community’s affairs as well. One does
this joyfully because one wants to please Allah who has given life
and all its blessings. “That is the central motif of Islam – the
greatness of God alone. Because Allah is great and sovereign, the
entire world and all the affairs of humankind belong only to him.
For this reason, Islam does not lavishly embellish the religious
sphere with rites and symbols and priesthood; if Allah is truly
great, Islam says, he can be worshipped anywhere by anyone in the
simple forms prescribed by the Qur’an and tradition. If God is
truly sovereign, what he has commanded for all of society – law,
ethics, government – is just as important as the religious
commandments and inseparable from them. For this reason, Islam
is experienced as a total and indivisible way of life (MPMF, p.
379.)
Giving alms is a way of making sure that all people have their
basic needs met. But spiritually it is a way of affirming the
importance of the community. We are not separate and fully
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independent. People need each other and as we will see, Islam
places a great deal of emphasis on community. To give charity is
fundamental to most of the religions of the world. “The third pillar
is almsgiving. The fundamental obligation is to give a relatively
small percentage of one’s wealth to the needy within the Muslim
community on a regular basis; expanded, it covers good works and
comradely attitudes in general, a helping hand and friendly smile
for one’s neighbor. This pillar reaffirms the social and ethical
dimensions of Islam” (MPMF, p. 386.) The idea behind charity is
solidarity and a celebration of unity and oneness.
The next pillar also has to do with community solidarity and selfcontrol. “The fourth pillar of Islam is the fast of Ramadan.
Ramadan is a lunar month of about twenty-eight days in the
Muslim calendar; during this period the faithful are neither to eat
nor drink between daybreak and dark, but to give attention to
prayer and religion” (MPMF, p. 387.) The fasting is an act of
community because everyone is doing it together. You are all
hungry and thirsty together, but then after the sun sets in the
evening families join together for a meal. The month ends with a
big celebration and feast, much like the American Thanksgiving,
that is also a time of gathering together and joy.
The fast during the month of Ramadan is a fairly difficult feat. One
does not go without food or drink for all of that time, but food and
drink (and sex and smoking for example) is very restricted so that
one goes many hours without sustenance. The idea is to practice
self-discipline and place the good things of life in their proper
perspective and it is also a way of practicing solidarity with those
who have less. Pilgrimage is the expectation that you will try to go
to Mecca at least once in your life. If you are too poor or disabled
or something like that there can be an exception when you don’t
have to go. But in general you try to make this trip at least once.
This trip is important for a number of reasons we will look at, but
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it is also an event that creates and supports community, especially
now that Islam attracts people to Mecca from all over the world.
Finally there is the trip every Muslim is asked to make at least
once in their life to Mecca. “The fifth pillar is one known to almost
everyone who has heard anything about Islam: the pilgrimage to
Mecca called the hajj” (MPMF, p. 387.) On an external level, the
trip to Mecca is focused around a visit to the Ka’ba, which is
connected to Abraham. “Abraham under God’s instructions built
the cubical shrine at Mecca – the Ka’ba – with the help of
Ishmael” (MPMF, p. 388.) It is believed to be the first structure
dedicated to the Oneness of God, or in other words, monotheism. It
is also a great community act as most pilgrims go at a time when
more than a million fellow pilgrims join them.
Everyone wears the same outfit and therefore there is a loss of
rank, wealth and privilege. You might be standing next to a poor
person or a princess. There are a bunch of ritual acts everyone
performs together such as the circling around the Ka’ba a number
of times and the visits you can make to other important holy sites
and places involved with the early history of Islam. If you are
familiar with the life story of Malcolm X or have read his
autobiography you will realize how important an event it is to go
on pilgrimage. Malcolm X was involved with the Black Muslims
in the United States and really hated white folks for the most part.
But he had an enlightening experience in Mecca where he saw
white people, brown people, black people, etc. all worshipping
Allah together in peace and harmony. This changed him and his
ideas about how to change racism. Unfortunately he was killed
shortly after his return to the United States.
Islam quickly became not only a religion but also an empire. This
happened much faster than it did in Christianity. Muslims ruled the
Middle East, North Africa, parts of Europe (Spain), and their
empire went all the way to India as well. During this time leaders
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known as Caliphs ruled Islamic civilization. “During the Golden
Age of the Caliphate, science, philosophy, and theology were
extensively cultivated. Learned men not only preserved the best of
classical thought but made important advances, which were finally
transmitted to Europe” (MPMF, pp. 430-431.) It was contacts with
Muslims, especially in Spain, that helped jump start European and
Christian civilization once again. The knowledge of Aristotle, for
example, had been lost in Europe until the Muslims brought their
translations to Spain.
Muslim “Schools”
Shortly after the death of Muhammad there was confusion and
argument about who was to succeed Muhammad as leader of
Islam. This caused the first major division in Islam, although the
division is much more political than theological. “Islam is divided
into two main groups. Sunni Islam emphasizes the traditional
path of Islamic life as interpreted by the consensus of scholars and
the community. Shi’a Islam, while following the traditional path,
also puts its faith in the authority of Imams who are Muhammad’s
hereditary successors” (MPMF, p. 431.) For the most part, both
types of Muslims believe and practice in the same way. For
example, they share the same Five Pillars and join together on
pilgrimage to Mecca.
There is also another movement, but it consists of both Sunnis and
Shi’as and concerns the way of the mystic. “Islamic mysticism,
called Sufism in the West, focuses on the presence of the Divine
oneness everywhere and offers paths to the attainment of union
with God” (MPMF, p. 431.) Sufis sometimes, as with most
mystical movements, have sometimes been a source of controversy
and contention within the Muslim world.
Islam is not meant to be a religion separate from a culture and
society. Islam does not believe in the separation of church and state
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(which is one source of conflict between Islam and the modern
Western world.) A Muslim’s life is to be submitted entirely to God
and this is best done in a culture that is geared toward this
submission. Because everything is sacred and all of life is to be
brought into harmony with this sacredness, secular government is
seen as problematic. “It is deeply consistent with the basic premise
of the faith – the absolute sovereignty of God over all situations
and over every atom of the universe – that whenever feasible
Muslims not only establish Muslim worship but create Muslim
societies under Muslim rulers based on Qur’anic law. Modern
conditions have often mandated reinterpretations of this ideal. But
the Qur’an remains the fountainhead of the true law and true
culture and a summons to submission in every area of life, the
“secular” – political, economic, and family life – as well as such
conventionally religious matters, as how one says prayers”
(MPMF, p. 379.)
Anyone familiar with psychology knows that great ideas like the
oneness of God can lead people to believe that they have a special
or unique relationship with God. This is the legitimate danger of
prophets. That prophets may be real can be accepted on faith, but
we also all know that there are serious problems with “false
prophets” taking advantage of people. To avoid these problems of
“spiritual materialism” Islam has instituted a series of rules that
function much like the Jewish Torah. It becomes a way of life, a
way of living out the unity that is spoken of in the Qur’an. “But the
tradition has tried hard to combat the human proclivity to mix piety
and egotism through the shari’a, or law. Islam makes the Qur’an
not only a book of God’s self-revelation but also a source of
practical regulations covering such matters as marriage,
almsgiving, relations with non-Muslims, and punishment of
criminals” (MPMF, p. 384.) To study the Qur’an is to realize that
all of life falls under religious law and is one of the reasons that
many Muslims prefer to live in a Muslim ruled state.
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The Law has been added to over the years in much the way the
Talmud was formed in Judaism. It allows people to find ways to
apply God’s law in new situations and contexts. “Shari’a is the
Qur’an as it is explicated and expanded by recognized jurists who
depend in this process upon hadith, traditions based on extraQur’anic sayings and examples in the life of Muhammad” (MPMF,
p. 384.) The Qur’an is the only scripture in Islam. But because
Muhammad is so respected people pay a lot of attention to the way
he lived his life and the things he said. These traditions are known
as the hadith and it provides the first commentary upon the Qur’an.
If the Qur’an is the direct words of Allah, then hadith is the direct
words and stories about Muhammad.
Muhammad
While it is true that Muhammad is not seen as divine and he is not
worshipped, it is also true to say that without Mohammad there
would be no Islam. “At the core of Islam lies the experience and
faith of Muhammad (570-632) himself”(MPMF, p. 379.) Who was
this man who lived in Mecca (located in modern Saudi Arabia) so
long ago?
Muhammad was born into a merchant family and became a camel
driver concerned with trade and the caravans across the deserts.
The people of Mecca were polytheistic and had many different
gods and goddesses. Mecca was a city that had a central holy spot
that was considered a place of peace where people had to put aside
their differences. It was a place where there were many altars to
the many divinities, but it was also a rich area because this place of
pilgrimage and worship brought much wealth to the city and its
merchants. With this wealth came the usual corruption.
Muhammad married Khadijah, a wealthy widow who was fifteen
years older than himself, when he was twenty-five. They had a
daughter named Fatima. Muhammad had a contemplative and
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solitary nature and he used to spend free time in a cave in the hills
above Mecca praying and meditating. It is interesting to know that
before anything happened to Muhammad he was seeking for the
truth. “About the 611, Muhammad began to have a remarkable
series of experiences in these solitary meditations in mountain
caves. A mysterious darkness would come over him, and then the
luminous figure of the archangel Gabriel would appear and recite
words to him, which he could remember clearly. These words
were first of all about the unity of God – that there is but one single
God, “Lord of the worlds” who abominates idolatry and will judge
the earth on a day of fire and anxiety; and God calls upon all
humanity to accept his sovereignty” (MPMF, p. 379.)
Muhammad spent about ten years trying to convince others of the
truthfulness of these revelations about the oneness of Allah and the
need to submit to Allah’s will and laws. But he had little success
and in fact was seen as a threat to the people of Mecca who made
their wealth from having a multitude of gods for people to come
and worship. “In 622 he accepted an invitation from the city of
Yathrib (now Medina) to teach there. His journey to Yathrib is
called the Hijra. The date of the Hijra is the date from which the
Muslim calendar starts; it marks the beginning of Muhammad’s
public and organizational work on a large scale” (MPMF, p. 380.)
So when you see a Muslim calendar you will notice that Islam is
nearly 1400 years old.
Muhammad lived another 10 years and during this time was able to
lead a great movement that swept through Arabia and onto many
other parts of the world. “Using Medina as a base, he brought all
Arabia, including Mecca, under his control. He became at once the
religious leader of the Arabs, their political ruler, and military
commander. Right up to the end of his life, which occurred just
after his return from his triumphal progress to Mecca in 632, the
Divine revelations continued. Together they make up the text of
the Qur’an, the Holy Scripture of Islam” (MPMF, p. 380.)
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Muhammad was not known to be a miracle worker as was Jesus
for instance. But the Qur’an is considered his “miracle” and the
validation for all that he taught. As a result, it is important for us to
take a closer look at it remembering that while Muhammad is not
central to Islam, the Qur’an certainly is.
The Qur’an
Many people make the obvious analogy that the Qur’an is to
Muslims like the Bible is to Jews and Christians. But this is only
superficially true and not very accurate. It would be more accurate
to say that the Qur’an is to Muslims what Jesus (not the Bible) is to
Christians. “Unlike the Judeo-Christian Bible, the Qur’an is not a
collection of diverse material from over a thousand year. It was all
delivered in a period of no more than twenty-two years to one man
in the form of communications from God through his angel”
(MPMF, p. 381.) The Qur’an is the manifestation of God’s concern
and love for the Muslims in this world. Many Muslims have
memorized the whole Qur’an, which is about the size of the
Christian New Testament.
Non-Arabic speaking Muslims are highly encouraged to learn
Arabic so that they can study it in its original language. While it is
possible to buy copies of the Qur’an in translation, this is not
encouraged because the Arab language is filled with certain sounds
and rhythms that are not translatable, and, therefore, other
languages are inadequate for study. To be a serious Muslim one
must try to assimilate this language. “To Muslims, the Qur’an is a
miracle – the most convincing miracle of all as validation of their
faith. It is said to be untranslatable, but to be in the original Arabic
of exquisite, incomparable beauty of rhythm and expression. That
one man, and he illiterate according to tradition, could be the
merely human author of “the Glorious Qur’an, that inimitable
symphony, the very sounds of which move men to tears and
ecstasy,” seems to Muslims incredible (MPMF, p. 381.) I have
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seen the Qur’an’s Arabic compared to Shakespeare’s English. It is
the standard by which all other Arabic is compared and found
wanting.
Another big difference between the Bible and the Qur’an is the
way the words come across. While many Christians strongly
believe that the Bible is the Word of God, they also recognize that
the form of the Bible is partially stories about God in the third
voice. The Qur’an is written in the first voice. Muslims believe it is
God speaking directly. It is not about God’s words and thoughts. It
is God speaking: a direct transmission. “The Holy Qur’an, they
deeply believe, is the full and complete message of the infinite
Divine Mind to humanity. Thus, it is not only studied, but also
chanted, memorized, and recited on all sorts of occasions,
venerated both as words and as a book. Even its way of speaking
is Divine; it represents the personal style of Allah and so transmits
something of God’s essence. Its very choice of rhythm, metaphor,
and rhetorical method, in other words, reveals something of how
God thinks and feels, just as do its contents” (MPMF, p. 381.) This
is one of the reasons why the physical book containing the words
should also be respected. To profane the Qur’an would be like a
Catholic having to see Holy Communion misused and abused.
Philosophically the question that interests me is why each major
religion that believes in revelation, (that is in the idea that God
reveals himself to humanity), also believe that they have the only
legitimate revelation or as with Muslims, Muhammad is the last
prophet. I always wonder why does someone have to be the last
prophet? Why can’t prophecy and revelation go on and on? From a
religious point you can accept it on faith and I suppose that is what
most believers do.
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Summary
Muslims believe that Islam is a correction to earlier monotheistic
faiths partially because Islam simplifies things and brings worship
of the one God back to its original purity. “Muslims believe that
Islam is the ultimate religion, the complete religion. It is the
religion of Abraham, the primal monotheism of the beginning,
come back in finalized form. It is the ultimate form of religion
because it is in fact the simplest and clearest. It is just the essence
of religion, plain and perfect submission to the absolute God in all
areas of life” (MPMF, p. 382.) It is true that much of religion can
be reduced to a believer seeking a personal relationship with the
divine. To be in a right relationship with God is to follow the path
he has laid out for humans. Muslims believe that this path to a
relationship with Allah was laid out in the Qur’an. That path is
summed up in the five pillars, which we will look at shortly.
Can the message of Islam be summarized easily? Yes. “All the
way through, then, the central message of Islam is oneness: the
unity of the line of true prophets, the oneness of final prophet and
book, the oneness of the People of God, the one submission to be
made, and finally the supreme oneness of God” (MPMF, p. 384.)
This focus on the oneness of God and of all life is what allows
Islam to remain fundamentally simple. It is also the key to the
Sufi’s understanding of reality. Their whole practice takes off with
unity and oneness as the starting point. After all, if we are all one
with God then the separation we experience must be an illusion.
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