Professional Documents
Culture Documents
A. Mecca B. Islamabad
C. Jerusalem D. Washington, DC
2. During prayer a Muslim should face:
A. Mecca B. Islamabad
C. Jerusalem D. Washington, DC
Islam
• Founder: Muhammad Ibn (son of) Adballah
• Born: 571 AD in Mecca, Arabia
• Descendant of Abraham
• Titles: The prophet, the messenger (Alrasul)
• Holy Book: The Quran, derived from ‘read’
Abraham
Ismail
Adnan
Quraiysh
Qussaiy
Abdmanaf
Abdshams Hashem
Adbelmuttalib
Muhammad Ali
H
EGYPT I
A
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R
Medinah A
a
•Mecca B
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I Dynasties
A of the
South
Middle East, 7th Century
• An Arabian
dynasty
An Arabian
dynasty *
Islam, 610-632
• 571 Muhammad born in Mecca.
• 610 First revelation in the Harraa cave (27 Ramadan).
• 622 “Hijra”or Escape. Muhammad and followers escape prosecution
and go to Almadinah (Yathrib).
Year 1 in the Islamic calendar
‘Missionaries’ sent all over Arabia
– building peaceful coalition
• 629 Muhammad conquers Mecca peacefully (NO REVENGE)
destroys idols in Alqaaba.
single-handedly, brings peace to war-torn Arabia
• 632 Muhammad dies in Almadinah. Unmarked grave (his will)
Islam by the death of Mohammed 632
632-661: the Four Elected Successors (Caliphs)
Abu-Bakr - 632-634
• The first elected official. Wise leader, crisis manager
Omar Ibn Elkhattab - 634-644
• A first-rate statesman. Honest, modest and just.
• Conquered the Levant, Egypt, Iraq, Persia
Damascus (9 / 635) and Jerusalem (5 / 638) surrender peacefully
– Omar’s pledge to the Jerusalemites
• A modern state: Treasury, communication, defense. Engraved currency.
Othman bin Affan - 644-656
• Collected and compiled the Quran
• Emergence of power struggle
Ali Bin Abitalib - 656-661
• Power struggle escalated to armed conflict
• Emergence of political parties
• End of democracy. Ummayah Dynasty in Damascus, Muawyia (661-680)
Islam at 644, the year Omar died
The Ummayah Dynasty, 661-750
• Empire center and capital move to Damascus
• Expansion: All N. Africa (Atlantic), W. Europe, much of C. Asia, the wall of China
711: Conquer of Spain and Portugal. Tariq Bin Ziyad
• Expansion into W. Europe blocked in France by Charles Martial, 732
• Power Struggle continues, but the Caliphs brutally liquidate all rivals
Karbalaa in S. Iraq (10 Nov, 680) and the emerge of the Shiha
• Addelmalek builds Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem (691)
• Massive translation of Greek and Indian writings
• Arabization of the empire
• Bloom of architecture, arts, agriculture, and science
732, 100 Yrs after Mohammed
The Abbassides Dynasty, 750-1258
The Quran:
• Islam’s holy book, an inspired scripture. God’s word inspired to his messenger,
• 114 Chapters (chapter = Surah), 4 to >200 verses/chapter (verse = Aiyah)
• Confirms most narratives and prophets of the Jewish and Christian faiths
Special place for Virgin Mary, the only female (the Chapter of Mary)
• Allah is the word for God used by Christian and Muslim Arabs
God = Allah (Arabic) = Eluhim (Hebrew) = El (Aramaic)
• One and only one God, no trinity
• Arabic as the language of the Quran
The 'Five Pillars' of Islam
• Much of the Koran revealed in the context of an all-out war imposed on early
Muslims by the powerful city of Mecca, and many passages deal with the conduct
of armed struggle.
While one finds "slay [enemies] wherever you find them!" (e.g., 4: 89),
in almost every case it is followed by something like "if they let you be,
and do not make war on you, and offer you peace, God does not allow you
to harm them" (2:90; 4: 90; 5: 2; 8: 61; 22: 39)
➣ Since good and evil cannot be equal, repel thou evil with something that is
better, and love he between whom and thy self was enmity may then become
as though he had always been close unto thee, a true friend" (41:34)
• God does not allow harm of civilian, and requests the protection of women,
children and the elderly during war (4:96; 9: 91; 48: 16,17)
“If any one slew a person--unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief
in the land--it would be as if he slew the whole people; and if anyone saved
a life, it would be as if he saved the life of the whole people.” (5:32)
• You shall feed and protect prisoners of war, and you shall not expect a
reward (4: 25,36; 5:24)
Thus, the only permissible war in the Quran is one of self-defense, you
cannot kill unarmed (civilian), and you have to protect prisoners of war
Jihad and the Conduct of War
• Warfare is always evil. Sometimes you have to fight to avoid persecution. e.g.,
the one Mecca inflicted on early Muslims (2: 191; 2: 217), or to preserve decent
values (4: 75; 22: 40)
• Muslims may not begin hostilities
"Fight in the cause of Allah those who fight you, but do not transgress limits;
for Allah loves not transgressors." (2: 190).
– Notice: Defensive war, fight back
• Hostilities must be brought to an end as quickly as possible, and must cease the
minute the enemy sues for peace (2:192-3; 41:34)
• ‘Martyrdom’: Those killed during fighting or while doing civic duties (martyrs) are
promised a place in heaven (several passages, e.g., 2:154; 3:169-172)
• However, suicide is not allowed; it is forbidden and condemned (e.g., 6:151,
17:33, 25:68)
• One of my favorite Hadiths
'Do not attack a temple, a church, a synagogue. Do not bring a tree
or a plant down. Do not harm a horse or a camel’
Relation with other Faiths
• Like the Torah, the Quran permits retaliation eye for eye, tooth for tooth.
But, like the Gospels, it says “it is meritorious to forgo revenge in a spirit of charity
(5: 45)
• Acknowledges Adam, Noah, Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses,
David, Solomon, Zacharia, Jesus, John the paptist, and others as the “the good
prophets of God”
• A special place for Jesus and Mary (e.g., 3:45,46; 4:156-158; 19:1-98)
• Accepts that Mary’s conception is from God’s soul.
• Rejects the divinity of Jesus (no trinity).
• Jesus was not killed (e.g., 4:155-159; 5:17-19)
Relation with other Faiths
• Repeated requests in both the Quran and the Hadith for seeking
knowledge, and application of rational thinking
Seek knowledge even in China
Seek knowledge from crib to grave
On judgement day, the ink of scientists is valued by God higher
than the blood of martyrs
The two important disciplines of science are theology and Biology
Sunni
• 90% of Muslims
• Follow the Quran and the Hadeeth as we have them today,
and as interpreted by the Sunni scholars
Shiha
• Came to be as a sect after 680 A.D.
• Believe in the Quran and Hadeeth, like Sunni
• However, they place Ali very high as a holy figure, and think ‘main stream’
Islam discriminated against him
• Today Shiah is mainly in Iran (90%), Iraq (55%) and Lebanon (~40%)
Important Holidays