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Islam
Islam: safe or unharmed (also, peace or surrender); not in the context of conflict
The noun “Salam” (peace be with you)
Islam
A form of greeting; generalized as tranquility, safety or surrender
“To surrender oneself”; to resign oneself to the will of God”
Islam is the act of submission
Muslim is the one who submits
Friday is the Sabbath
Muhammad
(570?-632 CE)
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The true faith of Abraham
The last prophet
Belonged to a minor clan (the Quraysh) of the Bedouin tribe
The center was Mecca; a center for trade and pilgrims
Married a wealthy widow in the caravan business
Exposed to Jewish and Christian influences
Importance of both pastoral and business values (conflict)
Founded in 622CE when Muhammad emigrated (Hijra) from Mecca to Medina.
Established a new political community.
Was not the founder of Islam in the sense of creating a completely separate
religious confession.
That happened during the reign of Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan (685-705) who was
the fifth caliph of the Ummayad Dynasty.
So what did Muhammad found?
He established a community or movement of believers best described as a
monotheistic reform movement. It was not a new or distinct religious confession.
He thought that the curent monotheisms (Jews and Christians) were corrupt.
Wanted to reaffirm two basic principles. (1) The absolute one-ness and
uniqueness of God; and (2) the prospect of the last day of judgment with its
rewards and punishments.
There were prescriptions for prayer, charity and religious pilgrimage. There is a
suggestion of ecumenism during his lifetime. Did embrace other believers
(although there are questions about this). Thought the Jews and Christians had
distorted the true revelations. The Koran explicitly rejects the divinity of Jesus
and the idea of the Trinity (the “corruption” of division).
But, slowly the idea that all believers must express an identical faith and practice.
This idea could only result in the resolution of Islam as the only true definition of
montheism.
You also have the idea that the religious community also meant politics. As
Muhammad was the last of the prophets (“seal”). Meant that disputes about the
“best of communities” were disputes about poltical legitimacy as well.
That is why Islam begins to take on its distinctive characteristics later in the 7th
Century as the result of two civil wars (656-692). Produced the basic division in
Islam between Sunni and Shia. Became a “new and distinct religious confession”
as the result of the attempt by the Ummayad ruler to get legitimacy for his
dynasty.
This required that (1) a definition of Islam would reject Shiite claims to rule and
(2) a sharp distinction between Islam and Christianity through the renewal of Hijra
and expansion (confrontation with the Byzantine Empire).
In 749CE, the Ummayads were swept away in the Abbasid revolution. This begins
another great debate (played out in the 9th Century and ended in the 11th Century)
about the true nature of monotheism.
Islamic identity was now defined by the acceptance of a common faith. Becomes
a complete system of identity, loyalty and authority.
The world was divided into two: (1) the House of Islam and (2) the House of War
to which the Muslim faith would come in time.
Created the Islamic Brotherhood (Umma)
Kept traditional tribal framework; strict patriarchy
Articulated the Koran; a religion which unites faith and community; placed ahead
of blood and kinship groups
The primary importance of kinship and tribalism
The “Hamula”; a group of common descendents from a common ancestor;
usually 5-7 generations
The problem if migration to the countries of Europe (community and territory)
Achieved power and success in his lifetime; died 8 June 632CE
Purpose:
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To restore true monotheism
He was the last prophet; through him God’s revelation of His purpose
for humankind had been completed
Islam
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There would be no more prophets
The Religion was to keep and defend the divine law and bring it to the
rest of the world
Required political and military power
The Umma would become a state as well as a community
Left no son at death in 632 CE
A daughter married to a kinsman whose name was Ali (but not chosen)
Abu Bakr (3 years younger and a senior member of the community); Al Siddiq,
the “upright or truthful”
Umar became the second Caliph
Created the calendar
Have to remember that Mohammed was regarded as a ruler (as well as a prophet
and teacher) at the time of his death in 632 CE
Dispute about the nature of the succession
The Sunni who accepted Abu Bakr and the Shia who thought the caliphs were
imposters
The complete integration of the political, religious and social spheres of life
A combination of the commercial and agricultural
A missionary religion
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Expansive
Along the trade routes
It had the truth
Conversion (the “infidel”)
Trade and violence
By 711 CE
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Had conquered most of the Near East, Egypt and North Africa
Crossed the Straits of Gibralter
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Attacked the Visigoths in Spain
The Al-Andalus
In some ways, Spain (710 CE to 1492) would become the most civilized Western
European society since the Roman Empire
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Prosperity through trade, agriculture, irrigation and city building
Muslim society was unequal but largely tolerant (Jews)
Knew about Plato and Aristotle
Modern mathematics, poetry and philosophy
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Slavery was common
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City of Verdun was Europe’s primary slave market (the Slavs)
720 CE, crossed the Pyrenees to attack Septimania (France), or the
“great land”
The object was to get at Constantinople by the “back door”
721 CE, defeated at Toulouse
New offensive under Abd Al-Rahman
By the mid 730s, all major cities around the Mediterranean coast were
Muslim controlled
732 CE, advanced (about 15,000 soldiers) to St. Martin of Tours
About 200 miles from Paris
Met a Frankish army commanded by Charles
Charles was a kind of Prime Minister
A Saturday in October
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Forces evenly matched
Cavalry against heavily armored infantry
Know almost nothing about what happened; except
Al-Rahman was killed on the first day and the Arabs withdrew
Charles “Martel” (the hammer)
Arab armies would never again reach as far north in Western Europe
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But, it had been more like a raid (like the invasion of Spain)
Arab armies pushed back across the Pyrenees between 752-759 CE
But what if it had succeeded?
No Charlemagne
No Christian expansion across the globe (esp. Spain and Portugal)
No Spanish Reconquista
Height of power and influence:
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Ninth and Tenth Centuries in the East
Eleventh and Twelfth in Spain
Constantinople 1453 (Istanbul)
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the Ottoman Turks
Destroyed the Byzantine Empire
Vienna 1683 (siege)
But
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The discovery of Europe (not really interested)
The Mongols
The Crusaders
Effect: Destabilization
The Mongols; 60 years of war in Syria and Iraq; cities were destroyed and people
slaughtered
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Islam
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600,000 Harat
747, 000 Nishapur
Baghdad destroyed in 1258
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The Caliph of Baghdad
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The culture was destroyed
The psychological impact of this
Never fully recovered
The Crusaders
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Effect
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First 1096-1102 (captured Jerusalem 1099)
Second 1120-25; 1128-29; 1139-40; 1147-49 (Asia Minor and Spain)
Third 1189-92 (loss of Jerusalem and most of Palestine to Saladin)
battle of Haitin
Others from 1197 to 1260
Spain 1482-92
Lepanto 1571
Recovered the Balkans 1684-97
Destabilized (repeated shocks)
The
Century debate about the nature of Islam
The outcome is associated with Al-Ghazzali (the most famous Sunni thinker).
Determined that God is completely transcendent and omnipotent. There are no
limits to the divine sovereign.
The Koran: the last of God’s revelations to mankind and cannot be criticized.
The truth is universal
Exclusive
Final
9th
Not like the Bible (textual criticism in the 19th Century).
Must accept that the Koran was dictated to Muhammad by the Archangel Gabriel.
Analogy to Christ in that it is a revelatory event. Precludes textual or historical
criticism.
The outcome for Islam therefore was an inability to separate faith and science (or
the use of reason). It becomes unique and is not an Abrahamic faith.
The rejection of reason meant that Islam was hostile to the pursuit of philosophy
or science as would be understood in the West. These had begun to flourish
under the early Abbasid rulers who were translating ancient Greek and Persian
texts.
Made it impossible to pursue human freedom as understood in the West. That
God made man in his image. That meant the possession of speech and logos.
The idea of the covenant where God limits himself in this world. The idea of
constitutional limits (grace).
Only God has uniqueness and individuality while the person is merely and
instrument and passive.
A basic and fundamental difference.
No separation of Church and State
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No Augustine
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(637-642) “Throw them in the water. If what they contain is right
guidance, God has given us better guidance. If it is error, God has
protected us against it”