Islam

1. Islam Beliefs ‘The mere holding of a belief is no virtue in itself’, Ali Shari’ati

2. Sources of doctrine: Qur’an • Qur'an (Muslim Scripture) • Heavenly book • God’s self-revelation • Contrast with Jesus in Christian thought • Final and complete revelation • Previous revelations include some Jewish and Christian scriptures • Revealed to Muhammad over course of 23 years • First revelations ethical teaching and the Day of Judgment. Goes on to affirm unity of God and warnings to those that failed to heed God’s messages. Later revelations address social issues pertaining to community • Dictated revelations; memorized by Companions

3. Sources: Qu’ran (cont.) • Qur’an compiled after Mohammad’s death. • Importance of memory, not writing, during time after Mohammad’s death. • Point of debate as to when Qur'an was compiled but many believe it was between 650-656 under reign of Caliph Uthman whose commission established a single authoritative text • Levels of interpretation/meaning • According to commentator Abdullah Yusuf Ali: • References a particular situation • Spiritual lesson • Mystical meaning

4. Sources of Doctrine: Hadith/sunna • Body of Tradition: Hadith (sayings and actions of Muhammad; Sunna (way of the Prophet/example) • Many collections – not all equally authoritative • Six collections compiled in 3rd cent. especially authoritative for Sunnis • Helps to outline orthodox parameters • But whose orthodoxy? 3rd cent. or 1st cent? • Shi’ites have their own canonical collection of hadiths (four collections)

5. Sources of doctrine: Ijtihad • Ijtihad (the attempt to find a doctrinal solution to a new problem using independent reasoning- by a qualified legal scholar) • Closing of the gate of ijtihadin Sunni Islam. • Still practiced in Shi’ism • Resurgence in the last few centuries of legitimacy of ijtihad

6. Sources of doctrine: ijma • Ijma (juridical consensus) • Based on hadith • Consensus could be scholars (community?) • Emergence of qiyas(reasoning through analogy) • as scholars developed consensus on issues, these issues became closed- thus no longer open to questioning • Creating orthodox positions • Consolidates authority of Ulama

7. Shari’a • Emphasis on law rather than theology • Islam as submission to will of God • Purpose of revelation differs from Christianity • Revelation as guide for living proper Muslim (submitted) life • Versus God’s self-disclosure for communion in Christianity • Emphasis on orthopraxy (versus orthodoxy; e.g. no creeds in Islam) • Schools of Law • Sunni: Four schools of Law (8th and 9th centuries) • Similar but with different emphases • E.g. some reject ijma (consensus); some allow use of reason, etc. • After codification of law in first three centuries, the work of jurists was only interpretation and application of law (though this is now changing) • Shi’ites have their own school of law

8. The Human Problem • Forgetfulness of God • Despite revelations and many signs • Two major sins: • shirk = associating anything else with divinity except the one God; idolatry • kufr = ungratefulness to God, unbelief, atheism (as a side note, there is no conception of original sin in Islam) • Fallacy of believing in our self-sufficiency (contrast with meaning of ‘Islam’) • Of all creation, only humans have capacity for sin and disobedience • Linked to false belief in our self-sufficiency • Our proper posture to God should be a combination of love and fear

9. The SOLUTION • Seek God and acknowledge Him • Proper Response to God • Love and fear • Total surrender to God • (example of the Prophet and prophets) • Know laws (that are fixed and are part of God’s divine purposes) as revealed by prophets and live by them

10. Key Beliefs and Doctrines “Know, O beloved, that man was not created in jest or at random, but marvelously made and for some great end.” Al-Ghazali, The Alchemy of Happiness

11. Key beliefs/Doctrines • tawhid= belief that there is only one God • Expressed in the shahadah - ‘There is no God but God and Muhammad is his messenger’ • Affirms oneness/unity of God • Shirk as the greatest sin • Radical distinction between Creator and creation • Thus Muslim aversion to pictorial images of God • Stress on God’s transcendence (though he is present in his creation) • Humans have direct relationship with God (i.e. God is a personal God) • God is in control of everything • Contrast with tribal religious belief in fate

12. Key beliefs (cont.) • Angels • Reality extends beyond our five senses • NOT intermediaries; usually messengers • Angels have specific responsibilities • E.g. Archangel Gabriel who brings God’s revelations • Satan not an angel but a jinn (an immaterial being of fire) – between humans and angels • Non-submissive (contrast with angels) • Refused to bow before Adam, so is cursed to live by tempting Adam’s descendents to follow him instead of God

13. Key beliefs: eschatology • The Last Judgment • Clearly defined • Bodily resurrection after time in grave • Final accounting of individual’s deeds • ‘The works of each person We have bound about his neck. On the Day of Resurrection, We shall confront him with a book spread wide open, saying, “Read your book.” Sura 17.13-14 • Cataclysmic ending of the world (Sura 73.14)

14. Judgment- heaven Alhambra Palace, Grenada Spain • Garden of Bliss/paradise • Desire purified souls will be closeness to God • Spirits live at different levels of closeness • Cf. Garden of Eden • Islamic Gardens • Model for gardens found in Qur'an – describes colors, smells, sounds, fauna, etc. of heaven

15. Judgment- hell • Hell • For sinners and non-believers • Place of great torment • Only non-believers stuck; after some time sinners go to paradise

16. Sufism • Mystical, contemplative, ascetic, experience • Contrast with material excess of Umayyad and Abbasid dynasties • Emphasis on inner state in contrast with excessive focus on conformity to Islamic law • Inner (Tariqa) and outer (Shari’ah) path • Outer leads to inner w/goal of union wit God • NOT mainstream orthodoxy • Al-Ghazali (1058-1111 A.D.) • Criticized excessive focus on reason (e.g. Mut’tazilites) • Helps to legitimize Sufism • Every verse of Qur'an has an ‘outside’ and an ‘inside’ (cf. Shi’iteImam) • Includes allegorical interpretation • Truth seekers - world is filled with divine symbols & signs

17. Sufism • Union with God • Become purified of the self • Removing the seventy thousand veils of self • Illusion, expectation, attachment, resentment, egocentrism, discontent, arrogance (cf. Buddhism) • Eliminate subject (me)- object (God) distinction • Cf. Buddhism and Hinduism • ‘I am the Truth’ • NOTE: Mainstream orthodoxy wary of Sufism. Orthodoxy wants to hold to the radical distinction between God and human beings • Dhikr = remembrance • Central Sufi practice in which the consciousness becomes focused on God

18. Sufi ascetic Ibrahim ibn Adham being helped by a group of angels

19. Sufism (cont.) Whirling Dervishs Mevlevi Order http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJIofU-0jC0 • Dervish = poor, mendicant mystic • No possessions • Cf. Hindu sannyasin but not withdrawal from society as much as inner detachment from world • Dissolution of the self into the Beloved • Death to self so that all that remains is the One • Whirling dervishes • Meditative

20. Folk Islam • Sometimes a difference between more orthodox forms of practice/belief and the folk level • Belief in the ‘magical’ (e.g. use of amulets, warding off the ‘evil eye’) • E.g. use of amulets • Veneration of the saints and fisiting the shrines of the saints • Who for some become intercessors • Veneration of Prophet Mohammad • Exalting Prophet to semi-divine status