Download Teacher Handout - Boise State University

Islam
There are over 1 billion Muslims in the world, making Islam second only to the Roman
Catholic Church in numbers. More than 1 in 6 of the world’s population is Muslim.
Islam is found primarily in the Middle East, Africa, Pakistan, part of China, Indonesia,
and Asiatic Russia. The name Islam is significant to a Muslim, for it means
“submission,” “surrender,” or “commitment” to Allah. Muslim means “one who makes
or does Islam”, thus Islam is the Religion and Muslin refers to the followers of Islam.
Muslims believe that their faith is the culmination of the revelations given to the
faithful Hebrews and Christians of old. However, their teachings diverge from the Bible
on some points, even though they cite both the Hebrew and the Greek Scriptures in
the Qur’an (the Holy Book of Islam). Muslims believe in the Bible and that the prophets
of the Bible were indeed prophets (including Jesus Christ). They believe that
Muhammad was the last and greatest prophet.
Muhammad (the founder of Islam) was born in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, about 570
C.E. As Muhammad grew up, he questioned the religious practices of his day.
Muhammad’s call to be a prophet took place when he was about 40 years of age. He
had gone out of the city (Mecca) to meditate and while there, an angel, later identified
as Gabriel, commanded him to recite in the name of Allah. These recitations are
believed to be the first of a series of revelations that constitute the Qur’an.
It is generally believed that the revelations came during a period of some 20 to 23
years, from about 610 C.E. to his death in 632 C.E. Muhammad had the revelations
written down by scribes. After the prophet’s death the Qur’an took its present form,
under the guidance of Muhammad’s successors and companions.
Islamic life is governed by three authorities:
The Qur’an: inspired words revealed to Muhammad by the angel Gabriel
The Hadith or Sunnah: The deeds, utterances and silent approval of the
Prophet. It is a record of an action or saying of the Prophet. In a hadith,
only the meaning is viewed as inspired.
The Shari’ah: cannon law based on principles of the Qur’an. Regulates a
Muslim’s entire life in the religious, political, and social senses.
Muhammad founded his new faith against great odds. The people of Mecca rejected
him. After 13 years of persecution and hatred, he moved north to Yathrib (Medina).
This emigration, or the hijrah, in 622 C.E. marked a significant point in Islamic history,
and the date was later adopted as the starting point for the Islamic Calendar.
Muhammad later returned and conquered Mecca.
Muhammad’s death led to division within Islam:
The successor to the prophet would be a ruler, a caliph. However, the question
of the true successors to Muhammad became a cause for divisions in the ranks of
Islam. The Sunni Muslims (people of tradition) accept the principle of elective office
rather than blood descent from the prophet. The majority of the world’s Muslim’s are
Sunni’s. They are considered “quietists”.
That claim is contested by the Shi’ite Muslims (partisans), who say that the true
leadership comes through the prophet’s blood line and through his cousin and son-inlaw. They are a minority of the world’s Muslim population and are considered
“activitist/radical”
Muslim community has continued to live in the shadow of the idealized history of
early Islam, when religious and secular authority was united under pious caliphs.
Efforts to actualize this ideal today give rise to radical politics among a number of
religious-minded Muslim groups, usually designated as “fundamentalists”, who regard
jihad (holy war) against their corrupt rulers as a legitimate tool for change.
The principal teaching of Islam, is a confession of faith, which every Muslim
knows by heart and is the first of the Five Pillars of Observance or Faith:
#1 “No god but Allah; Muhammad is the messenger of Allah”
#2 Prayer toward Mecca five times a day
#3 Charity or Alms
#4 Fasting, especially during the month-long celebration of Ramadan
#5 Pilgrimage – Once in a lifetime, every male Muslim must make the journey to
Mecca. Only illness and poverty are licit excuses.
Islam teaches that man has a soul that goes on to a hereafter. According to the
Qur’an, the soul can have different destines, which can be either a heavenly garden of
paradise or the punishment of a burning hell. The hereafter will be determined at the
judgement day.
The mosque is the Muslim place of worship. It is a place of prayer, study, legal
and judicial activities, consultation, preaching, guidance, education, and preparation.
The most famous Mosque in the world today is the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem (it
is said to be the place from which Muhommad descended into heaven).
In Islamic family law, the rights of women, children, and other dependents are
protected against the male head of the family, who, on the average, is stronger than a
woman and more independent, since he is free of pregnancy and immediate care of
children.
The relationship between Islam and the West has been compared to that of the West
and the eastern bloc during the Cold War. It has been an ideological rivalry. Islam
recognized the legitimacy of the prophets of Judaism and Christianity, but Christianity
and Judaism found it difficult
to concede equal
recognition. This religious
difference was accompanied
by the alternating political
strengths of the two faiths.