Download and the Shi`a

Living Religions
A Brief Introduction
3rd Edition
Mary Pat Fisher
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved
Chapter 10
Islam
Pre-Islamic Arabia
Sufism
The Prophet Muhammad
The spread of Islam
The Qur’an
Relationships with the West
The central teachings
Muslim resurgence
The Five Pillars
Sunni and Shi’a
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Key terms
Allah
barakah
caliph
Dervishes
dhimmis
Fatiha
fatwa
hajj
Hadith
hijab
hijrah
ijtihad
Imams
infidel
Islam
Islamists
jihad
jinn
kufr
madrasas
muezzin
mujahid
murshid
Paraclete
Shahadah
Shari’ah
shaykh
Shi’a
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shirk
Sufism
Sunnah
Sunni
Taliban
tariqas
ulama
ummah
Wahhabism
zakat
Timeline
c. 570-632 CE
c. 610
622
650
661-750
680
732
750-1258
980-1037
1099-1187
1453
1492
1556-1605
1800s-1900s
1973
Life of Prophet Muhammad
Revelation of Qur’an to Muhammad begins
The hijrah (migration) from Mecca to Medina
Written text of Qur’an established
Umayyad caliphate
Martyrdom of Husayn at Karbala
Muslims defeated at Tours, France
Abbasid caliphate: Islam’s cultural peak
Life of Avicenna, major rationalist philosopher
Crusaders hold Jerusalem
Turks take Constantinople, rename it Istanbul
Granada, last Spanish Muslim state, falls
Akbar, Mogul emperor of India
Muslim areas fall to Europeans
Muslim states cut off oil to America
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The Prophet Muhammad
Muslims consider Muhammad to be the final prophet in a
chain of prophets who brought monotheism
While God is the focus and sole authority within Islam,
Muhammad’s life story is important as a model of Qur’anic
teachings
Muhammad’s life became a model for Muslims to follow;
those who knew him commented on his nobility, humility,
and kindness
The revelations of the Qur’an speak not of a contemplative
life of withdrawal, but of the need for Muslims to fight
oppression and corruption and establish moral order in the
world
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The Qur’an
The Qur’an [“Koran” is an alternate, less preferable spelling]
contains the revelations Muhammad received, which affirm
God’s unity and also direct life in human society
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The Central Teachings
The oneness of God and of humanity
Prophethood and the compass of Islam
Human relationship to the divine
The unseen life
The Last Judgment
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The Five Pillars
Belief and witness: unity of God and Muhammad’s
messengership
Daily prayers: praying facing Mecca five times daily
Zakat: donating a certain percentage of one’s income to
charity
Fasting: obligatory during the month of Ramadan
Hajj: pilgrimage to Mecca
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Sunnis and Shi’as
The issue of Muhammad’s successor led to a split between two
factions: the Sunni (roughly eighty percent of Muslims) and the
Shi’a
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Sunnis
Sunnis or “people of the Sunnah” emphasize the authority
of the Qur’an and the Hadith and Sunnah
Their understanding is that Muhammad did not appoint a
successor but rather left this up to the Muslim community
or ummah
For Sunnis, the caliph is the leader of worship and the
administrator of the sacred law of Islam, Shari’ah
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Islamic Law
There are different systems of Islamic law, and varying
interpretations of those laws
In general, shari’ah is based on the Qur’an and the Sunnah;
its dictates are applicable to all areas of life from diet to
inheritance to social justice
It is frequently noted that shari’ah gave women rights they
did not have in the west until the nineteenth century (e.g.
the right to inherit, to divorce)
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Shi’a
Shi’a Muslims are:
devoted to the memory of Muhammad and his close relatives
revere a succession of seven or twelve Imams (leaders, guides)
rather than the Sunni caliphs
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Sufism
Sufism, the mystical tradition of Islam, dates back to
Muhammad’s lifetime
Forms of Sufism are found in both Sunni and Shi’a Islam
Sufism has often stood in contrast to more legalistically
oriented approaches to Islamic life, to the extent that some
orthodox Sunnis do not consider Sufis to be Muslim
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The Spread of Islam
Islam spread rapidly as both a spiritual and secular power
The stereotypical image of forced conversions by the sword
is false; the more typical means of conversion came through
personal contacts in trade, in the appeal of charismatic
Sufis, and the example of particular Muslims
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Islamic Culture
The Abbasids took over the caliphate in 750 CE, and moved
the capital to Baghdad
A period of great intellectual and artistic activity followed
Islam absorbed, transmitted, and expanded upon traditions
from other cultures, such as Persian art and poetry
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Eastward Expansion
Islam also moved eastward through central Asia into India
and beyond
The Mongols and the Turks converted to Islam
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Relationship with the West
Many Christians in medieval Europe denounced Islam and
Muhammad, portraying Muhammad as an idolater and
Islam as a polytheistic faith
The legacy of such negative characterizations of Islam
persists in the West to the present
Both Christianity and Islam consider themselves the
ultimate religion
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Islam in the West
Islam is the fastest growing religion in the United States, and
may be the second largest religion in the country
About two thirds of American Muslims are immigrants and
their descendants
The remainder are converts, most of whom are African-American
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Muslim Resurgence
Most of the world’s oil-rich nations are predominantly
Muslim
Oil wealth led to social change in many Muslim nations; in
response, some Muslims turned to Islam as a blueprint for
modern political rule
While modern industrial societies have tended to make
religion a private matter, some contemporary Muslim
reformers seek to create societies in which religious
principles imbue all aspects of life
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Tradition and Modern Life
In some countries, such as Iran and Saudi Arabia, particular
versions of Shari’ah take primacy over European-derived
legal codes
Many women Muslim scholars are conducting a
reexamination of the Qur’an and Hadith for new
understandings of women’s issues
There is no political unit of global Islam, and no single
understanding of what a modern Islamic state should be
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Outreach and Education
Muslim outreach is on the increase, often using modern forms
of mass communication such as satellite television
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Islam in Politics
Muslims and non-Muslims are concerned with the role
various forms of Islam play in politics, especially
interpretations of Islam linked to suicide terrorist attacks,
and forms of Islam which express antagonism towards the
West
The violence of groups such as al-Qaeda and Palestinian
suicide bombers has led to growing antiMuslim sentiment
despite efforts by many prominent Muslim leaders to
distance their faith from such acts, arguing that the Qur’an
provides no sanction whatsoever for terrorist acts
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Islam for the Future
Religious modernists, Islamists, and secularists are all trying
to understand the roots of extremism in Islam and devise
alternative means of relating to a changing world
While Western media may focus on sensational
manifestations of Islamism, there are many currents of
forward-looking thought within Islam
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