Download Islam After Muhammad

World Religions, Sixth Edition
Warren Matthews
Chapter Ten:
Islam
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Arabic Background
 Arabic society is based on clan and tribe
 There is no constitution or police protection, only the tribe
 Loyalty runs both ways
 Bedouin tribes travel all the time
 City tribes participate in commerce, putting together caravans for
distant trading
Arabic Background
 The city of Mecca has always been a religious and commercial
center
 The Ka´bah was a religious center

Originally had 360 idols installed

Housed the Black Stone, a symbol of divine power
 Commercial caravans across Arabia were commonly organized in
Mecca
The Grand Mosque, Mecca, Site of the
Holy Ka´bah
Life of Muhammad
 Born in 570 CE in the city of Yathrib
 Born after his father's death
 Sent for six years to live and grow as a bedouin boy
 Orphaned when his mother died on a trip to Yathrib
 Raised by his grandfather and then his uncle
Life of Muhammad
 Led caravans for Khadijah, a wealthy widow and trader
 Muhammad married Khadijah at age twenty-five
 The two were married for twenty-five years before she died

Had at least two sons

Had four daughters – Zaynab, Ruqayyah, Umm-Khulthum,
and Fatima
 Married several other wives later in life
 All his children except Fatima died before he did
Life of Muhammad
 In 610 CE, Muhammad was meditating in a cave on Mt. Hira
 Received message from the angel Gabriel
 Was terrified by the experience
 Looked for reassurance to a one-god believer

Assured him that this was typical of a message from God
 Accepted by wife Khadijah

She encouraged him to proclaim his message

Early converts were members of his family and persons of no
status
Life of Muhammad
 Leaders in Mecca were unreceptive
 Especially the Quraysh tribe, the guardians of the Ka´bah
 Opposition included derision and economic boycott
 Eventually there were assassination attempts
 In 620 CE, relatives in Yathrib asked him to arbitrate conflicts
 He accepted but required them to become Muslims
 Yathrib became the setting of the Muslims as a community
 Following an assassination attempt, he left Mecca to locate in
Yathrib (which therefore became know as “Medina”)
Life of Muhammad
 Living in Medina
 Muhammad formed the ummah (the community of Muslims)
 Continued to receive revelations of parts of the Qur´an
 Continued to deal with opposition
 Consolidated rule in Medina
 Conducted an on-again, off-again war with Mecca
 Dealt with the other tribes in Arabia
 Sometimes diplomatically
 Sometimes militarily
Life of Muhammad
 In 630 CE, Muslims reached a victory at Mecca
 Meccans negotiated a surrender

Ka´bah remained

Idols were destroyed

Pilgrimage to Mecca remained
 Continued expansion of Muslims militarily
 Defeated by the Byzantine empire
 Muhammad made his farewell pilgrimage to Mecca in 632 CE,
delivered a final sermon, and died there
The Ascent of Muhammad to Heaven
on Buraq, Guided by Gabriel
Five Pillars of Islam
 Shahada – a sincere declaration of faith in the oneness and
uniqueness of God, and in Muhammad’s role as messenger of God
 Salat – prayer in a prescribed manner at five designated times daily
 Zakat – payment of a portion of one’s income for the support of
disadvantaged Muslims
 Sawm – fasting during the daylight hours of the month of Ramadan
 Hajj – travel, if one is physically and financially able, at least once in
one’s lifetime to the city of Mecca during the month of pilgrimage
Muslims Praying in Malaysia
Islam After Muhammad

The Qur´an is the Word of God

It is the very mind of God, which cannot make mistakes nor change

It cannot be translated, since God cannot change

The Sura (chapters) of the Qur´an are organized by length (not
sequence)

Many parts of the Qur´an are considered excellent Arabic poetry,
although the longer ones less so

Some find contradictions in the Qur´an
Eighteenth-Century Qur´an created for
the Sultan of Morocco
Islam After Muhammad
 The Sunna are collections of reports, or “hadiths,” of the words and
actions of Muhammad
 These do not hold the same weight as the words of God
 However, they uphold Muhammad as a model
 He best understood God’s will for a person’s speech and behavior
 He acted accordingly
Islam After Muhammad
 Caliph (successor)
 Muhammad did not name a successor
 Community was split three ways

Community chooses best replacement

Family member of Muhammad

Best among companions
 Companions chose Abu Bakr

Father-in-law to Muhammad

Military leader
Islam After Muhammad
 Caliph (successor)
 Eventually Islam split over whether to follow the designated caliph
or a member of Muhammad's family (Ali)
 Ali and his son were murdered by the caliph's followers
 Ali's followers left the others and became the Shi´a Muslims

Followers of a spiritual leader called an “imam”
 The others, who followed the caliph, became know as Sunni
Islam After Muhammad
 Expansion under the Caliphs
 Raids into Byzantium resulted in conquest of the Middle East
 Egypt and North Africa were conquered
 Persia fell
 European advance was checked at Tours in 732 CE
 Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians were tolerated
 The experiences in governing large areas provoked much thought
and development in Islamic thinking
Muslim Expansion from Arabia into
Middle East, North Africa, Europe, Asia
Islam After Muhammad
 Shari´a Muslim law developed from:
 Ijma – consensus of Muslim religious specialists
 Qiyas – drawing analogies from examples in the Qur´an and
Sunna to new situations not explicitly mentioned in those texts
 Ra´y – personal judgment of the arbitrator
Islam After Muhammad
 Schools of Sunni Shari´a
 Hanafi
 Maliki
 Shafi´i
 Hanbali
Comparison of Shi´ites and Sunnis
 Shi´ites, a minority (10-15 percent), regard themselves as pious,
true descendents of Muhammad’s family, guardians of revelations
 Beliefs include celebration of history of persecution and martyrdom
with accompanying rituals of self-flagellation
 Sunnis reject Shi´ite claims and argue that the caliph need not be a
blood relative of Muhammad
 Rather, for Sunnis, election is a legitimate form for succession
Comparison of Shi´ites and Sunnis
 For Shi´ites, leadership is matter of majority rule
 They reject Sunni claims for the “hidden imam” who will appear as
the Mahdi
 Shi´ites believe that the Mahdi rules through their imams whereas
Sunni caliphs are limited to things such as leading services in the
mosque
 Although they initially divided over questions of proper succession,
additional differences developed over time
Muslim Spiritual Experiences
 Sufis are Muslim mystics whose goal was experiencing union with
God
 Al-Ghazali, a highly respected scholar, became interested in
mysticism and left teaching to pursue this life
 Taught that to submit to God and his revelation was highest
practice
 Brought respect to Sufism
 Overcame tension with the orthodox community
Muslim Spiritual Experiences
 The experience of God is sought by sincere Muslims, though it is
second to submission
 Asceticism, though not a rule, was admired
 Theology in forms of speculation on nature of God, apologetics, and
explanation of devotional life of mystics
Dancing Dervishes Whirling into a
State of Ecstasy
Muslims and Other Religions
 Conquered persons that were “peoples of the Book” (Jews and
Christians) were not required to convert to Islam
 Instead they paid taxes to retain their faiths
 They also remained, at best, second-class citizens
 All others were given the choice of conversion or death
Muslims and Other Religions
 European Crusades
 Response to stories of the harsh treatment of pilgrims visiting the
Holy Lands
 Answer to appeals for help by the Byzantine Empire
 Temporary successes
 Established a Latin Kingdom in Palestine for a short time
 Marked by massacres and mistreatment by both sides
Muslim influence on Architecture at
the Alhambra in Grenada, Spain
Muslim Responses to Modernism
 Muhammad Ibn ´Abd al-Wahhab argued for an outright rejection of
modernism, espousing a purist, fundamentalist vision of Islam
 Wahhabism has struck a responsive chord in Saudi Arabia and parts
of Africa, India, and Indonesia
 Jamal al-Din al-Afghani (1838-1897) was one leader for Muslims in
the fight against the colonialism of Muslim territories by European
powers
 Muhammad Abduh (1849-1905) in Egypt and Sayyid Ahmad Khan
(1817-1898) in India held that Islam was entirely compatible with
rationalism and science
The Taj Mahal, the Muslim Mausoleum
in Agra, India
Islam in the U.S.
 Muslims of the Midwest are frequently descendants of Syrian and
Lebanese Muslims who immigrated to the United States around the
turn of the twentieth century
 Muslims on the East Coast are frequently recent immigrants from
more conservative Islamic countries such as Pakistan, Iran, and
Saudi Arabia
Islam in the U.S.
 Black Muslims in the U.S. share the innovative interpretations of
Islam offered by early advocates of Black Islam, such as:
 Noble Drew Ali (1886-1929)
 Elijah Muhammad (1897-1975)
 Malcolm X (1925-1965)
 Two major Black Muslim organizations in the U.S. today:
 American Muslim Mission, an organization recognized for its
orthodoxy by many immigrant Muslims in the United States
 Nation of Islam, holds innovative interpretations of Islam offered
by early Black Islam advocates, led by Louis Farrakhan
Islam Worldview
 Oneness and uniqueness of God upheld as a central conviction
 Emphasis placed on submission of one’s will to the will of God
 Annual communal celebrations
 Id al-Fitr, marking the end of the fast of Ramadan
 Muhammad’s birthday
 Judgment occurs after death, determines fate in paradise or hell
 The World
 God created a good world
 Rejected tendency towards pantheism of earlier leaders
Islam Worldview
 Humans are created to enjoy God’s creation
 All things are good in proper perspective
 Women are men’s helpers, though they have some privileges
 Sin is refusal to submit to God
 Salvation is acknowledging God and his prophet Muhammad
 Ethics are encouraged through practice of the Five Pillars of Islam,
which strengthen success in living
 Afterlife is dependent on earthly deeds and God’s judgment