ISLAM

1. ISLAM These slides are prepared by Dr. Peter Vardy of Heythrop College, University of London, to assist teachers in schools to introduce Islam to young people. They are not to be regarded as comprehensive and should be supplemented by appropriate reading.

2. Islammeaning: ‘Submission to God’ • Islam is one of the three great monotheistic religions – the others being Judaism and Christianity. • Monotheists believe in a single God (Allah) – the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. • Islam is possibly the most misunderstood of all the world religions – and yet it is one of the fastest growing world religions. • In England, within ten years, more Muslims may attend Mosques each week than Christians attend Church, although the Islamic growth rate is now slowing.

3. Islam • Islam accepts Allah’s relationship to Abraham and also that Allah sent his prophets (including Jesus) but it considers that the message of the prophets and of Jesus was distorted by their followers. • Islam considers that Submission to God was the goal of all creation – this was the goal of which all the prophets speak. Service of God is the same as Submission and devotion to God. • The Qur’an has a unique status as it represents the final revelation of Allah. It is held to be divinely dictated directly to Muhammad who he held to have been illiterate. • The Qur’an is held to complement or corrects the distorted versions of God’s revelation found in Jewish and Christian scriptures.

4. Sura 11: 135-6 “Tell the people, O Muhammad! That to be rightly guided One needs not be a Jew or a Christian The righteous belong to the community of Abraham Who was pure in his worship of God, So were Isma’il, Jacob and the tribes, And Moses, Jesus and the rest. They are all our messengers; We make no distinction between them.” Note the central importance of Abraham – this is vital.

5. ABRAHAM • Abraham is the father of Islam through Ishmael his first born son. • Abraham is the father of Judaism through his second son, Isaac and • Abraham is the father of Christianity through his faith. • The status of Abraham cannot be over-estimated to all three religions.Islam maintains that Ishmael, Abraham’s first born son, lived in the desert and his followers became the ‘hanif’ – believers in a single God who were not Jews or Christians. They wandered through the desert living very simply and valuing solitude and the search for God above everything. • Muhammad may have met some of these when he was younger and they could have influenced him – but this is disputed.

6. HISTORY AND EARLY DEVELOPMENT ISLAM

7. History in the Qur'an • The Qur'an does not see Islam as a historical religion, moving from creation, through the prophets, culminating in Muhammad and then on to a final Judgement. There is no idea of a Fall, no idea of original sin and no redemption. • Salvation lies only in submission to God and there is no developing idea of God’s revelation through history. In that sense, it does not matter in what order the Holy Qur'an or the Hebrew scriptures are read – as they all contain a single message: Submission to God. • The nearest Islamic equivalent to salvation is ‘falah’ – fulfilment of the Divine will in time. This is the aim of all creation. There is a strong pre-destination element in Islam – as there is in Calvinist Christianity.

8. The Prophet • Two seemingly opposed but compatible positions need to be taken into account in understanding Islam: • At one level, Muhammad is a man, not in any sense distinct from other men – although Muhammad is considered to be sinless. • At another level, Muhammad is the prophet of God and is absolutely central to Islam. The greatest offence non-Muslims can give to Muslims, is to misunderstand the unique place of the Prophet. To understand Muhammad, one also needs to understand the world in which he was born and lived.

9. MECCA The land which is now Saudi Arabia was and is desert with fertile land on the coast & prominent oases inland. It was populated by many tribes (and within tribes there were clans) – particularly the roving Bedouin and the settled city tribes. One could not survive alone in this environment and loyalty to the tribe was fierce. Often the tribes were at war. The people of Mecca were traders – they organised great caravans and a market where different tribes could trade. But they had one great advantage. At Mecca was the ‘Ka’bah’ a building like a cube which contained the sacred BLACK STONE in its furthest corner – this was a symbol of divine power and is very old. It is believed to have been given by the Angel Gabriel to Abraham.

10. Abraham is regarded by Islam as the earliest of the prophets. According to the Qu’ran, Abraham prayed to God to make Mecca safe and to give it to him and his descendents as their home. He and his eldest son, Ishmael, then erected the ‘Kabah’ there as a shrine to Allah. Abraham is the forerunner of the HANIF – worshippers in one God who were found in Arabia before Muhammad. Ottoman miniature 1583. Istanbul ABRAHAM AND MECCA

11. Importance of the Black Stone • Every tribe had its local deities in the Kab’ah and this had the advantage of enabling tribes to worship as well as trade at Mecca. • There was also a tradition that tribes normally at war could go on pilgrimage to Mecca and they could trade and be safe because of the holiness of the city. • Mecca was not originally the focus – Muhammad’s followers initially directed their prayers to Jerusalem. However when Muhammad’s message was rejected by the Jews, Mecca became the new focus. Mecca had always had great symbolic importance as a centre for worship for the wandering tribes.

12. The ‘Quraysh’ tribe were the custodians of the Ka’bah. This gave them great status but they were also aware of anything that might undermine their status. • Muhammad was to present such a challenge. He was an uncomfortable, uncompromising figure – insisting on the worshop of the one true God and calling people away from idol worship.

13. Muhammad was born in 570ce into a powerful clan, but he was himself poor. His father, Abdullah, died before Muhammad was born to his mother, Aminah so any inheritance went to his father’s brothers. Muhammad was sent to live with Halimah, a shepherd’s wife, until he was 6. The painting on the right dates from the 16th century and shows Halimah feeding breast-feeding the infant Muhammad. Note the fire coming from the baby. Muhammad’s LIFE

14. Mohammad’s MOTHER’s JOURNEY • After Muhammad was returned to his mother, she took him on a journey to the city of Yathrib where his father had died – but she died on the return journey. • Muhammad was thus an orphan and was cared for by his uncle, Abu Talib. He took part in his Uncle’s business activities and went with the Caravans to Syria where he met Christians and Jewish thinkers. • Muhammad’s life up to the age of 25 is only known in outline terms – there are stories, but they are disputed.

15. MARRIAGES of MUHAMMAD • Khadijah, a wealthy widow, had employed Muhammad to lead some caravans for her. Tradition has it that she was 40+ when Muhammad married hern (he was 25) and he had no other wife till she died. • They lived together for 25 years and had two sons, who both died in infancy, and four daughters – only Fatima did not die before her father. • The wealth of Khadijah, enabled Muhammad to spend time deepening his spiritual life through meditation in the surrounding hills.(Muhammad. Maxime Rodinson, Pantheon Books, New York, 1971, p. 69) • After the death of Khadijah, Mohammed married several wives.

16. THE CAVE • In 610ce (aged 40), whilst meditating in a cave on Mt. Hira outside Mecca, the angel Gabriel appeared and delivered a message from Allah challenging Muhammad to recite a message from God (cf Sura 96). He was in great pain and feared he was going to die. • Muhammad was anxious and wondered if he was deranged. He spoke to Khaidjah who consulted a hanif (a worshipper of one God which was comparatively rare at the time) and he confirmed that what Muhammad had experienced was in accordance with messages to prophets recognised by Jews and Christians. • Khaidjah supported him from the beginning and Muhammad began to recite the messages he had been given.

17. DIVINE DICTATION OR REVELATION • After the first dictation or revelation in the cave, there were no more for some time. Then the revelations returned and continued throughout Muhammad’s life. • At the beginning the passages dictated were more poetic but became more concerned later with what would happen to mankind if they did not listen and also with laws for the new society that was being formed. • The Qur'an as it is today is not chronological – it is an assemblage of pieces of dictation over the whole of Muhammad’s life.Most scholars would see the the Qur’an as falling into three stages: Early and late Meccan and Medina.

18. Muhammad’s message • The single most important part of the message Muhammad had to relay was that there is only ONE God. • This was a challenging and uncomfortable message of religious reform as it called for the destruction of all the idols – and he had to recite this message to the Quaraysh, the guardians of the Kab’ah and of the idols therein! • The Quaraysh quickly realised the threat this posed and ridiculed Muhammad (think of St. Paul in Ephesus!) – so much so that none of the respectable people in Mecca would take him seriously. • Muhammad was accused of making up the Qu’ran and seen as a threat to be suppressed.

19. THE CHALLENGE OF THE PROPHET • Muhammad challenged the business and social practices of his society which exploited the poor and needy. • He opposed ancestor worship which was strong among the tribes. • He challenged the status of Mecca as a place of pilgrimage for believers in many local tribal gods. • He emphasised individual responsibility and life after death for each individual – this was great at variance with the communal, tribal ideas of the society of his time. • The first converts came from his own household. • Early Islam depended on strong family ties – Muhammad gave his daughters to two of of his followers and he eventually married the daughter of another.

20. EARLY CONVERTS • The early converts came from slaves and young people and great pressure was applied to them to renounce the new faith. • Some Muslims had to flee from the branch of the Quraysh who opposed Muhammad. Abu Talib(from the Hashim branch of the Quraysh), one of Muhammad’s early followers and protectors, and Khadijah came under intense pressure but they resisted. However they both died within a year and Muhammad was vulnerable and could see no way forward. • In 620ce, representatives from the city of Yathrib saw Muhammad and became convinced he was a prophet. They agreed to only worship the One true God and Muhammad chose 12 leaders from Yathrib to become the leaders of the Muslim community in this tribe. He also told his supporters in Mecca to leave and go to Yathrib.

21. A new threat • The Quraysh in Mecca saw Muhammad’s involvement with the Yathrib (the people of the town of this name) as a new threat. The Quraysh did not want him and his disciples to leave their control and to go to the Yathrib (which was the town where Muhammad’s father had died). • 40 men from a number of tribes in Mecca agreed to kill Muhammad – but they excluded any representatives of the Hashim tribe who supported him. It was reasoned that the Hashim could not attack all the tribes represented by the 40 in revenge. • The 40 stood guard outside Muhammad’s house, but his cousin, Ali Talib, took his place in bed and Muhammad and Abu Bakr were able to slip out of the city and flee to Yathrib. He arrived on September 20 620 ce which, 15 years later, became fixed as the first day of the Islamic calendar.

22. TRIBAL STRUCTURE • The Hashemites who rule Jordan today are descended from the Hashim who supported Muhammad in these early days (although they also formally disowned him and removed protection from him at one stage). • In Arabia, loyalty to clan and tribe was and is central – individuals only survived by being members of a tribe. Muhammad had little choice but to make military arrangements immediately to protect his new followers – only by so doing could he have obtained the respect needed by other tribes as they had left their old tribal loyalties to follow Islam. Indeed Islam effectively became a new tribe – albeit one that could be joined by members of any tribe. • Yathrib was renamed MEDINA – the city of the prophet. The muhajirun (companions) who had come from Mecca welcomed him and so did the ansar (helpers who aided him to come to Medina) but many did not want him there, including the Jewish population of the city.

23. Key cities • JERUSALEM • MEDINA • MECCA

24. TENSIONS • The messages of Allah continued to come to Muhammad as he made new rules for the city, and the new rules of the Qur'an had to be firmly enforced. • The Jews rejected Muhammad as a prophet and they rejected his teachings. This became a major factor and Muhammad’s initial sympathy for the Jews seems to have abated. • The opposition of the Jews caused Muhammad to kill some of them and force others to leave – without any of their possessions. • Early Christians saw Islam as a Christian heresy (cf John of Damascus etc.) just as Jews saw Islam as perverted Judaism. However Muhammad came into contact with comparatively few Christians compared to the significant number of Jews.

25. EXPANSION BY ARMS • The new Muslims in Medina sent out armed expeditions to other tribes and these were often well received. • However a Muslim raid on a Meccan caravan south of Mecca Muhammad gained the new Muslims much booty and this boosted the new Muslims in the eyes of other tribes. • However this raid caused the Meccans to carry out a raid in retaliation – and the Muslims were defeated in this. The Meccans raised money for a larger attack, and Muhammad was defeated at Uhud in 625. Then the Meccans besieged Medina but due to new military tactics used by Muhammas and also due to extremely cold weather, the siege failed.

26. The decisive HISTORICAL move • In 628, Muhammad took 1600 people on pilgrimage to Mecca. The Meccans sent out a force to stop him and the two sides met and talked. An agreement was reached for ten years of peace and to permit the Muslims to return the following year and make the pilgrimage to the Ka’bah. • This had a major effect because as Muslims and Meccans mixed, many of the brightest Meccans became Muslims.

27. In 630, Muhammad led a force of 10000 men against Mecca. Mecca surrendered and Muhammad destroyed all the idols in the Ka’bah. He gave a truce to the Quraysh tribe, even those who did not become Muslims. He returned to Medina and used both military force and persuasion to encourage almost all the Arab tribes to become Muslims. Muhammad died on June 8, 632ce. The painting is from the C16th and is from the Siyer-I-Nabi gallery ATTACK IN MECCA

28. THE MOSQUE OF THE PROPHET, MEDINA Built over Muhammad’s burial place

29. The Hadiths say that Muhammad was led by the Archangel Gabriel through seven heavens where he saw Adam dividing good from evil souls. He also met Moses who asked Muhammad how many prayers had to be said each day. Muhammad replied ’50’. Moses then said ‘Prayer is a difficult thing and people are weak’ so Moses allowed Muhammad to petition God to reduce the number to 5 and this became the numbers of prayers Muslims have to say.(Berlin Museum of Islamic art) MUHAMMAD’s NIGHT JOURNEY

30. Muhammad’s night journey • Muhammad is held to have reached the highest heaven in a mystical journey in which he was taken from Medina and then to the ‘outer synagogue’ - later identified as Jerusalem - before ascending through the spheres (this was to influence the British artist William Blake) • He first met with previous prophets such as Abraham, Moses and Jesus and then glimpsed the pleasures of Paradise. • Finally, Muhammad enjoyed the rarest privilege of all - seeing Allah's unveiled face.

31. Al-Burak • Muhammad is shown riding a fabulous creature called al-Buraq, meaning "Lightning." as he passes through seven heavens on his journey to the presence of Allah. • The name was well-chosen because al-Buraq could streak through the sky covering a distance as far as the eye could see in a single bound. Al-Buraq is shown with a woman's head and a mule's body. In other paintings, al-Buraq is sometimes shown with a peacock's tail.

32. THE ANGEL GABRIEL • Unlike the other angels in this painting Gabriel is surrounded by a halo of fire. The halo of fire is a symbol denoting Gabriel's holiness. As the chief of Allah's angelic servants, Gabriel has the honor of leading Muhammad on his ascent through the heavens. • Gabriel and Muhammad were not strangers. Gabriel delivered Allah's revelations to Muhammad beginning in 610. Gabriel also appears in the New Testament. In the Gospel of Luke, Gabriel is the angel who announces the birth of John the Baptist to Zachary (Luke 1: 11-20) and the conception, birth, and mission of Jesus to Mary (Luke 1:22.38).

33. MUHAMMAD • Muhammad is surrounded by a halo of fire denoting his holiness and superior status as Allah's prophet. • Muhammad's face is hidden by a veil. This is not an artistic oversight. Islam strictly forbids the making or drawing of idols. As a result, Muslim artists never portray Muhammad's face.

34. Angel gifts • The two angels shown in this portion of the painting are bringing special gifts to Muhammad. • The angel on the right is bringing Muhammad a cap of honor while the angel on the left is bringing Muhammad a robe of honor. Both gifts are meant to show Muhammad's special status as Allah's prophet. Muslim artists traditionally show Muhammad wearing his green robe of honour.

35. The Dome of the Rock encloses the sacred rock where Muhammad began his ascension to Heaven. THE DOME OF THE ROCK

36. According to Muslim tradition, the rock wanted to join Muhammad on his journey to Paradise. The rock begged the Prophet saying, "O Muhammad, take me along into the presence of Allah." But Muhammad refused and the archangel Gabriel held back the envious stone. EXTERIOR WALL OF THE DOME OF THE ROCK

37. Pilgrims had to circumnavigate the Dome in the same way as the Ka’ba in Mecca – again making parallels for the Syrian based Caliph. Scholars suggest that the Sunni Caliph based in Syria, Abd Al-Marik, wanted Jerusalem as an alternative place of pilgrimage to Mecca – he therefore for-bade Pilgrimage to Mecca and the Dome on the Rock and he built the Dome as an alternative. Right: Dome from within SIGNIFICANCE OF THE DOME

38. The Dome of the Rock is located on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Completed in 691, it is the oldest surviving Islamic sanctuary. The dome is made of wood and it was completely reconstructed and regilded in 1994 (financed by Jordan's King Hussein). The Dome contains 80 kilograms (176 pounds) of 24-karat gold. In the middle ages it was used by the Christian crusaders as a Church but Saladin returned it to use as a mosque. INTERIOR OF THE DOME OF THE ROCK

39. JERUSALEM • Jerusalem is the third most holy city for Muslims, after Mecca and Medina, as it is not only associated with Abraham but was the place Muhammad visited on his mystical journey to heaven. • This creates major tensions today between Muslims and Jews. The wailing wall is on one side of the Dome of the Rock Temple area – which is on the site of the former Temple of Solomon.

40. The Prophet • Muhammad says that ‘he is a slave, to whom (the Qur'an) was revealed’ but just as Allah taught Adam the names of animals(Sura 2.31)so Allah taught Muhammad the Qur'an(Sura 96.2). • Muhammad was called to preach the Divine word as it has been proclaimed to the prophets and to Jesus – but without the distortions that have been claimed to have crept in. • The Qur'an describes the Prophet as illiterate – and this is seen as a virtue and proof that he could not have written the Qu’ran himself. Just as Mary had to be a virgin so she could give birth to Jesus, so The Prophet had to be free from secondary intellectual influences in order to receive God’s word. • Muslims have also been aware that The Prophet was fully human. He is, above all, seen as a beautiful model for a Muslim to follow.

41. VENERATION OF Muhammad • Although Muhammad is a man, he is venerated in Islam. The Qur'an itself says: “Verily God and the angels bless Muhammad”(Sura 33.56). • He is a blessing sent by Allah on the whole earth – just like the rain is a gift and blessing from Allah(“We have sent him as mercy for the worlds”)(Sura 21:107). The villagers in Iran and Anatolia call the rain ‘rahmat’ (mercy) just as the prophet is ‘rahmatan lil-’alamin’. • Muhammad brings refreshment to dried up hearts as rain does to the desert. • God is said to offer ten blessings for every one that a person offers of Muhammad. • Muhammad, and his family, are always seen as close to a faithful believer who directs his love and trust to Muhammad.

42. The Last of the Prophets • The Qur'an describes Muhammad as ‘the seal of the prophets’, the last of the long line of prophets that began with Adam (Adam is recognised as a prophet in Sura 2:30-9; 7:19-25; 20:117-124). God’s primary covenant is with NOAH and Abraham was the first prophet. • Muhammad is held to be the final prophet. He is held by some Muslims to be the paraklet (most praiseworthy) who came to fulfil the message of Christ (Sura 61. 6) • Muslims look not just to the Qur'an, but to the ‘Hadith’ traditions concerning Muhammad’s words and actions passed down from very early times. Muhammad so impressed all who met him, that any of his sayings and actions became of decisive importance for later followers. It is this that gave the Hadith its importance. • Muslims differ as to the extent to which the Hadith can be interpreted. Many Muslims reject all historical criticism of the Hadith.

43. HADITH or SUNNA ‘Sunna’ is an alternative word for Hadith and the former gave rise to ‘Sunnis’ – this main group of Muslims paid great attention to these sayings. However the Hadith only became established by about 200 years after Muhammad’s death – prior to this there were ‘siras’ or stories about the Prophet’s life. The Hadith were formed gradually based on rigorous examination of the trustworthiness of those associated with particular stories and they way the stories fitted in to the Qu’ran. There are six groups of Hadith – of which the one compiled by the Bukhari and Al-Muslim are the most reliable. Sharia (Islamic law) depends heavily on the Hadith as well as on the Qu’ran.

44. Stories developed • After the death of the Prophet, many stories about him developed. The tales of his birth were enlarged by, for instance, the appearance of a heavenly light at his birth and ‘The Light of Muhammad’ became a focus for devotion from the 8th century onwards. • His birthday began to be commemorated from the 12th century. Hundreds of hymns have been written to commemorate his birth. • Muhammad’s praise, sung by every being on earth, is echoed in every branch of Muslim poetry. Possibly the most famous birth hymn is the great Marhaba (‘Welcome’) written in 1410:. . . . . .

45. Welcome, O high prince, we greet you! Welcome, O mine of wisdom, we greet you! Welcome, A secret of the Book, we greet you! Welcome, O medicine for Pain, we greet you! Welcome, O sunlight and moonlight of God! Welcome, O one who is not separated from God! Welcome, a nightingale of the garden of Beauty! Welcome, a Friend of the Lord of Power! Welcome, a refuge of your nation! Welcome, O eternal soul, we greet you! Welcome, O cupbearer of the lovers, we greet you! Welcome, a darling of the Beloved! Welcome, O much loved of the Lord! Welcome, O mercy for the worlds! Welcome, O intercessor for sinners! Welcome, Prince of this world and the next! Only for you Time and Space was created……

46. SUCCESSORS TO Muhammad – The RASHIDUN (meaning ‘RIGHTLY GUIDED’ - THE first FOUR caliphs) • The status of the successors to Muhammad was not universally agreed and divisions about them has led to the largest split within Islam…… • The first CALIPH (person acting in Muhammad’s place after his death) was Abu Bakr (632–634), one of the Prophet’s oldest companions and father of Muhammad’s wife, Aishah. Two years later he died. • The next successor Caliph wasUmar ibn Khattab (634–644ce) and under him Islam expanded rapidly into other countries. Umar was murdered in 644ce. • The third Caliph wasUthman ibn Affan (644-656ce), a son in law of the prophet, next succeeded. However he was from a rival faction in Mecca and was murdered in Medina as the original supporters of the prophet did not accept him.

47. THE FOURTH CALIPH • Ali ibn Abu Talib,Muhammad’s cousin and son in law (he had married Muhammad’s daughter, FATIMA), was chosen by the Medina community in 656ce. However Muawiyah, the governor of Syria, refused to recognise him and called himself the Caliph. • The Medina faction could not accept this as Muawiyah came from the tribe that had opposed Muhammad originally. • Ali agreed to submit the decision on the caliphate to arbitration. • BUT Ali was assassinated in 661 and Muawiyah kept power.

48. SHIA AND SUNNI MUSLIMS • The division between SHI’I and SUNNI Muslims stem back to this time. The SHI’I are the supporters of Ali, They do not recognise the first three Caliphs. • The Sunni consider that the first FOUR Caliphs (Ali was the fourth) were all ‘rightly guided’. Sunnis also accept the Caliphate of Muawiyah.

49. The First Caliphs ABU BAKR d. 634 SUNNI Islam regards these As the four ‘rightly guided’ Caliphs and sees this as a ‘golden age’ of Islam when the laws were well kept. 85% of Muslims are Sunni. ‘Sunna’ means ‘usual practice or custom’. SHI’I Islam sees Ali as the first genuine Caliph. Ali Was the Prophet’s son -in-law. Shi’is regard Ali and his descendents as infallible teachers, akin to the Prophet UMAR IBN KHATTAB d 644 UTHMAN IBN AFFAN d. 656 ALI d. 661

50. THE DISPUTE • Ali’s son, Husayn, attempted to establish a caliphate in 680 but he was beheaded and his head sent to Damascus. Thereafter Damascus’ influence ruled… • The killing of Husayn is regarded as a martyrdom by the Shi’i who recall it in a passion play each year. • The Shi’i regard Ali and his successors as the only true Imams as they are family successors of the prophet. • The Sunni respect Ali, but no more than that – and do not see him as a Caliph. • It was from this time that Jersualem and the Dome of the Rock assumed importance as this was close to Syria where the Sunni Caliphs were and Jerusalem provided a focus apart from Mecca.