Islam

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Islam

• Wendy Kaltenbach, Matt Zelasko, Amanda Matson,
  Thomas Stockard, Christine Brutvan

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The Absolute

• Firm monotheism
• Shahada -there is no god but God
• absolute singleness of God
• Iblis - personification of evil
• other beings - jinn, angels

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The Absolute (continued)

• Allah
• great and merciful
• 99 names
• beyond human comprehension
• revealed through prophet Muhammad
• requires a final judgement
• communicates through the Quran, prophets,
  prayers
• sovereignty over human life
• how much?

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How Muslims view the world

• think God created a good world
• having been created, it is not eternal
• it was made by God, but it is not God
• it is sustained by the will of God

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How Muslims view the world

• the world is a wonderful place
• preview of conditions that can be found in the
  next life
• made for humans to enjoy
• proper for Muslims to reflect in their fine arts
  the beauties of Gods creation

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Expansion of Islam in the World

• Islam emerged from Arabia
• spread through the Middle East, North Africa,
  North Africa, Europe, and Asia
• spread of Islam is one of the most rapid
  expansions of any religion in the history of the
  World

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Islam in the 21st Century

• Islam is the religion of nearly 20 of people
  worldwide
• Islam in the United States
• Two Major Groups
• Immigrants who voluntarily came from Syria,
  Lebanon, Pakistan, Iran, etc
• African Americans who sought a religion better
  suited for their experience instead of the
  Christianity of most whites
• approximately 600 mosques and Islamic centers in
  the United States

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Humans

• Islam has a story of Adam and Eve.
• humans are above all other creatures in the order
  of nature, they have the moral responsibility to
  live according to the commandments of God.
• humans are to live at peace with each other,
  recognizing that all humans of any race or
  location are called to submit to God
• all who submit to God are brothers and sisters
  and part of one community.

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Problem for Humans

• Sin
• the refusal to submit to the will of God

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Solution for Humans

• one can be saved when they acknowledge that there
  is no other god but God
• Muhammad is His prophet.
• recite the Shahada without reservation
• live according to the Quran
• offering prayers five times a day
• giving alms to the poor
• keeping the fast of Ramadan
• making pilgrimage to Mecca

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Terms of Islam

• Caliph a successor of the prophet Muhammad. The
  first caliph was Abu Bakr. The ideal of Islam is
  that religion and state are not separated.
• Shia members of the party of Ali, who
  believed that he should have been the next leader
  after Uthman.
• Sunni the traditional, majority, Muslims who
  accepted Mu awiyah as the next leader after
  Uthman

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More Terms

• Ummah the Muslim community
• Sharia the duties that God has placed on the
  Muslim community
• Tawhid the Muslim doctrine of the unity of God
• can be interpreted as the law

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Tenets of Islam

• Five Pillars of Islam requirements made of all
  Muslims
• Shahada there is no god but Allah, and Muhammad
  is his rasul (messenger)
• Salat five periods of prayer each day
• Zakat must pay an obligatory tax to the needy
• Sawm must fast during the daylight hours in the
  month of Ramadan
• Hajj if they are able, they should make a
  pilgrimage to Mecca once in their lifetime

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Prayer

• at a bare minimum, every Muslim is required to
  participate in prescribed prayer five times a day
• dawn, noon, mid-afternoon , nightfall, and
  evening
• although these prayers can be said alone or with
  groups, there seems to be special benefit in
  reciting them in groups.
• noon on Friday is the time of community prayer in
  the Mosque

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Prayer (continued)

• Raka each complete cycle of ritual movements
  that is part of Muslim prayer.
• during prayer Muslims stand, bow, kneel, and
  touch their foreheads on the ground
• Muezzin one who calls Muslims to prayer.
• Muhammad preferred the human voice to the
  Christian use of bells.

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Major Features

• personal ethics of Islam require that believers
  avoid certain things
• gambling, drinking alcohol, lying, and stealing
• for religious reasons, believers must not eat
  pork
• the Quran teaches against being an aggressor
  however, when an injustice has been done,
  fighting to avenge it is required.

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Marriage

• although marriage is usually between one husband
  and only one wife, Islam permits up to four wives
  for a man who can support them adequately and
  treat them equally
• divorced men and women may remarry, either each
  other or other partners

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Major Figures

• Muhammad - the messenger of God
• 7th century Arabia
• unified the tribes of Arabia into one people,
  Muslims
• Gods revelation to him affirmed tradition of
  Abraham and Ishmael as builders of the Kabah in
  Mecca
• in the line of prophets of Isreal
• recitations, inspired by God, written down in the
  Quran

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Major Figures (continued)

• Ayatolla Ruhollah Khomeini
• Timothy Drew
• Elijah (Poole) Muhammad
• Malcolm X

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Rites and Ceremonies

• Chiefly consist of those relating to pregnancy,
  birth, naming, sacrifice, initiation, betrothal,
  marriage, and death.

• Pregnancy
• fertility rite
• a ceremony to propitiate the spirits of ancestors
  
• Childbirth
• confinement
• rites by midwife at birth
• Azam, summons to prayer
• takbir or Muslim creed
• naming

• After childbirth
• 40 days
• fortieth day the child is placed in a cradle
• ukikais
• hair shaved
• Childhood and Adolescence
• Ear-boring
• Sal-Girah
• Circumcision

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Rites and Ceremonies (cont)

• Marriage
• no specific religious ceremony required
• both persons legally competent
• contract in the presence of two witnesses
• Kazi reads from the Kuran
• dowry or meher must be paid to the wife
• accompanied by feast and celebrations
• several Hindu ceremonies persist in lower classes

• Funeral Rites
• bury their dead
• Kuran read at death
• body carefully washed and wrapped
• Women do not attend
• friends and relations walk behind the bier
• service in a mosque or graveyard
• family priest or village Kazi recites service
• feasts on third, tenth, fortieth days

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Holidays

• Muslim Holidays Link

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Sources

• World Religions by Warren Matthews
• http//www.amaana.org/islam/muslimholidays.htm