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Daniel Lanzarin
Rel 2250-Fall ‘13
Final Paper
Islamic Faith
In my past I have had less than desirable experiences when visiting new religious places.
From the ages of twelve to fourteen, I lived in a Catholic Boy’s School in Sonoma, Ca. They
never taught me anything about other religions, so naturally when I was older I wanted to
discover my options. I went to a Christian church when I was 19. It was just like the Catholic
Church; I didn’t notice much difference except for the fact that I didn’t like the people there. I
went to a Jehovah’s Witness service and they wanted me to drop everything and change my life
at that very moment. I even attended a Jewish service while in Navy boot camp and the Rabbi
made a long fifteen-minute speech about how if your not Jewish you shouldn’t come to the
services. So when I was prompted to visit a foreign religious service I thought twice about it.
But after a bit of thought, I remembered that I acquired a new respect for the Islamic
faith. Before I ventured out to the local mosque I decided to conduct a bit of research. It’s
important to state that before I came to NDNU, I was skeptical about learning of the religion that
has been at the top of the hate list in America due to the recent War on Terror against what seems
to be, thanks to the media, the entire nation of Islam. I know that there are different faiths within
the Islamic religion, but never bothered to learn anything further. I do not belong to a certain
religion, nor do I have any hate towards any brand of faith. But, I am not ashamed to admit that I
did have prejudices that were based upon that which I do not know and do not understand—
ignorance.
In the discovery of the Muslim religion pre-Islamic Arabian society seems to me like it
was filled with people who were savages. They lived mainly in desert like conditions and
believed in multiple Gods to whom they prayed to individually. Despite the widespread act of
accepting Allah as the highest God, they believed in Idolatry. This time period was referred to as
“Jahiliyyah” or the Time of Ignorance due to the pagan rituals of the Arabic people. They
worshipped at the Ka’ba, a holy sight. Many of the worshippers made Hajj, or pilgrimage, to the
Ka’ba much the same as modern Muslims do today.
I would characterize pre-Islamic religious beliefs as being savage with an influx of
foreign religious customs from the prominent religions surrounding them. “The pagan Arab
connection to Judaism makes perfect sense when one recalls that, like the Jews, the Arabs
consider themselves descendents of Abraham…”(Azlan, p.10) Abraham was also given his own
idol inside the Ka’ba depicted as a shaman . So, naturally the Arabs would be inclined to accept
Jewish religious practices. All throughout history Christianity has been spread across the land
and the pagan Arabs have had their fair share. I imagine that they were under constant threat to
convert to Christianity, but had trouble doing so because the Christian monotheistic belief is
vastly different and quite possibly could be the strangest thing that they could have imagined.
Even though tribes dominated the pre-Islamic population of Arabia, it was divided into
two types of people, the Bedouins and the Hadari. The Bedouins were nomadic peoples who
constantly traveled around on camels and lived in tents. They were the backbone of their society
because they were barters and traders. The Hadari were the settled people who lived in the
villages, towns, cities, and houses of Arabia. They were merchants and involved in a small
amount of agriculture. I can imagine that prior to Mohammed’s teachings, these people were
nothing short of barbarians who operated on minimal discipline and obscured faith.
In the reading author Aslan talks about prophets and how they relate to the people they
encounter. He goes on to say that “it is not prophets that create religion.”(Aslan, p.17) I agree
with that. Prophets are supposed to be the messengers that relate the word of God in any
particular religion. Aslan claims that prophets reform, redefine, and reinterpret the existing
beliefs to the people they serve, and that they bring a fresh meaning to nature of reality.
Personally, I partially believe that the prophets of the past could have been individuals that either
suffered from some degree of mental illness or strong cult like charisma. It would have been easy
for these “prophets” to draw in a following of people by targeting their already established
religious beliefs.
Along the way came the Prophet Muhammad; he was the leader of the Muslims. He
claimed to be the messenger of God and often spoke in tongues. Living in Mecca for the first
half of his life, the Quaraysh tribe exiled Muhammad to the city of Medina—marking the
beginning of the Islamic calendar. In the end, the tale of Mohammed’s life is a story that has
been altered by the many ears and tongues that it has passed. But like many other prophets of this
world, Mohammed’s story follows tells a tale that is similar to the others. And it doesn’t matter if
the exact tales are true or not. The thing that matters to their followers is that these stories were
“established by God at the moment of creation.”(Aslan, p.21) His biggest accomplishment was
uniting the people, stripping them of their polytheistic beliefs under the statement that “there is
no God but God.”
“The principals that regulate the private life of Muslim’s in their dealings with God” is
called the Five Pillars of Islam (Smith, p.242) The Muslims holy book is called the Quran. And
in the Quran the Pillars are explained. The first pillar is called the Shadhadah. This simply means
that once in a Muslims life they must recite that there is no God but God and Muhammad is his
prophet. The second pillar is called Salat. This means prayer and each Muslims typically needs
to pray five times per day. The times are upon awakening, at noon, mid-decline, sunset, and
before sleep. Muslims have set aside Friday, usually at noon, for their weekly holy day. The third
pillar is Zakat. This means that those who are fortunate have the duty to give to the less
fortunate. The prescribed donation rate is annually at one-fortieth of their value. The fourth pillar
is Sawn. The fasting time is set for Islam’s holy month of Ramadan. This celebrates
Muhammad’s migration to Medina and the receiving of his initial revelation. Fasting is from sun
up to sun down. After sun down they may eat in moderation. The last pillar is called Hajj. Hajj
means pilgrimage. This journey is an obligatory, at least once in a Muslim’s life, which includes
a series of events. One must dress in white linens, walk seven times around the Kaaba, touch the
black stone, travel several times between Mount Safa and Mount Marwah, and partake in the
symbolic stoning of the devil.
Quran, in Arabic, means the recitation. It is the hold book of the nation of Islam. It is also
designated as the word of God that was revealed to Muhammad over a twenty-five year period.
The Muslims view the Quran as the God’s final revelation to humans. The book is divided into
114 chapters called Surahs. Typically, the easiest Surahs are memorized by children and recited
in Arabic chant. I had the chance to hear the men recite a Surah in the service that I attended. The
sound was beautiful. I only wish that I spoke Arabic so that I could understand exactly what they
were saying.
I arrived at the Yaseen Foundation mosque on Friday September 27th at 12:15. As I was
parking my car, I notice that there were a few older men filing into the mosque sporadically. I
walked in and asked a man to point me in the direction of the Imam. He looked at me and went
in to the mosque and just sat down. I take it he didn’t speak English. So I took off my shoes and
proceeded to sit along the back wall in the chairs set aside for those who could no physically
participate in the prayer ritual. There was a man, later identified as Osama, standing in the front
of the carpeted room talking about Islamic affairs. Looking around the room I noticed two big
signs that stated “DUA- After Obligatory Prayers.” There was also a world clock with Arabic
writing.
Osama began to lecture about Muslim things. He was talking about 10 special days and
nights where they were supposed to fast as much as they could, do good deeds for others, and go
to Hajj. He then began to explain to the people that if they want to get rich then they should get
married, make Hajj, and have kids—in that order. Then he said that as we live life we sometimes
do things that cause destruction of the heart and that when they make Hajj they wipe away all of
their sins. This is the day that Allah is most proud.
Continuing on, Osama preached that “if you can afford it to go and donate to poor
people.” “The Internet can used for donations to others around the world.” Furthermore, he said
That this is a wonderful time to reach out and call family members, relatives, and friends; to do
good deeds for others so that you can live your life, as Allah wants you to.
Then he got into a bit of house keeping things. There was a change in the time that the
usual prayer happens. Osama told the people that if there are any changes that are to occur then it
has to be cleared with the “higher up (I didn’t catch the full word).” And when the higher up was
confronted, the higher up compared it to what the prophet did and it was okay. He then
encouraged others in the room to use the internet to discover the rules of Islam if anyone was still
opposed to the decision.
At this time there was about 50 plus men in the room. They kept filing in. The prayers
then commenced. The men all sat on the floor on their knees with their heads down. They began
their chants. Eventually they stood up chanting louder all lined up in two rows. I noticed that
when they stood up, or when the late comes approached prayer mode in the line, they brought
their hands up to their ears as to cleanse their ears to be accepting of the chant. After the standing
chant they bent back down to kneeling.
This was the point when the prayer session ended. Some men sat and remained in
continued prayer and others left. I then approached Osama, who I thought was the Imam, to ask
him if I could have a moment of his time. He agreed to meet with me and asked to step outside
because the woman’s prayer service was still in session. The women had a separate room where
they conducted their prayer service.
The man Osama, who I thought was the Imam, was actually just a volunteer. He gave me
his business card, which read that he was a Senior Systems Analyst at Oracle. I thought this was
strange. My own prejudices indicated that he was some sort of taxi driver or merchant. Quite the
contrary, Osama said that when the terrorist acts of 911 and the shooting at Fort Hood happened,
he did not experience any discrimination. The people around him were actually supportive of
him. Additionally, he told me “when an act of terror happens in America automatically the
citizens think that it’s a Muslin act.”
After I put my shoes on Osama answered some questions. He told me that he was born
into the Muslim religion. But at one point in his life, during his college years, he decided to
abandon Islam and seek out the knowledge of other religions. Then eventually he returned. When
I asked him about what he likes, he replied, “I like the fact that there is no one person who has
control over you. If you do good deeds and live your life in the right way, you get to go to
paradise.” There is also the fact that “being a Muslim is about having a direct relationship with
God. You can pray to him whenever you need to.”
I then proceeded to ask him about the meaning of Jihad. As I have learned, looking
through the Muslim extremist lens, Jihad means war. It’s a war against the rest of the world to
restore Islam back to the basic fundamentals that were laid out by Muhammad. This is partially
true, but according to Osama Jihad means a struggle. “It’s a struggle within ones self, a struggle
to stop doing evil things and be a good person.” “There are many ways that one can struggle;
however, it comes down to the battle within the person to fight off there evil ways and means of
satisfying the greedy needs….that’s part of the reason that Muslims participate in Ramadan.”
“Like I was saying in my lecture, a major part of being a good person is to partake in Alms…in
America we have so much money and live with more resources than others in third world
countries….if every Muslim gave proper Alms to those in need we could ease much suffering
within the larger Muslim community.” At this point I thanked Osama for allowing me to observe
the service and for answering my questions.
All in all I really enjoyed the Muslim service. I was a bit reluctant to attend because of
past experiences of visiting other religious services that were foreign to me. But I was especially
reluctant to go because I tried to contact someone on the phone and I didn’t get in contact with
anyone. I was unsure on entrance rituals—I did not want to offend anyone by lacking the
knowledge of properly following their traditions—and I did not know if there was any dress code
or if they would be repulsed by my America skin art. Regardless of my preconceived fears, I was
welcomed with open arms and felt totally comfortable sitting in the back of the mosque. I was
surprised that I didn’t even catch a funny look.
I like the principals that Islam preaches. I like the traditions that they follow, but I don’t
think that it is the proper religion for me to follow. I understand that religions go through
evolutions to adapt to current cultures, however, the bottom line remains that this religion was
rooted in the Arabic tradition and is primarily spoken in Arabic. I’m a multi-ethnic (mostly
Hispanic) American. Something about it just doesn’t sit right deep within. For myself, I have
come to these conclusions:
1. The Islamic religion is about a relationship between the person and God,
2. The principals of Islam can be observed and implemented in my life as a means of doing
good deeds, and
3. I have prejudices that need to be worked out if I am truly going to settle on choosing a
religion.
References
Azlan, Reza (2005). No god but God (Updated Edition): The Origins, Evolution, and Future of
Islam. New York, New York: Random House.
Smith, Huston (1991). The World's Religions. New York, New York: HarperCollins.