islam

Omnipresent-

(of God) present everywhere at the same time.

Feast of Sacrifice (Eid-al-adha)

- 10th of dhul-Hijjah (month of pilgrimage) - celebrates Abrahams willing to sacrifice his son, Ishmael to god. Then when ab showed his faithfulness god took a ram as sacrifice instead - dress up in nice closes a pray and kill an animal and provide a feats (sacrifice best animals). Some food Is given to the needy

Why was muslim countires slow to develop?

- Continued to live in preindustrial socities - Felt self satification after defeating crusaders and did not develop while eupean nations invented new technologies - Development of extreme conservative groups (action against change) - Wahhib movemement

rules of pilgramage

- Expected that outside of mecca everyone walks pilgrams leave their transportation and walk to rest of the way wearing simple garments with no head covering and brief sandals (so poor and rich look the same) . during the time one must withstane from food and drink in the day and no cutting hair, nails or having sex. - Pilgrams vist zamzam well, make 7 trips around the Kaaba and kiss the sacrate black stone, offer a sacrifice of a sheep or goat on 10th day of haji to commemorate Abrahams willingness to give up his son. After these duties are done they vist medina and pay repsects to Muhammad and visit his mosque

What happened before Muhammads death?

- Islam began conquering and uniting the Arabian peninsula. With every conquest and every addiotn to islam othere were encouraged to join and share in the benefits of the worldwide mislim community called the ummah. - Once he died movement gathered momentum and moved outside of arabia taking over many lands (jerusalm, Egypt)till 640 then it moved into spain where it dominated for a few years till the battle of tours which pushed them back - Now there is population in india and china

Birthday of Muhammad (Mawlid an-Nabi)

- It was established on the 12th day of the 3rd month - Recitation of the Prohits biography and prayers for him are common elements of the feast - There is a procession, feast, and special community prayers - Wahhibs of arabia do not celebrate this holiday bc they consider it an modern invension

According to the Qur'an what did the people of Arabia believe?

- Little information on these people. Shown to have worshiped a variety of gods. There was one supreme High God who was separate and unapproachable by human beings known as Allah. - The deities that received the most worship and attention were local and tribal gods. Images of these gods were carved and cared for. Additionally, blood sacrifices were made to them. They also believed in angles, spirits, and demonic creatures. - Gods and spirits were found in stones, trees, wells and animals. The city of mecca became a holy place because of associations to these spirts.

New Year

- Month of Muharram is the beginning of the muslim new year - It is also celebrated bc it is believed to be the month of the Hajra - In sunni communities the tenth of muharram is kept as a day of fasting called Ashura - Among shites the tenth of the mharram commemorates the battle of Karbala

Eating restrictions

- They concern foods that are allowed (halal) and forbidden (haram) - Required to alaughter anaimls by cutting their throats and must invoke the name of allah over the beasts - Cant eat pork (must unclean meats), dog, birds, donkeys, mules

Feast of fast- breaking (Eud al-fitr)

- This feast is kept one the 1st day of Shawwal, the month after Ramadan, and celebrates a return to normal life after the prolonged fast - Time of feasting and may last for 3 days - People exchange gifts, visit friends and relatives, and paying respect to the dead - Muslims today send cards like christamas cards for this holiday

Whabis

- Traditionalist who opposed all forms of change (disliked Sufis) - Strong in Saudi arabia

Sufis

- group that is concerned for a mystical connection with gog - Wore whool garments as symbol of poverty and rejection of worldy pleasures - Orgins trace back to Muhammad and quran - Believe expansion of islam cause muslims to become more materialistic

Daily prayer (salat)

- muslims are expected to pray 5 times a day (dawn, midday, midafternoon, sunset, and nightfall) • Muslims stop wherever to pray but they must wash themelves beforehand (hands and feet), if water isn't around for cleaning than use sand • They face mecca as they pray and men and woman cant pray together

What are three important facts you can tell me about Sunni Islam?

1) 85% of muslims are sunnis (traditionalist) 2) think of themselves as guardians of Islamic orthodoxy and tradition. They base practice off the quran and traiditions from early muslim community. The sources of religious and legal authority are the quran and traditions known as Hadith concerning the words and acts of Muhammad. Hadith expand on the basic teachings of the quran (used to answer legal question and clarify duties of islam) 3) as islam grew chools of interpretation arose that varied in the amount of weight they gave to the auran . there are 4 schools of thought and every sunni muslim is a member of one of them (generally diveided by geographical regions)

Briefly describe the 5 ways Shi'ites are different from Sunnis.

1) Shi'ites believe revelation ended with Muhammad and quran in later generation there were divinely inspired figures called imams in which they believe immas speak with the author of God. Sunnis believe imams is one who leads community in prayer. 2) Shi'ites believe that after the disastrous events of 680 the next imam was Zain (son of Ali). Some Shi'ites believe he was followed by 6 other imams (they are called seveners) while other believe it was 11 (twelvers). But both groups believe that imams did not die but went into hiding and are waiting to return to earth 3) Shi'ites believe in the existence of a Mahdi (guided one), messiah figure who will appear on eath and lead the world into an era of justice 4) Shi'ites tend to prize martyrdom. Each year the 10th of the month of muharram the passion of Husayn is re-enacted. The cite of matrydrom in Iraq and other locations that were important in his life are places of special pilgrimages for Shi'ites muslims 5) Traditional sunni reading and interpretation of thr quran is mistrusted by Shi'ites because it does not mention ali as muhammads successor and must have been tampored with by his enemies

How islam spread after muhammads death?

1. Islam is a universal religion. Recognizes no national barriers and knows no disticions among race 2. Islam is a relgion with wide appeal. Most basic level is a simple ealiy practiced fiath 3. World that surrounded the earlt muslims was confused and corrupt. Byzantine christens rulers mistreated and abused jews and arab Christians therefore muslim conqueores were frequently accepted

The Five Pillars of Islam

1.Repetition of the creed (shahada) 2. Daily prayer (salat) 3. Almsgiving (zakat) 4. Fasting (sawm) 5. Pilgrimage (haji)

medina charter

A document known as medina charter gave muhammed political authority but gave freedom of religion to memebers of the community.

How did abu-Bakr become the caliph (successor) to Muhammad?

After another pilgrimage to mecca (62 in bad health) he returned to medina and said a fairwell message and died in the arms of his wife. He had no argangements for a successor so their was debate among muslims until it was decided Abu-Makr would be the caliph or successor.

How did the deaths of Khadija and abu-Talib affect Muhammad?

After his wife died he married many women and without his uncle he had no protection. He tried to move away but no other town to accept him.

angles

Allah's angles (heavenly figures) acted as his messengers when he revealed the Q to Muhammad, and acted as his warriors fighting at the side of believers against infidel

Why did the Shi'ites split off from the Sunnis?

Began as a political dispute over the leadership of islam but later took on theological overtones. They believed muhammed named his cousin and son-inlaw Ali to be his successor. He was named calph in 656 but lost control of the muslim world and was murdered in 661. Then the Umayyad dunasty took the caliphate and alis son challenged them but was defeated. Shities believed that the descendants of Ali should always be the leaders of the faith

According to Muslim tradition, why did Zainab try to poison Muhammad?

Conflicts between jews and muslims were strong. At times they supported the meccans against the prophet. As a result jewish tribes were offered a choice to convert or be exiled. So zainab a matron from the jew community invited Muhammad over for dinner and fed him poinsed lamb. He ate only a little but still suffered side effects

Jinn (spirits. genies)

Creation halfway between humans and angles. They are created of fire. Some are beneficial and act as guardian angles for humankind, while others are demons. (goods jinn= muslims, evil jinn=nonbelievers)

Iblis

Fall angle who is the leader of the evil jinn (similar to satan).acts as a tempter and a prosecuting attorney against humankind. Muslims believe he is responsible for the fall of Adam.

What do muslims believe about Allah?

God ultimately decides our faiths, but humans have a religious obligation to vigorously exert themselves in the question for the common good.

Why did Muhammad move from Mecca to Medina (Yathrib)? What was this journey called?

Group of 6 men journeyed from the city of Yathrib (medina) to mecca to confer with Muhammad. They were impressed with his honesty, sense of justice, and his personality. Yathrib was a city turn by clan warface and needed an impartial judge to settle disputes and they believed Muhammad could be that person. Than year later 12 men came to see him (10 of 12 were jews who believed he was the messiah) and they invited him the be ruler of the city. With assiasnins on his tail he had to carefully sneakout and eventually made it to the new city. This journey from Mecca to Yathrib is called Hijra (migration) and it's the time from which muslims have since dated their calenders

How did Muhammad receive his divine revelations?

He began going to the hills of Mecca to ponder the faith of his people. During these times of mediation he was visited by an angle named Gabriel where he received revelations from god. Sometimes visions came to him in his sleep. He memorized these messages and taught them to his companions; eventually they were committed to writing to become the scripture of islam (Q)

What did Muhammad think about Moses and Jesus as well as Judaism and Christianity? What did he think about himself?

He believed he was the lasy of a series of gods prophets (abrham, moses, jesus) and that former profets has only an incomplete revelation of Allah, but he has the complete and final revelation. Therefore islam does not reject other religions it accepts them as the beginning. Muhammad never saw himself as divine just as a messenager of god

Where and when was Muhammad born?

He was born in 570 CE into the clan of Hashim of the tribe of Quraysh (controlled kabba in mecca)

What did Muhammad do after conquering Mecca in 630 CE?

He went to the Kaaba and he destroyed the idols and images around the black stones. With this act he became the sole leader.

What job did Muhammad have growing up? How did this help him learn about religion?

He worked and traveled with the caravans where he has contact with representatives of the religious and cultures of the middle east. He was specially affected by eschatology and he became concerned with the future of his people worshiping manY gods.

Who raised him? What was his childhood like?

His dad died before he was born and his mom died before he was 6. After which he was raised by his uncle, abu-Talib (chief of the Quraysh tribe). Life was hard being an orphan because there was no chance of education leading him to be illiterate

imam

In a madjid believers are lead in prayer by an imam. The imam is a community member who has been chosen to lead prayer because of reputation as a knowledge and pious man.

What do Muslims call a person who has committed the entire Qur'an to memory?

It is considered a supreme act od piety to commit the Q to memory those who can do this are called hafiz

Who did Muhammad marry? Why was she important in his life?

Khadija was a wealth woman he meet while working and she is the owner of a caravan. She was 40 and widowed when she married 25 year old Muhammad. They were married 25 years and she has 2 sons and 4 daughters, but all died only 1 daughter lived. His wife became his strongest supporter and her wealth gave him the freedom to consider theological questions

Madrassas

Madrassas are educational institutions which are developed alongside large urban masids. They offer instruction in Quran recitation and interpretation, hadith scholarship, theology, law, and in many cases mystical knowledge and practice. Many of these schools have turned into large universities.

What is a Masjid? What is required every Friday?

Muhammad decreed fridat to be a special day of muslim worship, but it is not a day of rest. Rather its is the only day of the week when muslims are required to pray at a madjid (mosque). Sometimes they are used as schools and libraries. -Service also includes a sermon which may be delivered in Arabic or the language of the congregation. Rest of Muslim duties can preformed away from masjid

Mansur al-Hallaj

Popular Sufi who was on a quest for spiritual oneness with god but ignored muslim duties so was killed Abu-Hamid al-Ghazali - Set out to find god by being in poverty and having mystic expersinces and found sadifcation with Sufis - Wrote books thay served to make orthodox doctrine more mystical - Prescribed Sufism as remedy for spiritual ills but taught that even the mist advance mystics were bound ritual duties of orthodox faith

Jews and Christians recognize human authorship of their Bibles. What do Muslims believe about the Qur'an?

Qu'ran is the scripture of islam being "reading" or "recitation". Muslims believe it is a recitation of an eternal scripture written in heaven and revealed chapter by chapter to Muhammad. No other bible is as influential or committed to memory as often as the Qur'an. Islam respects the scriptures of the Jews and Christians but the Q is believed to be the final message of God. They also believe it can be rendered into other languages but cannot be translated. Reading or hearing it in other other languages doesn't convery divine blessing that aribic does.

Who is the most outstanding muslim leader and how did he come about?

Saladin and came from battles with chcristian crussaders over holy sites in Palestine (12-13 centries). Then islam spread to china, india and ottoman empire developed but islam never reganded power and wealth

What is the Kaaba

Shrine. Mecca held the Black Stone- an object of veneration to animistic population, Muhammad and pilgrims built an enclosure surrounded it called the Kabba. - The Kabba gradually filled with images, relics and paintings. Legend says that the stone fell from heaven during the time of Adam and Eve and Abraham and his son Ishmael built the Kabba. The stone was an object of pride and profit of Meccans and caused a struggle among clans over who should control it.

muezzins

Strongly voiced men is muslim communities known as muezzins climb to the tops of gracefi; towers (minarets) 5 times to pray, where other communities it is at the entrance of the masjid

Jhad

Struggle in the path of god. Meaning a physical sense including mosques or leaving home to work for the spread of islam or to avoid religious persecuation as well as an armed struggled. It can also mean struggle against the human apassion and insrincts that can prevent people from acting in accordance with the commandments of the faith. Muslim tradition teaches that allah rewards both struggle. Which is why islam spreading is called holy war but only defensive war is truly Jihad.

According to Islam, what happens to a person after death?

The body returns to earth but the soul remains conscious in the grave. There is a preliminary judgement after which the wicked suffer and the good enjoy a pretaste of paradise. On resurrection day, the angrl og Allah eill sound his trumpet, the eath will split and the bodies will rejoin their souls. The resurrected are then judged by Allah. Faithful rewarded, bad are punished.

Muhammad was illiterate. Who wrote the words of the Qur'an down? Where did he write the words Muhammad recited to him?

The messages were memorized by Muhammed and passed on to Zayd, his secretary, who wrote them on leaves, stones, bones, or parchment. After he died all the material were collected. Then on the third caliph, Uthman, worked with Zayd and others to develop an authorized verison of the Q that replaced several variations of the text.

What does the Qur'an require a Muslim to say every day?

The religion is strict monotheism that requires its followers to say every day "there is no god but god, and Muhammad is his messenger". There is one gods complete, eternal, and undivided.

How is the Qur'an organized? What is unusual about its organization?

The revelations that make up the Q are orginzed into 114 chapters called suras. The suras contains 6,000 verses called ayas. The entire text is similar to the New Testament, but the Q has a brief introduction statement. The text is arranged according to the length of the suras in descending order (there is no chronological arrangement). - Longest sura is 287 verses - Shortest is 3 verses

how is islam after death similar to chrisitian?

Their beliefs of heaven and hell are similar to Christian. But heaven is located in a beautiful garden with flowing water and shade. People there are feed wine that does not cause hangovers or negative effects. Hell is a horrid place filled with fired, scalfing winds, black smoke, and brackish water.

islam

There is only one god, who is called Allah the same good worshiped by Christians and jews. He is the sole and sovereign ruler of the universe. Although he made himself known to other profits his final revelation was to Muhammad. Islam teaches people they have just one life to live and how they live it determines their eternal existianstance.

Islam women

Woman was considered property, owed by her father, husband and eldest brother - Muhammad did raise the status of woman greatly. Female infanticide was forbidden, and a ma could only have 4 wives if he could afford them and treat them equally. - Woman are required to conform to strict regulations with dressing (could be stoned if did not follow) and public behavior. They could not drive or work or study with men.

Miraj-

celebrates the night journey when Muhammad is taken by gabe from Makkah to jeusalesm and then to heaven

Fasting (sawm)-

every year during the lunar month of Ramadan, muslims are expected to abstain from eating, drinking, smoking and engaging in sexual relations during daylight hours. - Purpose is to remember when the Prophet first received his revelation. - Only people excused are the sick, mothers nursing children, and small kids. When the month ends muslims celebrate with a feast that lasts 3 days. - Its is believed that god pardons sins of those who participate.

Omnipotent-

having unlimited power, can do anything

Was Muhammad received well when he started preaching about his new religion?

he began preaching his new religion to people of mecca reveing little encouragement from his neighbors and was seen has hostile. He was preaching about only 1 god which was againsy the livelihood of many meccans who depended on pilgrims coming to mecca to worship the various deities housed in the Kaaba. After the conversion of his wife and cousins and friend the main focus of conversion was shifted to young and poor classes of mecca. Opposition formed from wealth as his uncle and member of his clan had to protect him to the point he told his followers to leave the country. They took refuge in christan kingdom Abyssinia (Ethiopia today). Muhammed stayed behind and continued to preach and face prosecuation.

Omniscient-

knowing everything

Shi'ites

make up 15% muslims and bleieve sucessor should stay in family and be Ali

Sunnis

makes up 85% of muslims who believed abu-Bakr should be sucessor

Almsgiving (zakat)-

muslims share their possesions with the poor, widows, and orphans. Alms may also be used to support religious insitutions, scholars, and students • Almsgiving is like a tax amounting to 2,5% of ones wealth that automatically belongs to the poor so keeping it would be like stealing it • Zakat payments or receiving zakat is considered a source of gods blessing

Pilgrimage (haji)-

pilgrimage to mecca was part of pre-islamic arab religion. It played important role in the realt history of islam, and it is mentioned in the quran as a ritual duty • Takes place during a special month known as Dhu al-Hijjah in which pilgrams from all over the world arrive in mecca (expected muslims do this once in their life, even old and ill go and died on the trip) • Trip Represents when Muhammad purged the Kaaba of its idols and re-established it as a shrine dedicated to the one god - When jounry is done pilgrams have title hajji attached ot their names so everyone knows they participated

Caliph

sucessor after muhammad

Eschatology

the part of theology concerned with death, judgment, and the final destiny of the soul and of humankind.

Repetition of the creed (shahada)-

there is no god but god and Muhammad is his messenger, this statement is known as shahada (confession of faith)