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Islam
Religion, History,
Philosophy, Culture
IMAGES OF ISLAM
The Ka’ba Stone (above)
Entrance to Jamé Mosque, Iran
Crescent Moon symbol (disputed)
There are more than
2,000 mosques in
the United States
“Islam” as a word,
and its cognates
• Semitic languages work by building
cognates from consonantal groupings
• The s-l-m group in Arabic gives
• I-S-L-a-M = Submission (to God)
• M-u-S-L-i-M = One who submits (to God)
• S-a-L-a-a-M = Peace (that comes when one
submits to God) - cognate with Hebrew
“Shalom”
Prophet Muhammad’s Arabia
• This map shows the relation of Medina and Mecca.
• Note the very few relief features on the map
Pre-Muslim Arabia:
The Jahaliya
• Jahaliya = The Age of Ignorance (Muslim
term)
• Tribal forms of social organization
• Polytheistic religion replete with sky gods
(meteorological and astrological deities)
• Bustling centers of trade along western coast
of Arabia
• Religious diversity present, including Jewish
and Arian Christian communities
Key Figures in Early Islam:
Muhammad
• Muhammad - 570-632 - a human being,
chosen by God as a prophet. Talented
businessman and devout seeker after truth
prior to receiving the revelation of the
Qur’an. Never learns to read and write, but
highly skilled in oral tradition.
Key Figures in Early Islam:
Women in Muhammad’s Life
• Khadijah - 555-619 - Muhammad’s first
wife, first woman convert to Islam. Had
confidence in her husband’s abilities, and
heard the message to submit to God
• A’isha - 614-678 - Muhammad’s youngest
and favorite wife at the time of his death;
famous for speaking forthrightly to him
• Fatima - 605-633 - Muhammad and
Khadijah’s daughter, wife of ‘Ali, mother
of Hasan and Hussain
Key Figures in Early Islam:
The Rightly Guided Caliphs
• These men were all companions of the
Prophet; ‘Ali was Muhammad’s cousin
• Abu Bakr - 572-634 - among first five
converts; a wealthy, respected man
• Umar - 596-644 - like Paul in Christianity,
opposed Islam before his conversion
• Uthman - 579-656 - member of Umayya
family, a prominent Meccan convert
• ‘Ali - 599-661 - cousin of the prophet, of
special importance to Shi’a Islam
The Qur’an: Premises
• the singular miracle in Islam
•it can only be known authentically in Arabic
•Revealed to Mohammed by Angel Jibril, from
610-632
– Same as Angel Gabriel in Books of Daniel (Hebrew
prophet) and Luke (New Testament)
The Qur’an: Premises
• represents the final revelation, since here Allah
speaks directly
• therefore Mohammed is known as the "Seal of
the Prophets"
• the Qur’an is organized into sura-s (word means
'step' or 'degree'), in descending order from
longest to shortest
• each verse is called an ayah (pl., ayat), meaning
a 'sign’
.
The Qur’an: Premises
• very few sura-s deal with only one subject; most
leap from one concern to another. This results in
a style where the infinitude of Allah informs every
line and thought, so that the whole theology is
present in each part, and yet the Qur’an never
presents systematic overview of its underlying
philosophy.
• God/Allah explicitly speaks to the entire world
in the Qur’an. Monotheism severs connections to
its ethnic, particularist roots here, much more
decisively than in Christianity
Key Points about Islam
• Islam enunciates an insistent and urgent
monotheism
• Islam is self-consciously created as a new
religion, not a reform movement
• Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam, is
(arguably) the most influential person in
history, having achieved unprecedented success
in the fields of religion, social organization, and
military campaigns (all after he reached the age
of forty)
Key Points about Islam
• By the year 710, Muslims possessed a vast
geographic territory stretching from Spain,
through North Africa, the Middle East, Persia
and Afghanistan
• Religiously and socially, tension exists
between experiential forms of the religion
(notably Sufi mysticism) and more regulated,
legal aspects of the religion.
• Islam has had to work out viable forms of
social organization, and negotiate the relation
between religion and government
The Qur’an: Premises
• The Qur'an is recited and memorized
• there are many books of commentary on the
Qur’an in the Muslim tradition
• Because the Qur’an was revealed to one person,
over a short span of 22 years, and edited soon
after, it has a high degree of stylistic unity
• The Qur’an sometimes presents God speaking
directly, in the first person (“I”), or in first person
plural (“We”), in addition to third person (“It”)
The Legend of the First Five Converts
• First Five Converts Represent the Diversity
of the World
1) Muhammad (an illiterate but intelligent man)
2) Khadijah (his wife, a woman)
3) 'Ali (a youth, Muhammad's cousin)
4) Abu Bakr (an older, wealthy man of the world,
literate)
5) Zaid/Bilal (a slave freed upon his conversion)
Sura 96, 1-5: Initial Revelation
1. Recite, in the name of Thy Lord and Cherisher,
Who created 2. Created man, out of a clot of congealed blood
3. Proclaim! And the Lord is Most Bountiful, 4. He Who taught the use of the Pen, 5. Taught man that which he knew not.
Sura 96, 6-7, 14-16, 19:
Humanity’s Insubordination
6. Nay, but man doth transgress all bounds.
7. In that he looks upon himself as self-sufficient.
14. Knows he not that God does see?
15. Let him beware! If he desist not, We will Drag
him by the forelock
16. A lying, sinful forelock!
19. Nay, heed him (man) not: But bow down in
adoration, And bring yourself the closer to God.
Characteristics of God/Allah
• Allah is the same deity as the monotheistic god of
the Torah and the Christian god; can be referred to
as "Allah" or as "God”
• “Allah” is the Arabic word for God
• Allah is utterly and totally omniscient,
transcendent, powerful, and singular: has no
partners, equals, spouses, or children
• Allah is always singular/unique in Muslim thought
• Allah is always universal in Muslim thought
Sura 2: 255
Philosophic Characteristics of God
255. God! There is no god but God,—the Living, the Selfsubsisting, Eternal. No slumber can seize Him nor sleep.
His are all things in the heavens and on earth. Who is
there can intercede in His presence except as He permits?
He knows what (appears to His creatures as) before or
after or behind them. Nor shall they (creatures) compass
aught of His knowledge except as He wills. His Throne
extends over the heavens and the earth, and He feels no
fatigue in guarding and preserving them. For he is Most
High, the Supreme.
Sura 108: 1-3
Kauthar: The Abundance
1. To you have We granted the Fount of Abundance
2. Therefore to your Lord turn in prayer and sacrifice.
3. For he who hates you,—He will be cut off (from Future
Hope)
This sura, a very early one, may have been occasioned by
non-believing opponents of Muhammad who mocked
the death of two of his infant sons. God’s abundance is
asserted in the face of tragedy, and the self-destroying
hatred of those who ridicule others, is simultaneously
affirmed.
Peoples of the Book
The Three Abrahamic, Monotheistic Religions Judaism
Christianity
Islam
- share many structural cosmological similarities,
such as a) revelation received from b) a
monotheistic God who c) acts in history through
d) individuals (prophets) and e) historical events
(battles, governments, etc.)
Peoples of the Book
The Three Abrahamic, Monotheistic Religions Judaism
Christianity
Islam
- share so much revelation, mythology, ancestry,
and structure that they can be called “Sibling
religions.”
The Problem with the word “Sibling”
…is that the word that comes most quickly to mind is
“Rivalry” - and, indeed, Judaism, Christianity and
Islam share aspects of Sibling Rivalry, most
prominently the question of who is best loved by the
Big Parent
Peoples of the Book
The Three Abrahamic, Monotheistic Religions
and their forms of revelation:
Judaism
Torah
Christianity
Jesus
(as recorded in
New Testament)
Islam
Qur’an
Peoples of the Book
The three religions appropriate each others’ revelations sequentially
Judaism – Torah (first five books of Hebrew Bible:
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers,
Deuteronomy)
Peoples of the Book
The three religions appropriate each others’ revelations sequentially
Judaism – Torah (first five books of Hebrew Bible:
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers,
Deuteronomy)
Christianity – Life of Jesus as recorded in the New
Testament, plus the “Old Testament” corrected
by “The New Law”
Peoples of the Book
The three religions appropriate each others’ revelations sequentially
Judaism – Torah (first five books of Hebrew Bible:
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers,
Deuteronomy)
Christianity – Life of Jesus as recorded in the New
Testament, plus the “Old Testament” corrected
by “The New Law”
Islam – The Qur’an is a direct revelation from God,
but the Torah and the New Testament were also
revelations, albeit they are riddled with human
error (corrected by the Qur’an)
Sura 5:4
Final Revelation, and God’s Mercy
4. The unbelievers have this day abandoned all hope of
vanquishing your religion. Have no fear of them: fear
Me.
This day I have perfected your religion for you and
completed My favour to you. I have chosen Islam to be
your faith.
He that is constrained by hunger to eat of what is forbidden,
not intending to commit sin, will find God forgiving and
merciful. (Yusuf Ali translation: “Oft-forgiving, Most
merciful”)
Sura 5:16-18
People of the Book and the Qur’an
16. People of the Book! Our apostle has come to reveal to
you much of what you have hidden of the Scriptures, and
to forgive you much.
17. A light has come to you from God and a glorious Book
(the Qur’an),
18. with which God will guide to the paths of peace those
that seek to please Him; He will lead them by His will
from darkness to the light; He will guide them to a
straight path.
Sura 5: 47-51
Sequence of Revelations
47. We have revealed the Torah, in which there is guidance
and light. By it the prophets who surrendered themselves
(to God) judged the Jews… Have no fear of man; fear
Me, and do not sell My revelations for a paltry end….
49. After them We sent forth Jesus…confirming the Torah
already revealed, and gave him the Gospel, in which
there is guidance and light…
51. And to you We have revealed the Book with the truth. It
confirms the Scriptures which came before it…
Sura 5: 119
Jesus Speaks of Submission to God
119. Then God will say: “Jesus, son of Mary, did you ever
say to mankind: ‘Worship me and my mother as gods
beside God?’”
“Glory to You,” he will answer, “how could I ever say that
to which I have no right? If I had ever said so, You would
have surely known it. You know what is in my mind, but
I know not what is in Yours. You alone know what is
hidden.”
Sura 5: 120-121
Jesus Speaks of Submission to God
(Jesus continues)
120. “I told them only what You bade me. I said: ‘Serve
God, my Lord and your Lord.’ I watched over them
while living in their midst, and ever since You took me to
Yourself. You have been watching over them. You are
the witness of all things.
121. If You punish them, they surely are Your servants; and
it You forgive them, surely You are mighty and wise.”
Sura 97: 1-5
Qadr: The Night of Power
1. We have indeed revealed this in the Night of Power:
2. And what will explain to you what the Night of Power
is?
3. The Night of Power is better than a thousand months.
4. Therein comes down the angels and the Spirit by God’s
permission, on every errand:
5. Peace! . . . This until the rise of Morn!
Sura 113: 1-5
Falaq: The Dawn
1.
2.
3.
4.
Say: I seek refuge with Lord of the Dawn
From the mischief of created things;
From the mischief of Darkness as it overspreads;
From the mischief of those who practise Secret Arts
(magic);
5. And from the mischief of the envious one as he
practices envy.
Sura 2: 256-257
Religious Co-existence
256. Let there be no compulsion in religion: Truth stands
out clear from error: whoever rejects evil and believes in
God has grasped the most trustworthy hand-hold, that
never breaks. And God hears and knows all things.
257. God is the Protector of those who have faith: from the
depths of darkness He will lead them forth into light. Of
those who reject faith the patrons are the Evil Ones: from
light they will lead them forth into the depths of
darkness.
Key Points about Muhammad
• Muslims understand Muhammad to be a
prophet of God
– he is the final prophet, the “seal of
the prophets”
• Muhammad is a human being, not a deity
• Muhammad is the finest exemplar of what
a human being should be, according to
Muslims
Hadith:
Using the Prophet’s Sayings and
Examples as Paradigmatic
• While all Muslims agree that Muhammad
was a human being, not a god, they also
maintain that he lived as righteously as
possible.
• Hadith is a category of Muslim writings that
record sayings and actions of the Prophet.
• They are attested to by chains of
verifications
Hadith Chains:
Legitimating Communication
• An example of a hadith chain can be found in
Ishaq’s biography of Muhammad:
• “The apostle was ordered to pray and so he
prayed. Salih ibn Kaisan from Urwa ibn alZubayr from A’isha told me that she said…”
• Muslim legalists retain biographical information
and character-witness information on individuals
involved in hadith chains, in order to judge the
relative merit and likelihood of any given hadith.
Hadith:
An Example
• The Messenger of God (P.B.U.H. = Peace be
upon him) said: “Whoever has faith in God and
the Last Day should nt hurt their neighbor, and
whoever has faith in God and the Last Day
should serve their guest generously, and whoever
has faith in God and the Last Day should speak
what is good or keep quiet.”
– Sahih al-Bukhari, v. 8 book 73
– also in textbook, page 268 (Oxtoby and Hussain)
Ummah: Muslim community
• The ummah refers to the Muslim
community, and the ideal of the equality of
all Muslims before God, and in the
community
• Muhammad himself played a role in
establishing the social norms of the ummah
• Appeals to the unity of the ummah are
supposed to prevent civil wars and
bloodshed between Muslims
Muhammad and the West
• Muhammad has not been treated positively
by most European thinkers, who never
understood his significance, and deprecated
his achievement
– They accused him of being Satanic
– They accused him of being bloodthirsty
– They accused him of being epileptic
• None of these things is factually true, of course!
Muhammad and the West
• The West dehumanized/s Muhammad
– Some by demonizing him
– Others by mistakenly saying he was
worshipped as a God
• Islam was called “Mohammadenism” by
many Europeans as recently as the mid-20th
century!
– I discovered a tag on an art work in the
Cleveland Art Museum in the early 1990s!
• Yes, I told them to remove it!
Muhammad and the West
• So, some corrective compensation:
• Muhammad was considered one of the most
honest, forthright men of his generation,
even before the revelation of the Qur’an
• Muhammad was a very affectionate
husband and father
• He treated his wives and daughters as
human beings, and valued their opinions
and ideas
• And…
Muhammad loved his cat…
• What more do you need
to know?
Muhammad loved his cat…
• OK, his cat was named
muezza!
Muhammad loved Muezza
• There are legends concerning Muhammad and Muezza.
These stories are shared among Muslims, but lack the
canonical status of hadith
• For instance, Muhammad, when giving a sermon at
home, would hold Muezza on his lap
• Once, when call for prayers was sounded, Muezza had
fallen asleep on Muhammad’s sleeve; he cut the sleeve
in order to get up, rather than wake the feline.
• And yes, Muezza was (reputedly) a tabby.
Islam is a Universal Religion,
Ergo, Cats are Universally
Significant
• An official hadith concerning treatment of a cat, from
Volume 3, Book 40, Number 553: Narrated by
'Abdullah bin 'Umar (the second Caliph):
• Allah's Apostle said, "A woman was…put in Hell
because of a cat which she had kept locked till it died of
hunger." Allah's Apostle further said, “(Allah knows
better) Allah said (to the woman), 'You neither fed it
nor watered when you locked it up, nor did you set it
free to eat the insects of the earth.”
The Five Pillars of Islam
• Five requisite practices for Muslims
– Shahadah (creed)
• There is no God but God, and Muhammad is His prophet
– Prayer 5x Daily (number varies between sects)
• Set times of day for prayer, flexibility OK
– Almsgiving (2.5% of pre-tax income)
– Fasting during month of Ramadan
• From dawn to dusk
• Islam uses lunar calendar, so difficult of fast varies!
– Pilgrimage (hajj) to Mecca
• Once in life if financially feasible
– One can contribute to another’s voyage if you cannot afford to go
The History of Islam
Success, Expansion, Empire
The Question of Piety and Society
Islam’s
Schizophrenia
• Muhammad had
success in three realms
– Religious
– Political/Civic
– Military
• Thus Islam has never
known whether these
three areas are coextensive with each
other, or logically
separable.
• Split of Sunni and
Shi’i falls on this
fault line
• Existence of, and
debate over, Sufism
also follows these
tensions as well
• Current debates
within Wahhabism,
in the 2011 uprisings,
etc. can be
understood thus too
Expansion
of Islam
610-710
• Above,
growth
through 660
• Right,
growth
through 710
After Muhammad:
The Rightly Guided Caliphs
• These men were all companions of the
Prophet; ‘Ali was Muhammad’s cousin
• Abu Bakr - r. 632-634 - assured that Islam
would put God first, not Muhammad
• Umar - r. 634-644 - Established many of the
administrative facilities of early Islam
• Uthman - r. 644-656 - favored his Umayya
family, chosen because he was weak
• ‘Ali - r. 656-661 - growing Muslim empire
created discord that made his caliphate fail
Splits within the Ummah
• Shi’ite Muslims belief
the Arab principle of
family lineage should
have made ‘Ali the
first caliph, as he was
related to the prophet,
and his children by
Fatimah are direct
descendents of
Muhammad
• Sunni Islam, reacting
to the growth of the
Muslim Empire,
established the
principle of a
separation between
human judgment and
divine judgment
Splits within the Ummah
• Shi’ite Islam maintains
that there are hidden
Imams in every
generation. They are
ever in danger of
being persecuted, as
the righteous are
always persecuted in
this world.
• Sunni Islam separated
the spiritual unity of
the Muslim ummah
from the political
nation-states under
Islam (much as the
European nations and
the Holy Roman
Empire did in
Christianity)
Splits within the Ummah
• Shi’ite Islam
predominates in the
areas around modernday Iran and southern
Iraq
• Shi’ite Islam is
institutionally
established by the end
of the 7th century
• Sunni Islam
predominated in the
areas of North Africa,
Arabia, and the former
Byzantine empire.
• Its formation was not
complete prior to the
ninth century
• Sunnah refers to the
“path” and tradition of
the Prophet
al-Tabari (d. 923)
Muslim Qur’anic Exegete
• al-Tabari:Islam::Augustine:Christianity – a
synthesist, harmonizer, and systematizer
• Wrote a History of the World covering the
period 610-910; one of the finest works of
history since Roman empire
• Composed The Exegesis (Tafsir) of the Qur’an,
a standard work for understanding the
meaning of the revelation.
Sufi Mysticism
The Experiential, Mystical Path
of Islam
Three Mystics
• Rabi’a - 717-810 - woman mystic from
Basra, former slave, ecstatic with love from
God, yet practical as well
• al-Hallaj - 857-922 - controversial mystic
who was executed for blasphemy when he
said that he had merged with God
• Rumi - 1207-1283 - exquisite poet and
dervish, renowned for his passionate love of
God seen through the eyes of the lover
Rabi’a
• Runs through streets of Basra with a lighted
torch and a bucket of water, telling her
neighbors that she will burn down the
gardens of paradise and douse the fires of
hell, so that people will love God for love’s
sake, and not from hope of reward or fear of
punishment!
• Pilgrimage to Mecca and Rabi’a’s dead
donkey – a mystical lover’s prerogative to
be direct with their spouse!
The Philosopher
Who Saved The Sufi-s:
al-Ghazali
• al-Ghazali - 1058-1111
• al-Ghazali synthesizes theology, enshrines
mysticism as a valid path for Muslims, and uses
his philosophic skills to dismantle the
prominence of philosophy in a work called The
Incoherence of the Philosophers
al-Ghazali : Islam ::
Augustine : Christianity
• Like Augustine, al-Ghazali had NeoPlatonic roots which he renounced
• Like Augustine, al-Ghazali wrote an
autobiography about his spiritual
journey
• Like Augustine, al-Ghazali spent time
among the daily lives of practitioners, as
a Muslim legalist and jurist
Rumi:
“Lovers in their Brief Delight”
Lovers in their brief delight
gamble both worlds away,
a century’s worth of work
for one chance to surrender.
Many slow growth-stages build
to quick bursts of blossom.
A thousand half-loves
must be forsaken to take
one whole heart home.
(p. 1548)
Rumi: “Dissolver of Sugar”
Dissolver of sugar, dissolve me,
if this is the time.
Do it gently with a touch of hand, or a look.
Every morning I wait at dawn. That’s when it’s
happened before.
Or do it suddenly like an execution. How else
can I get ready for death?
You breathe without a body like a spark.
You grieve, and I begin to feel lighter.
You keep me away with your arm,
but the keeping away is pulling me in.
(p. 1546)
Rumi: “Why Wine is Forbidden”
When the Prophet’s ray of Intelligence
struck the dimwitted man he was with,
the man got very happy, and talkative.
Soon, he began unmannerly raving.
This is the problem with a selflessness
that comes quickly…
If the wine-drinker…has hidden anger and arrogance,
those appear,
and since most people do,
Wine is forbidden to everyone.
(p. 1547)
This shows al-Ghazali’s influence, and Sufi caution
Islam and Women
Religions of the World and Sexism
Gender and Cosmology
• Gender difference is a given fact of
significance in human life, human
continuity, and human social
organization
• Religions, which function as
interpretations of the cosmos, often
include gender difference as an
organizing principle
Religions of the World and Sexism
• All of the major literate world religions
are either sexist to their core, or have
been used/interpreted by sexist cultures
to uphold sexism (systems that value one
sex - men - higher than the other(s) women/intersex/lgbt).
• None of the major world religions has
consistently championed women’s rights
Women at the Founding…
• However, when religions are just
starting, there are often changes to
existing gender norms.
• Jesus, for example, treats women as
friends and human beings
• Similarly, when Islam started, the
Qur’an marked some major advances
for women
The Qur’an and Women
• Pre-Muslim Arabs practiced female
infanticide, prefering to have sons. The
Qur’an explicitly and dramatically
prohibits this practice.
• The Qur’an specifically allows women to
own property, and to have rights within
marriage
• The hadith and traditions of Muhammad
recognize women’s sexual pleasure in
marriage as a right
Women’s Clothing and Veiling
• The Qur’an enjoins modesty in dress on
all Muslims, male and female
• Traditions of veiling and seclusion of
women pre-existed Islam, and are
cultural rather than religious
• This has not prevented those who
support such customs from trying to
construct religious justifications for these
practices
Sura 4:34-35
“Men have authority over women because God
has made the one superior to the other, and
because they spend their wealth to maintain
them. Good women are obedient….As for those
from whom you fear disobedience, admonish
them and send them to beds apart and beat
them….If you fear a breach between a man and
his wife, appoint an arbiter from his people and
another from hers. If they wish to be reconciled,
God will bring them together again.”
(translation from Norton Anthology)
Sura 4:34-35
“Men are the protectors and maintainers of women,
because God has given the one more than the other,
and because they support them from their means.
Therefore the righteous women are devoutly
obedient….As to those women on whose part you
fear disloyalty and ill-conduct, admonish them
(first), (next) refuse to share their beds, (and last)
beat them (lightly)….If you fear a breach between
them, appoint two arbiters, one from his family,
and the other from hers; if they wish for peace, God
will cause their reconciliation. (translation from
Yusuf Ali, with his parentheticals)
Sura 4:34-35
• Positive reading: If the passage concerns
maintaining marital harmony, by placing beating
last, and then saying God knows how to reconcile a
couple, the Qur’an has challenged the dominant
practice of domestic violence in the time period
when it was revealed.
• Problems with positive reading:
• The text can still be misused in a patriarchal
culture
• The Qur’an in this section clearly addresses itself
to men, despite its claims of ontological equality
between men and women
Islam and Women
Perceptions and Realities
• Islam can proudly point to positive changes it made
in women’s status at the time of the Prophet
• Muhammad, as the paradigmatic person in Islam,
had, like Jesus, many positive and important
women in his life
• Sexist cultures, however, found it easier to use
religion to sanctify their practices than to encourage
the insights of the new religion to challenge them.
Islam and Women:
Conclusions
• Islam is as sexist as any other world religion: it is
neither the worst nor the best in regards to women
• As is the case with all the major world religions,
there are “usable resources” for reconceiving Islam
in a non-sexist way, starting with the gender-less
nature of Allah, and the radical equality of all
human beings before God.
• There are Islamic feminists in all Muslim cultures
• Women were active participants in the peaceful
uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt in 2011.