Islam
I) Islam
A) career of Mohammed
1) born in 570 a.d. in the city of Mecca
i) Mecca was not a world trading
center
a) most leaders come from
more significant areas that have high trade routes
ii) Was not born into wealth or a ruling
family
iii) orphaned at an early age
2) at age 25 he marries Khadijah who was age 40
i) she was a wealthy widow
ii) allowed him into the local sphere
of influence
3) Mohammed begins hearing a voice
i) stated to hear the angel Gabriel
ii) Angel said God had chose Mohammed
to be the most important profit ever
a) wife believes him and
become the first convert (very important that he had her support)
iii) Begins to spread his message to
the people of Mecca
4) Flight from Mecca to Medina
i) Mohammed was drawing people away
from the polytheistic religions of Mecca that fueled the economy
ii) 622 Mohammed is forced to leave
Mecca
iii) he goes to Medina
iv) Mohammed started ambushing and destroying
caravans going to Mecca, starting a war
5) war with Mecca
i) Mohammed ends up fighting and beating
Mecca, and then he moves back to the city
ii) battle was very small - insignificant
B) Moslem strengths
1) Koran
i) holy book
ii) same size as the new testament
iii) in Arabic it is a beautiful language
iv) very easy to read, unlike the bible
v) very easy to memorize book - some
people do this
a) the know the scriptures
very well because is it worded and written easily
2) Five Pillars
i) Faith
a) basic beliefs
1) no god but
Alla
2) Mohammed
is his prophet
b) easy conversion (Shahadah)
1) must recite
the two basic beliefs three times in front of another Muslim
2) Easy to convert
people
i) provides a simple way to convert, unlike Christianity
*Note - it may help understanding of the material to compare and contrast
Islam to Christianity
c) Moslem Eschatology
1) People are
killed for denying Islam after they have converted
i) very few people ever renounce their faith
ii) Prayer
a) everyone prays five times
a day in public
1) peer pressure
forces people to pray
2) tremendous
source of unity
3) if everyone
does this it is hard to doubt the reality of the religion
b) Prayer in Mosque
1) Muslim church
2) center of
social life
i) education is taught at the mosque, everything is dominated by the religion
iii) Fasting
a) fast entire month of
Ramadan
1) makes people
feel more spiritual
2) feasting
after the sun goes down
i) large celebrations at night during Ramadan, very attractive to people
iv) Alms
a) giving to the poor
1) bridges gap
between the rich and the poor
2) less social
division - easy to give, only 2.5% required
v) Pilgramige to Mecca
1) every Moslem
must take a trip to Mecca once in their life, they then get called Hadji
2) Unites Islamic
world - worship with Moslems from all around the world
vi) Jihad (the sixth of the five pillars)
a) very important to Islam
b) Religion to be spread
by force
c) very meritorious
1) if one dies
during battle they go straight to paradise with 72 virgins
d) this appeals greatly
to those going into battle
C) Moslem expansion led by Caliphs
1) after one year they conquered Syria and Iraq
(633)
2) Egypt (639), Persia (640), Spain (711)
*Within 80 years they conquered all the way to Spain to India
3) Byzantium in 1453
i) they took advantage of the Persian
- Byzantine war when the Byzantine were weak
D) Reasons for Moslem success
1) Persian / Byzantine war weakened both sides
2) half hearted Christian resistance due to controversies
3) Moslem policy towards Christians and Jews was
to allow them to keep their religion but they had to pay a higher tax rate
i) many people converted in order to
pay the lower tax rate
4) Ability to combine the best of the Persian, Greek,
Roman attributes
i) stole the administration system of
Rome and the Philosophy of Greece
5) Able leaders
i) leader of Muslim world called the
Caliph
ii) Spiritual leader was the national
leader
a) successor of Mohammed
(divine link)
iii) Caliph was clearly Gods representative
- people don't divide against him
a) they never said the caliph
was god though
6) Moslem success
i) The more successful the religion
was, the more people believed it was the right religion
7) Ability to absorb converts
i) absorbed rich, poor, ugly and everyone
was a brother
ii) easy conversion = quick acceptance
8) Moslem Law
i) is a great law code : Koran
a) provides ethical guidance
ii) covers all aspects of life
9) Islam is exactly what people want
i) goals are ambitious but not too high
ii) goals are achievable
iii) example of giving alms
a) Jews give 10% to please
god
b) Christians must give
up everything to make god happy
c) Moslems give 2.5% to
make god happy - and it makes people feel good to be on gods good side
* Note - Moslem standard of excellence is always within reach of a
normal person
iv) Divorce
a) Jews can get divorced
but it is not recommended and produces a sense of failure
b) Christians hate divorce
- makes women commit adultery - sense of failure
c) Moslems say divorce is
easy and should have no guilt - it is a natural thing that will happen
anyways, there is no need to make people feel any worse and danger them
*Moslem allows for human weakness
v) Adultery
a) Jews = death
b) Christians cant even
look at other women
c) Moslems - cover up the
women so they don't look good - no reason to lust
*Moslems able to adapt - they say Jesus is a prophet and they don't
have to explain his teachings
* Eye for an eye is OK, but if you don't take revenge, all the better
for you, but not required
* Islam has achievable standards
*Moslem peace comes when the enemy is dead or converted