RELIGIOUS LIFE

1
RELIGIOUS LIFE

• Hanifiyya Arabian monotheism
• No religious wars were fought in north Arabia,
  although such wars were fought between Jews and
  Christians in southern Arabia (Dhu Nuwas
  converted to Judaism)
• Sacred Time and Sacred Space necessary for
  pilgrimage, killing prohibited (ahram)

2
SIGNIFICANCE OF JAHILIYYA

• IGNORANCE as opposed to KNOWLEDGE a less
  important meaning
• J.h.l. and h.l.m. Hilm opposite of Jahl conveys
  the meaning of gentility and civilization.
• Halim a civilized person.
• Jahil a barbarian, cruel, violent person
• Pre-islamic Arabian culture shows both

3
THE QURAYSH
Quraysh
Banu Abbas
Banu Hashim
Abd Allah
Amina
Banu Umayya
Muhammad
4
MUHAMMAD, THE PROPHET

• The Quran Major Source
• Prophet, one who speaks for God
• The experience and action of Hebrew Prophets
• Retreat and personal experience
• The beginning of wahy (revelation)

5
The Challenge of Monotheism

• Moral Responsibility
• Salat form of adoration with bowings and
  prostrations in honor of God
• Moral injunctions connected with purity,
  chastity, and generosity
• Al-maruf moral paradigms known to humans and
  their place in human life
• The quality of life without God

6
FUNDAMENTAL MORAL CHOICE

• Human beings must choose a life between faith and
  disbelief, turn to or from God
• Moral purity possible only by the power of God
• The Quran shows the result of the choice between
  following personal desires and commands of God
• The Vision of Islam the Trust (Amana)

7
IBLIS, THE TEMPTER

• The Satanic claim to superiority
• Temptations to do evil
• Human nature imbued with the Divine nature
  (fitrat allah)
• Satanic role in making humans forget their own
  nature
• Prophets warn against Satanic temptations

8
THE GENESIS OF UMMA

• Historical unfolding of the social challenge
• Acceptance of God also required acceptance of
  Muhammads leadership
• The private and the public intertwined
• The first Hijra (emigration) to Abyssinia
• The Hijra to Yathrib (622 C.E./1 A.H.)
• The Autonomous Umma

9
UMMA, RELIGIOUS-POLITICAL COMMUNITY

• The New Ideal required the creation of a just
  polity
• Just Polity a natural outgrowth of personal
  purity
• Umma a people to which a prophet had been sent
• Muhajirun and Ansar connected into brotherhood
  (ukhuwwa)

10
THE SYMBOLISM OF NAKHLA

• Violation of Truce when persecution takes place
• The breach between pre-Islamic and Islamic norms
  of engagement
• Independence of the Umma from its Arabic past
• Consummation of moral independence of Islam