Muslim Traditions PDF

Preview

Summary

Muslim Traditions - Oxtoby, W., Amore, R., Hussain, A., & Segal, A. (2020). A Concise Introduction to World Religions. (4th ed.)...

Description

Muslim Traditions Authoritative texts : The Quran! " " - The Hadith Numbers : There are approximately 1.6 billion muslims around the world ! " - 1 million in Canada ! " - 3 Million in Great Britain ! " - 6-7 Million in the united states ! Distribution: The largest population of muslims are in Indonesia, Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh ! Principal Historical Periods : Key movements in islamic history include the lifetime of Prophet Muhammad, from 570 to 632.! Founder and principal leaders : There are two major branches of islam: Sunni and Shi’a . All muslims place authority in Muhammed ( pbuh) but the shi’a give special authority to his son-in-law Ali and Ali’s descendants. ! Deity : Allah is arabic for “the God” and is cognate with Hebrew ‘eloh’, “diety”. Muslims believe Allah to be the same God as worshipped by the Christians, jews, and other monotheists. ! Noteworthy Doctrine : Islam Is based on monotheism. ! • Its prophetic tradition begins with the first human being ( Adam ) and ends with the prophet Muhammad.! • Muslims believe that the first place of worship dedicated to the one true God is the Kaba in Mecca, built by Abraham and his son Ishmael. ! • Islam means “submission” in arabic: the name signifies commitment to live in total submission to God.! • A person who professes islam is called a muslim, meaning “one who submits to God” ! • An older term rarely used today , is “Mohammedan” which misleadingly and to muslims offensively- suggests that muslims worship prophet Muhammad himself.! • The Quran, the islamic Scripture, presents islam as the universal and primordial faith of all the prophets from Adam to Muhammed, and of all those who have faith in one sovereign lord, creator and sustainer of all things. ! • According to the Quran , islam is Gods eternal way for the universe.! • Most muslims are born into muslim families but one can become muslim simply by repeating before two muslims witnesses the shahadah or or profession of faith.! - “i bear witness that there is no God but Allah. And I bear witness that prophet Muhammed (P.b.u.h) is the messenger of God. ! "

"

"

!

Beginnings • The Arabs before islam did not believe in the after life.! • Since time would spare no one, they believed that humans ought to make the most of life while they could. ! • The Arabs before islam recognized Allah as the supreme creator god but they worshipped many other deities as well. ! • Arabs shared the general semitic idea of a sacred place where no living thing- plant, animal or human- could be harmed.! • For the people of Makkah the chief place was/is a shrine called the kana. ! • The kana was believed to be built by the biblical patriarch Abraham and his son Ishmael ( Isaacs brother ) ! • Before islam the kana was already a major pilgrimage site. !

The life of Muhammad • Muhammed was born in the Quraysh tribe around the year 570.! • His father died before his birth and his mother passed a few years later.! • To be without a family was to be on the margins of society, in the tribal society of preislamic arabia. ! • The orphaned Muhammad was taken in first by his paternal grandfather , abd-almutalib, and later by his uncle abu talib. ! • He, Prophet muhammed, was called al-amin (the faithful or trustworthy) ! • Early biographies describe him as contemplative, honest, and mild mannered young man. ! • Tradition reports that during the period of seclusion in the month of ramadan, it was during one of those retreats that he received the call to prophet hood and the first revelation of the Quran. ! • Muhammads message was not only religious but moral and social. ! • As muhammed was sitting one night in his retreat an angel- later identified as Gabriel (Jibril in arabic)- appeared. ! • The angel Gabriel commanded him to recite ( read) ! • Khadija was the first to believe his story of the encounter with Gabriel. His young cousin also supported him ( the son of abu talib) ! • A learned Christian named Waraquh Ibn nawral, declared him to be the prophet for the arabs, chosen by God to deliver a sacred law to his people just as Moses had to the jews.! • For 12 years most of them had resisted Muhammad message ! • They did not want to abandon their gods of their ancestors, and they feared the implications of the new faith both for their way of life and for the sautés of the kana. ! • Muhammed instructs to give alms care for the orphaned, feed the hungry, and assist the oppressed. ! • He warned the impending doom on the day of judgement.! • Like Jesus and his disciple, Muhammad and his followers were often vilified. !

• Around 615, one group of muslims faced severe persecution from the Meccans that the prophet advised them to migrate to the red sea to Ethiopia. Where they were well received. ! • And in 619, the prophet was left without support or protection when both his wife and uncle died.! • Later entered into a number of polygamous marriages.! • “Night journey” - during which he travelled from Mecca to Jerusalem on his horse in a single night.! • Miraj- a miraculous ascent to heaven, where he met some of the earlier prophets and was granted an audience with God. ! The First muslim Community

• The migration to yathrib ( Hijrah), which thereafter came to known as the city of the prophet or median (the city) marked the beginning of the community life under islam, and thus of Islamic history.! • In medinah, muhammed established the first common wealth, a theocracy by a prophet who was believed to be guided by divine scriptures.! • Medinas social structure was for more diverse than meccas, for it included a substantial jewish community and two feuding Arab tribes who kept the city in continuous state of strife.! • He stipulated that all the people of the city should form single muslim commonwealth. ! • The prophet expected the jews of madina, recognizing this kinship, to be natural allies, but the median jews rejected Bothe muhammeds claim to be a prophet and the Qurans claim to be a sacred book.! • The fast of the ramadan soon took precedence over the jewish yom kippur fast, and the qilbah direction to the prayer was changed to jeresulam to the kaba in mecca. ! The conversion to Mecca • In 624, when the Mecca’s sent an army of roughly 1000 to Medina to stop the raids, they were met at the well of bad by a 300 man detachment of muslims. ! • The muslims who had fled for Mecca for Medina had left all their property behind; thus to support themselves they began raiding the caravans of the Meccan traders.! • Though poorly equipped and far outnumbered, the muslims inflicted a crushing defeat on the meccans. ! • Thus the battle of bad is celebrated in the Quran as a miraculous proof of the truth of islam. ! • Muslim state sought to free itself of external influences at a critical stage of development.! • Muhammed was always known as the “messenger of God” rather than ruler of the military, or ruler, but was in fact all three.! • He waged war and made peace. He laid the foundations of a community based on islamic principles.!

• Sunni follow the sunnah-traditions of the prophet— believed that he had not even designated a successor or specified how one should be chosen. ! • Shi group (minority) believed that muhammed had appointed his cousin in law Ali to succeed him. ! • A khalifa is one who represent s or acts on the behalf go another. ! • After muhammeds death, his close companion abu baker became the the khalifat radial Allah - the successor or representative of the messenger of Allah.! • Caliph- Was a religious leader, but as the chief or administrative head of the community , commander of the muslims.!

Foundations Prophets and messengers According to the Quran, god operates through prophets and messengers who convey gods will in revealed scriptures and seek to establish gods law in their community.! Abraham • Recognizes that idols cannot hear supplication of their worshippers and therefore can do them no god nor harm. ! • “ I turn my face to one who organized the heavens and the earth. I am not one of the associators ( Q 6 :77-79) Jesus • The Quran represents Jesus as a miracle himself ! • His virgin birth, his ability to heal the sick, feed the hungry, and raise the dead all affirm gods creative and life giving power against those who deny the reality of the resurrection and life to come.! • The miracles of Jesus assert gods power over human learning and wisdom.! • The Quran presents Jesus as delivering the message of God to the children of Israel.! Muhammad • For muslims, muhammed is the "prophet of the end of time.”! • Gods final revelation ! • Life example is the prophetic model that will guide history until it comes to an end on the day of judgement.!

• • • •

The Quran Over a 23 year period! Is nearly as long as the new testament ! The Quran is derived from the same root; q-r meaning to recite or read.! The Quran aims to create an ummah a “community” united by faith.!

• The Quran is always read in arabic! • Words of the Quran are spoken into a newborns ear as a blessing ! • They are also recited to seal a marriage contract or business deal, to celebrate a venture or to give solace.!

Compiling the Quran • Only physical records of it were fragments written on stone , bones, palm leaves, and animal parchment. ! • In some cases the material existed in mainly versions and certain words or phrases could be read in more than one way.! • Traditions maintain that each Sarah were arranged by the prophet at Gabriels instruction.! • Within 20 years of the prophets death, one of the first copies were given to hafsah, one of his widows.! Quranic Commentary • Any such interpretation is based on one of the three authoritative sources :the Quran itself, the Hadith, and the opinions of the prophets companions and their successor.! • Like the Quran and the hadith, the earliest commentaries were transmitted orally, but by the tenth century the quranic interpretation had become a science with several ancillary fields of study.! The Qurans Concept of God • The quran speaks of the diety as the one and only god, creator, sustainer, judge, and sovereign lord of all creation.! • For muslims it is a sin to associate any other being with God.! • Islamic theology holds that Gods essence is unknowable, inconceivable, and above all categories of time ,space, form and number. ! • Materiality and temporality cannot be attributed to god.! • God is known through attributes of the “most beautiful names”! • “God is god other than whom there is no god, the king, the holy one, peace, the faithful, the guardian, the majestic, the compeller, the lofty one” ( Q. 59 :22 :23)! Faith and action • Righteousness in the quran has several components.! • “Surely the noblest of you in gods sight is the one who is most aware of god” ! • The arabic word iman means faith, trust, and personal sense of well being in gofs providential care, mercy, and justice.! • On this inner personal level of islam: total surrender of the human will and destiny to the will of god. ! • The opposite of iman is kufar : knowing the truth but willingfully denying it and obscuring from it. ! • The quran also makes an important distinction between islam and faith.!

• Islam is religious, social, and legal institution, while faith ,iman, is an inner conviction whose sincerity god alone can judge, a commitment to a way of life.! • In short, faith is a comprehensive framework of worship and moral conduct. ! • Above islam and iman stands insan (doing good or creating beauty ) ! • “What is faith,” the prophet is said to have answered, “faith is seventy odd branches, the highest of which is to say “there is no god but allah” and the lowest to remover a harmful object ! • Insan is a concrete manifestation of Bothe islam and iman ! • Insan constitutes the highest form of worship, expressed in this Hadith: insan is to worship god as though you see god ,for even you do not see god, god sees you. !

Practice : The five Pillars of islam • According to the prophet islam was built on five “pillars”! • 1. To declare, or bear witness that thee is no god except God and that muhammed is the messenger of god.! • To establish regular worship! • To pay the zakat alms ! • To observe the fast of ramadan and! • To perform the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca once in ones life.!

Bearing witness • The first pillar is the shahaada “ I bear witness that there is no god except allah and I bear witness that Muhammad is his messenger. ! • Every child is born in this original state of faith, then his parents turn him into a jew, Christian ,and if they are muslims into a muslim.! Prayer • Th obligatory prayers are distinguished from voluntary meditations and personal prayers.! • They must be performed 5 times a day. At dawn, noon, at mid afternoon, and sunset and after dark.! • The salat were the first islamic ritual and must also be preceded by a cleansing ritual. (Wudu)! • Adthan chants the call to prayer ! • Prayers are fixed formulas consisting largely of passaged from the quran.! • Islamic has no sabbath specified for rest, but Friday is designated for congregational assembly and prayers. ! • Faithful muslims see all things good and evil as contingent on gods will. Hence many preface any statement about hopes for the future with the praise inshallah.!

Almsgiving • All muslim adults who have enough wealth were expected to give alms through payment of an obligatory tax called zakat. ! • The zakat obligation was 2.5 percent of value of all ones wealth ( savings, Finacial gains of any kind, livestock, agriculture produce, real estate, etc. )! The Ramadan Fast • The fast of ramadan, which extends from day break till sundown each day of the month.! • Named for the month in which the Quran was revealed to the prophet.! • Requires complete abstention from food, drink, smoking, and sexual relations.! • Abstaining from gossip, lying, anger and turning the heart and mind to god in devotional prayer and meditation. ! • Ramadan ends with a three day festival call id al fitter! • Children receive gifts and wear brightly coloured new clothes, people visit the graves of their loved ones, and special sweet dishes are distributed to the poor.! • The fast becomes a true act of worship when a person shares gods country with those who have no food with which to break their fast.! The pilgrimage to Mecca • The fifth pillar of islam is the hajj pilgrimage.! • Instituted by Abraham at gods command after he and his son Ishmael were ordered to build the kana ! • Ritual elements are understood to reenact the experiences of Abraham, when the Quran declares to be the first true muslim....