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Islam

Religion founded in the Arabian peninsula in the early AD 600s. It emphasizes the ‘oneness of God’ (Arabic tauhid), his omnipotence, beneficence, and inscrutability. Its sacred book is the Koran, which Muslims believe was divinely revealed to Muhammad, the prophet or messenger of Allah (God). There are two main Muslim sects: Sunni and Shiite. Others include Sufism, a mystical movement that originated in the AD 700s. The word Muslim means ‘one who makes his peace with God and Man’.

Beliefs

The fundamental beliefs of Islam are contained in the shahadah (testimony) – ‘I bear witness that there is no God but Allah and Muhammad is the Prophet of Allah’ – which is a constituent part of the adhan (call to worship). Other beliefs central to Islam are the Creation, the Fall of Adam, angels and jinn, qadr (predestination), the Day of Judgement (Arabic Rawmuddin), akhirah (life after death), and the succession of scriptures revealed to the prophets, who include Moses and Isa (Jesus). The perfect, final form of the scriptures is the Koran or Quran or Qur'an (literally ‘reading’). It contains Muhammad's teachings, and was written down about 20 years after his death. It is divided into 114 suwar (chapters, singular sura), each of which is divided into a number of ayat (verses). Roughly speaking, all lands where Arabic is spoken, together with Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and North Africa as far as the Tropic of Cancer, are solidly Muslim. In the Central Asian republics, there are about 20 million in Uzbekistan, probably 8 million in Kazakhstan, and around 5 million altogether in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan. Other Muslim populations include China (29 million), the Balkan states (4.5 million), Malaysia (10 million), Indonesia (172 million), the Philippines (3.3 million), and sub-Saharan Africa (about 75 million). Islam is the second-largest religion in the UK, with about a million followers.

Islamic law Islam embodies a secular law (the Shari'a or ‘Main Path’), containing the Sunna (‘practice’) of the prophet as transmitted by his companions. The Shari'a is clarified for Shiites by reference to their own version of the Sunna. The Sunni sect also takes into account ijma' (expert), universal consent of practices and beliefs among the faithful. For the Sufi, the Shari'a is the starting point of the ‘Sufi Path’ to self-enlightenment. A mufti is a legal expert who guides the courts in their interpretation. (In Turkey, until the establishment of the republic in 1924, the mufti had supreme spiritual authority.)

Beliefs Islam proclaims the unity of God, demands obedience to him, believes in an afterlife of bliss for believers and torment for the wicked, and makes Muhammad the last and final exponent of God's mind; he is ‘the seal of the prophets’. He did not claim to bring a new religion, but to revive the faith that was taught first to Adam and then to Ibrahim (Abraham), was believed in by Moses, Isa (Jesus), and all other prophets, but which was corrupted by their followers. All prophets according to the Koran were without sin. The concept of inherited or original sin is foreign to the teachings of Islam.

Observances The Shari'a includes the observances known as the Five Pillars of Islam, which are binding on all adult believers. The Five Pillars are: belief in one God (shahadah), prayer, almsgiving (zakat), fasting (sawm), and the pilgrimage (hajj). Salat is worship five times a day facing toward the holy city of Mecca (the call to prayer is given by a muezzin, usually from the minaret or tower of a mosque). Prayer should rather be called worship, for the prescribed forms contain no intercession; it is performed five times a day – before sunrise, after midday, in the late afternoon, at sunset, and when the night is dark. Worship is preceded by wudu (ritual washing) and the worshipper faces toward Mecca. Each act of worship consists of sections, varying in number from two to four with a prologue and epilogue; a section consists of a litany said in various attitudes, sitting, standing, bowing, and with the forehead touching the ground. Worship may be performed anywhere, but preferably in a mosque. After the set ritual a man may offer what petitions he pleases. The midday prayer on Friday is the service of the week, with a sermon, and all men should attend. Other observances include zakat or obligatory almsgiving; alms might be called a religious tax, for the amount that the believer has to pay is fixed according to his wealth. Sawm (fasting) takes place from sunrise to sunset throughout Ramadan (the ninth month of the Muslim year, which varies with the calendar). The sick, travellers, and pregnant women are excused, though they ought to fast the same number of days in another season of the year. In addition many Muslims fast two days in every week. Everyone who can should make the hajj or pilgrimage to Mecca. The faithful should make it at least once in a lifetime.

Organization There is no organized church or priesthood, although Muhammad's descendants (the Hashim family) and popularly recognized holy men, mullahs, and ayatollahs are accorded respect. As the law is regarded as the voice of God, a renowned lawyer is very near to being a priest. Traditionally, justice was administered by a cadi (judge), the chief of police, and the inspector of the markets, who also kept an eye on schools to see that the boys were not taught from improper books. There were legal experts to whom the cadi could turn for advice in complicated cases. There was also an extraordinary court to hear those who could get justice in no other way; in early days the ruler himself presided. In most countries nowadays, only questions of personal status are heard by the cadi, because modern codes of civil, commercial, and criminal law have been introduced.

Social customs Marriage is a civil ceremony. Under special conditions, the Koran permits up to four wives, but if justice cannot be done among them ‘then marry only one’. A foster-mother ranks as a true mother, so the prohibited degrees of marriage include the relatives of the foster-mother. Strict rules are laid down for the division of an inheritance; males take twice as much as females, because women take their share in dowry, and the testator cannot will away more than one third of his estate or will anything to the chief heir. Modern legislation has changed some of this. Law is also modified by local custom; in Malaysia, and among the Berbers of North Africa, in many ways custom is stronger. Other social legislation forbids wine, interest on money, and sculpture of living beings. This last prohibition has had a great effect on art, causing the development of Arabic writing as an ornament in books and on buildings and coins and of arabesque in architecture. At death the body is washed, shrouded in grave clothes, and carried on a bier, generally without a coffin, to the grave, which is so constructed that the earth does not press on the body. A martyr who dies in battle is not washed. As a rule, the prayer over the dead is not said in a mosque.

Divisions On Muhammad's death in AD 632, the question of the immediate succession to the leadership gave rise to political splits that were later formalized as doctrinal differences. Muhammad was followed as leader by a succession of ‘rightly guided caliphs’ – Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, and Ali, the last-named being the prophet's son-in-law. The title caliph means deputy or successor). The powers of the caliphs were absolute under the law, although in theory the law was fixed by scholars, and the caliph was only its executive officer. The early caliphs remained Arab tribal chiefs. Each chief was accustomed to hearing the opinions of the tribe, especially its elders; but the final decision rested with the chief. The Shi'a tradition began as the party within the Islamic community that supported the candidacy of Ali; it later developed a theology based on Ali's mystical role as Muhammad's true successor. Members of the Sunni sect recognize all the four caliphs as lawful rulers, whereas the Shiites, who see legitimacy vested in the lineage of the prophet, regard the first three as only rulers, not caliphs.

Mahdis The idea of a mahdi, or messiah, is central to Islamic thought. Many men have claimed to be the Mahdi, for example, the founder of the Fatimid dynasty in Egypt (died 934), the founder of the Almohads (died 1130), and the mahdi in the Sudan, Muhammad Ahmad, 1848–85). Others have striven to restore religion to its original purity, for example, Muhammad Abd al-Wahhab, spiritual partner of the founder of the dynasty that now rules Saudi Arabia. Occasionally, the dervish orders have taken to politics, for example the Senussi, who gave a king (Idris I, ruled 1951–69) to Libya.

The spread of Islam Islam was founded as a universal and missionary religion. Between 711 and 1492, it spread east into India, west over North Africa, then north across the Strait of Gibraltar into the Iberian peninsula. During the Middle Ages, Islamic scholars preserved and developed ancient Greco-Roman learning, while the Dark Ages prevailed in Christian Europe. Islam was seen as an enemy of Christianity by European countries during the Crusades, and Christian states united against a Muslim nation as late as the Battle of Lepanto in 1571. Driven from Europe, Islam remained established in North Africa and the Middle East. In recent years Islamic regimes have been established in Iran, Afghanistan, and Sudan. Elsewhere, militant Islamic neo-fundamentalist groups have sprung up, which base their theological ideas on the textual foundation of Islam as represented by the Koran. Such groups are opposed to secular governments, which they see as promoting Western, and therefore non-Islamic, values.

Modern trends and ‘fundamentalism’ Modern trends, often referred to as fundamentalism, are considered by many people to be socio-political phenomena inspired by Muhammad Abd al-Wahab (1703–92), who called upon Muslims to return to the fundamentals of Islam. The ideological strands that reflect his views throughout the Muslim world have been shaped by a variety of local factors and influences. The Muslim Brotherhood, founded in Egypt by Hassan al-Banna in 1928, was the chief influence, ideologically and operationally, that spurred the growth of many contemporary movements. By the late 1950s, the industrialized West had exerted enormous and disruptive cultural and economic influences on the traditional Islamic value system of the Muslim world. Their impact gave the Muslim Brotherhood the impetus to develop its ideas, which had a similar impact on Muslims as did the earlier Wahabi movement. Both movements called for a return to puritanism in Islam; both were at the forefront of the opposition to governments that they viewed as corrupt. Although the Muslim Brotherhood did not proclaim total rejection of Western industrial culture, it sought to replace the ‘ethical vacuum’ with Islamic values. The organization came into conflict with Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser in 1956 and with Syrian president Hafez al-Assad in 1980. In both cases, the confrontation led to government outlawing of the group, since the Brotherhood's growing popularity was seen as a threat to the political establishment. The call for Islamic revivalism has also been used by groups seeking power in the Islamic world, often leading to an inaccurate interpretation of Islam. An example is the Afghan Taliban, who deny women's basic rights, despite the equal relationship between the sexes prescribed by the Koran. Such misrepresentations of Islam result in widening further the gulf between itself and the West. Today, the term fundamentalism is used generically to refer to many Muslim activist groups and parties. The religious extremism often implied by the term is similar to the concept of ghulat. In Islamic history, this term was used for individuals accused of fanaticism. Although the term was more often used to refer to extreme Shiite groups, it serves to illustrate that Islam has suffered the same tendency towards extremism and violence as have other world religions. The solidarity of the Muslim world is amazing. In the 1300s, Ibn Battuta, a geographer and explorer, travelled across the Muslim world to India, where he was employed as a judge. He found himself everywhere at home, even if some local customs shocked him. Things are not very different today, though nationalism has weakened this solidarity.

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Islam - events

610	Arabia	While sleeping in a cave near Mecca (in modern Saudi Arabia), the Arab prophet and founder of Islam, Muhammad, has a vision of the angel Gabriel who announces that he is ‘the messenger of God’. Muhammad subsequently experiences revelations that he believes to come directly from God. He confides his vision to his wife Khadija and his immediate family.
622	Arabia	Faced with the opposition of the city authorities, Mohammed flees from Mecca to Yathrib (Medina) where he establishes himself as a religious and political leader. His faith becomes known as Islam, the ‘submission’ to Allah, and his followers are called Muslims, ‘those who submit’. Mohammed's flight, known as the Hegira, marks the beginning of the Muslim era.
630	Arabia	The Arab prophet and founder of Islam, Muhammad, captures the city of Mecca (in modern Saudi Arabia) and declares its ancient pagan shrine, the Kaaba, to be the holy place of Islam. Medina (also in modern Saudi Arabia) remains his capital, however.
691	Kingdom of Jerusalem	On the orders of Caliph Abd-al-Malik, work begins on a Muslim shrine in Jerusalem. Built on the rock from which Muhammad is supposed to have ascended into heaven, the shrine later becomes a mosque and is known as the ‘Dome of the Rock’ or the Mosque of Omar. It is the first major monument in Islamic history.
760	Arab Caliphate	On the death of the sixth Imam, his eldest son, Ismail, is only recognized as his successor by a minority of Shia Muslims. His followers call themselves Ismailis.

630 African history Aga Khan IV Ali Black Muslims

Farrakhan, Louis Islam ethics Islamic art Jahilliyah Javanese

Judgement Day Koran Malcolm X Mohammedanism Moslem

Muhammad, Elijah Sufism Sunni zakat More results