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 Helping San Diego, California and beyond since 1997.
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{iz' - luhm}
General Information
The religion of Arabic and Persian nations. Followers are called Muslims (or Moslems).
Mahomet Mohammed (or Muhammad) (c. 570 - 632 AD) is the primary prophet
(Editor's Note: Muslims strongly dislike the word Mohammedanism and insist on Islam. They feel that Mohammedanism implies some Divine aspect to Mohammed himself. They revere Muhammad as a glorious Prophet but insist on making clear that he is not a God and does not deserve to have their religion named for him. They feel that Islam is the only correct name. Western and Christian authors have tended to use the term Mohammedanism. Western authors also tend to use the term Moslem rather than Muslim for the believers.)
Muhammad offered himself to the Jews and Christians as the successor of Jesus Christ but met with severe opposition. He condemned the Jews in his teachings.
Every good Moslem centers his life about the performance of five duties, referred to as the Pillars of Faith:
Eternal punishment is the fate of those guilty of hypocrisy (false religion), murder, theft, adultery, luxury, dishonesty, and a few other sins. There are great similarities to the sins described in the Ten Commandments of Christian Judaist beliefs. Drinking, gambling and usury are rigorously prohibited.
Early on, Mohammedans divided into two groups. The Eastern (or Persian) Mohammedans (now called Muslims) are known as Shiites. The Western (or Arabic) Mohammedans (Muslims) are known as Sunnites. Sunnites (Arabs) generally consider Shiites as schismatics. Sunnites are Semites; Shiites are not.
Muhammad was born of poor parents in Mecca. He was orphaned early and had to tend sheep for a living, so he received little education. At 25, he became a commercial agent for a rich widow, whom he soon married. Later, he had a vision in the desert north of Mecca in which he believed he was commanded to preach. He came to believe that he was a medium for divine revelation and that he was a prophet of God (Allah). His followers wrote down his revelations and his successor, Abu Bakr, had them compiled as a book (the Koran).
Muslims believe that Noah, Abraham, Moses and Jesus received revelations from God, but they regard Muhammad as the greatest and the last prophet of God.
At first, few converts followed Muhammad. In 622, the people of Mecca actually drove him out of the city and he fled to Medina. This flight (called the Hegira) was taken as the beginning of the Muslim calendar. After the Hegira, he turned to warfare, plunder and conquest. In 630, he returned to Mecca in triumph and treated his former persecutors with kindness. He called all his followers to a holy war in which he promised that all who died fighting would ascend straight to Paradise. This single comment from the generally peace - loving Muhammad has been used as the central cause of numerous religious (jihad) wars. Virtually all of his other teachings emphasize peace, charity, tolerance and kindness to all. After he died in 632, the war was carried on by his successors (Caliphs).
Critics find many things to attack in Islam. Many suras of the Koran were composed before 622 AD, while Muhammad was still in Mecca. In general, those suras seem to be extremely peaceful, compassionate, considerate. In fact, historian Sir W Muir (in Life of Mahomet, 1864, four volumes, vol. 1, p. 503) said "In the Meccan period of his life there certainly can be traced no personal ends or unworthy motives . . . Mahomet was then nothing more than he professed to be, 'a simple Preacher and a Warner'; he was the despised and rejected prophet of a gainsaying people, having no ulterior object but their reformation. He may have mistaken the right means for effecting this end, but there is no sufficient reason for doubting that he used those means in good faith and with an honest purpose."
After he arrived in Medina, those suras seem to have a generally much harsher tone, often even mean-spirited and barbaric, as regarding non-believers. Muir continued the above citation "But the scene changes at Medina. There temporal power, aggrandisement, and self-gratification mingled rapidly with the grand object of the Prophet's life, and they were sought and attained by just the same instrumentality. Messages from heaven were freely brought down to justify political conduct, in precisely the same manner as to inculcate religious precept. Battles were fought, executions ordered, and territories annexed, under cover of the Almighty's sanction. Nay, even personal indulgences were not only excused but encouraged by the divine approval or command. A special license was produced, allowing the Prophet many wives; the affair with Mary the Coptic bond-maid was justified in a separate Sura; and the passion for the wife of his own adopted son and bosom friend was the subject of an inspired message in which the Prophet's scruples were rebuked by God, a divorce permitted, and marriage with the object of his unhallowed desires enjoined. . . . As the natural result, we trace from the period of Mahomet's arrival in Medina a marked and rapid declension in the system he inculcated. Intolerance quickly took the place of freedom; force, of persuasion. "
Muir later added "If Mohammed deviated from the path of his early years, that should cause no surprise; he was a man as much as, and in like manner as, his contemporaries, he was a member of a still half-savage society, deprived of any true culture, and guided solely by instincts and natural gifts which were decked out by badly understood and half-digested religious doctrines of Judaism and Christianity. Mohammed became thus the more easily corruptible when fortune in the end smiled upon him. . . . [In Medina], he offered very little resistance to the corrupting action of the new social position, more particularly in view of the fact that the first steps were accompanied by bewildering triumphs and by fatal sweetness of practically unlimited political power. . . . The deterioration of his moral character was a phenomenon supremely human, of which history provides not one but a thousand examples."
Following generations of Muslims were often brutal and gruesome in their treatment of people who did not accept Islam or who questioned anything about it.
Muslims consider the Koran to be EXACTLY the very Word of God (Allah). They do not doubt or question even the slightest aspect of it. However, by the year 325 AD, three hundred years before the Koran, Christians had established the concept of the Trinity, as being ONE God, Who seemed to exist as Three different Persons, the Father (YHWH or Jehovah), the Son (Jesus) and the Holy Ghost, and never varied from that. If the Koran is actually the words of God (Allah), and not altered in any way since they were given to Muhammad, it seems odd that the Koran presents the Christian Trinity as being God, Jesus, and Mary! (Sura 5:116) This seems to imply that God (Allah) made a mistake, or Muhammad made a mistake, or later copyists/commentators made a mistake (several times, as at Sura 5.77 and Sura 4.169). Scholars see such things as obvious problems, but virtually all Muslims overlook them, and consider anyone bringing up such things as blasphemous.
Observers have noted that, if the Koran was precisely and exclusively the Word of God, there are many Suras that seem instead to have been expressed by either Muhammad, the Archangel Gabriel or other Angels, without clarification. For example, the opening Sura, called the Fatiha, is clearly address TO Allah and not BY Him. Sura 19.64 was clearly spoken by Angels. The observation is: the Koran either IS or IS NOT exclusively the Word of God that Muslims claim.
It is certainly true that the Koran contains many hundreds of concepts, beliefs and stories from the Bible, particularly the Pentateuch, the first five Books of the Bible (also called the Torah or Taurah). These similarities involve roughly half of the 80,000 words of the Koran (while representing but a very small portion of the Bible's 800,000 words). As a result, the Koran and Islam contains many similarities and many parallels with Christianity and Judaism. However, there are very great differences in some areas.
General Information
The place of the Prophet Muhammad in world history is directly related to the formation of Islam as a religious community founded on the message of the Koran, which Muslims believe to be the words of God revealed to the Prophet.
About 610, Muhammad, while in a cave on Mount Hira outside Mecca, had a vision in which he was called on to preach the message entrusted to him by God. Further revelations came to him intermittently over the remaining years of his life, and these revelations constitute the text of the Koran. The opening verses of chapters 96 and 74 are generally recognized as the oldest revelations; Muhammad's vision is mentioned in 53:1 - 18 and 81:19 - 25, and the night of the first revelation in 97:1 - 5 and 44:3. At first in private and then [613] publicly, Muhammad began to proclaim his message: that there is but one God and that Muhammad is his messenger sent to warn people of the Judgment Day and to remind them of God's goodness.
The [pagan] Meccans responded with hostility to Muhammad's monotheism and iconoclasm. As long as Abu Talib was alive Muhammad was protected by the Hashim, even though that clan was the object of a boycott by other Quraysh after 616. About 619, however, Abu Talib died, and the new clan leader was unwilling to continue the protective arrangement. At about the same time Muhammad lost another staunch supporter, his wife Khadijah. In the face of persecution and curtailed freedom to preach, Muhammad and about 70 followers reached the decision to sever their ties of blood kinship in Mecca and to move to Medina, a city about 400 km (250 mi) to the north. This move, called the Hegira, or hijra (an Arabic word meaning "emigration"), took place in 622, the first year of the Muslim calendar. (Muslim dates are usually followed by AH, "Anno Hegirae," the year of the hegira.)
In Medina an organized Muslim community gradually came into existence under Muhammad's leadership. Attacks on caravans from Mecca led to war with the Meccans. Muhammad's followers obtained (624) victory at Badr but were defeated at Uhud a year later. In 627, however, they successfully defended Medina against a siege by 10,000 Meccans. Clashes with three Jewish clans in Medina occurred in this same period. One of these clans, the Banu Qurayza, was accused of plotting against Muhammad during the siege of Medina; in retaliation all of the clan's men were killed and the women and children sold into slavery. Two years later, in the oasis of Khaybar, a different fate befell another Jewish group. After defeat they were allowed to remain there for the price of half their annual harvest of dates.
Since 624 AD (2 AH) the Muslims of Medina had been facing Mecca during worship (earlier, they had apparently turned toward Jerusalem). Mecca was considered of primary importance to the Muslim community because of the presence there of the Kaaba. This sanctuary was then a pagan shrine, but according to the Koran (2:124 - 29), it had been built by Abraham and his son Ishmael and had therefore to be reintegrated in Muslim society. An attempt to go on pilgrimage to Mecca in 628 was unsuccessful, but at that time an arrangement was made allowing the Muslims to make the pilgrimage the next year, on condition that all parties cease armed hostilities. Incidents in 629 ended the armistice, and in January 630, Muhammad and his men marched on Mecca. The Quraysh offer to surrender was accepted with a promise of general amnesty, and hardly any fighting occurred. Muhammad's generosity to a city that had forced him out 8 years earlier is often quoted as an example of remarkable magnanimity.
In his final years Muhammad continued his political and military involvements, making arrangements with nomadic tribes ready to accept Islam and sending expeditions against hostile groups. A few months after a farewell pilgrimage to Mecca in March 632 he fell ill. Muhammad died on June 8, 632, in the presence of his favorite wife, Aisha, whose father, Abu Bakr, became the first caliph.
Willem A Bijlefeld
Bibliography:
M Ali, The Living Thoughts of Muhammad (1950); T
Andrae, Muhammad: The Man and His Faith (1936); A Azzam, The Eternal
Message of Muhammad (1964); J Glubb, The Life and Times of Muhammad
(1970); A Guillaume, ed., The Life of Muhammad: A Translation of
Ibn Ishaq's Sirat Rasaul Allah' (1955); A Jeffrey, ed., Islam:
Muhammad and His Religion (1958); M Rodinson, Mohammed (1971); W M
Watt, Muhammad: Prophet and Stateman (1961).
The article above presents the "traditional" story of
Muhammad's life, as generally understood by nearly all Muslims.
There is extremely little "external" confirmation of
the many facts presented, and so virtually all of the knowledge
of Muhammad's life come from either the Koran (which was assembled
from his statements) or from the Hadith (which was again assembled
from his statements and those of people near him). There were also
a few biographies of Muhammad (he died in 632 AD):
There are some important details of that traditional Muslim
biography that were not included in the article above.
The wording was: "What do you think of al-Lat and al-Uzza And Manat
the third beside? These are exalted Females, Whose intercession
verily is to be sought after."
These references were to some of the many Gods the Meccans then
worshipped, (and some of their favorites among their hundreds of
gods) so the words seem to acknowledge the existence and
even the importance of them, TOTALLY opposite of what Islam
claims (of the One God, Allah). Islam says that Muhammad was
later visited by Gabriel again, who reprimanded him and gave him
the "true" ending for that verse, which eliminated the
praise for the gods and turned it into denigration. They consider
those initial verses as being put into his mouth by Satan,
i.e. Satanic Verses.
These verses represent a serious problem for Muslims. They seem to
imply that Muhammad was carefully cultivating the Meccan leaders
by saying things they "politically" wanted to hear. That
idea would greatly damage his credibility as a Prophet. His sincerity
would seem to be in question. On the other hand, if Satan was so
easily able to put words in the mouth of the Prophet, how much Faith
could anyone put in him? Might there be (many?) other passages
where Satan affected the wording of the Koran?
A revelation from God came to him, instructing him to cast his
scruples away. While sitting next to his wife Aisha, he had a
prophetic swoon. When he recovered, he said "Who will go
and congratulate Zaynab and say that the Lord has joined her to
me in marriage?" (Sura 33.2-33.7)
His wife Aisha is said to have then remarked "Truly your God seems
to have been very quick in fulfilling your prayers."
There appear to be other parallels. Both the Bible and the Koran seem to contain confusing sections, where there even seem to be internal contradictions. Both contain many examples of repetitive statements, where the same concept is repeated, either in exactly the same words or very similar ones. Whichever of these two Faiths one might believe, it seems difficult to try to claim the high ground as to absolute credibility if one elects to criticize the other.
As with the many Christian subject presentations in BELIEVE, where both supportive and challenging positions are presented, there is no intention to promote or dismiss Islam or any claims it makes, but rather to just present as accurate a set of facts as is known. In this vein, we include both the traditional Islamic understandings and some seemingly credible alternatives, hopefully without suggesting judgment.
Author Michael Cook has researched non-Muslim historical sources regarding these aspects of Muhammad's biography. He confirms that a person named Muhammad lived, that he was a merchant, and that something significant occurred in 622, and that Abraham was important in his teaching. However, there appears to be no indication that Muhammad wa in central Arabia and there is no mention whatever of Mecca and there is no historical reference to the Koran until nearly 700 AD. He also found compelling evidence that early Muslims prayed in a direction far north of Mecca, which seems to suggest that some different city was involved than Mecca. Also, he found that coins minted around 700 AD which had Koranic quotations, have different wordings than the authorized canonical text of the Koran. This seems to suggest that the text of the Koran had not yet been permanently established, seventy years after the death of the Prophet.
An early Greek source mentions Muhammad being alive in 634 AD, two years after the traditional Muslim death date. [Wansbrough] That same Greek source (c. 634-636 AD) presents the Prophet's message as essentially being Jewish messianism.
There was a Christian writer of the fifth century (prior to Muhammad) named Sozomenus who describes an Ishmaelite monotheism identical to that of the Hebrews prior to the time of Moses (1600 BC). He also argued that Ishmael's laws must have been corrupted by the passage of time and by the influence of pagan neighbors. These are central aspects of Islam.
The Arabic term muhajirun corresponds to the English term Hagarism, the reference to their ancestry as being through Hagar, Abraham's maid who was the father of Ishmael. This term seems to have arisen early in Islamic history.
In early Jewish history (c. 722 BC), a group known as Samaritans did not accept the later Books of the Old Testament of the Bible, and their Bible consisted exclusively of the Pentateuch, the first Five Books. Islam and Muhammad show familiarity with the Samaritans, and indeed, recognized and revered the very same Books. Critics feel that Muhammad adopted most of his early theology from the much earlier Jewish Samaritans. Samaritan liturgies constantly included the concept "There is no God but the One", again, a central and essential component of Islam.
General Information
Islam, a major world religion, is customarily defined in non - Islamic sources as the religion of those who follow the Prophet Muhammed. The prophet, who lived in Arabia in the early 7th century, initiated a religious movement that was carried by the Arabs throughout the Middle East. Today, Islam has adherents not only in the Middle East, where it is the dominant religion in all countries (Arab and non - Arab) except Israel, but also in other parts of Asia, Africa and, to a certain extent, in Europe and in the United States. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims (sometimes spelled Moslems).
For Muslims, therefore, the proper name of their religion expresses the Koranic insistence that no one but God is to be worshiped. Hence, many Muslims, while recognizing the significance of the Prophet Muhammad, have objected to the terms Muhammadanism (or Mohammedanism) and Muhammadans (or Mohammedans) - designations used widely in the West until recently - since they detect in them the suggestion of a worship of Muhammad parallel to the worship of Jesus Christ by Christians.
Throughout history, practices and opinions have differed with regard to the exact way in which Islam determines life in all its aspects, but the basic notion of Islam's comprehensive character is so intrinsic to Muslim thought and feeling that neither the past history of the Muslim world nor its present situation can be understood without taking this characteristic into consideration.
According to Muslim jurists, the sharia is derived from four sources
By the time of his death in 632, Muhammad had won the allegiance of most of the Arab tribespeople to Islam. He had laid the foundation for a community (umma) ruled by the laws of God. The Koran records that Muhammad was the Seal of the Prophets, the last of a line of God's messengers that began with Adam and included Abraham, Noah, Moses, and Jesus. He left for the future guidance of the community the words of God revealed to him and recorded in the Koran, and the sunna, the collective name for his opinions and decisions as recorded in the tradition literature (hadith).
Muawiya inaugurated an almost 90 year rule by the Umayyads (661 - 750), who made Damascus their capital. A second wave of expansion followed. After they conquered (670) Tunisia, Muslim troops reached the northwestern point of North Africa in 710. In 711 they crossed the Strait of Gibraltar, rapidly overran Spain, and penetrated well into France until they were turned back near Poitiers in 732. On the northern frontier Constantinople was besieged more than once (though without success), and in the east the Indus River was reached; the Islamic empire now bordered China and India, with some settlements in the Punjab.
Politically, the power of the Abbasids was challenged by a number of rival dynasties. These included an Umayyad dynasty in Cordoba, Spain (756 - 1031); the Fatimids, a dynasty connected with the Ishmalis (a Shiite sect), who established (909) themselves in Tunisia and later (969 - 1171) ruled Egypt; the Almoravids and the Almohads, Muslim Berber dynasties that successively ruled North Africa and Spain from the mid 11th to the mid 13th century; the Seljuks, a Muslim Turkish group that seized Baghdad in 1055 and whose defeat of the Byzantines in 1071 led indirectly to the Christian Crusades (1096 - 1254) against the Islamic world; and the Ayyubids, who displaced the Fatimids in Egypt and played an important role in the later years of the Crusades.
The Abbasids were finally overthrown (1258) in Baghdad by the Mongols, although a family member escaped to Egypt, where he was recognized as caliph. While the brotherhood of faith remained a reality, the political unity of the Muslim world was definitely broken.
The defeat of the Ottoman navy in the Battle of Lepanto in 1571 was not, as many in Europe hoped, the beginning of a rapid disintegration of the Ottoman Empire; more than one hundred years later, in 1683, Ottoman troops once again besieged Vienna. The decline of the empire becomes more visible from the late 17th century onward, but it survived through World War I. Turkey became a republic under Kemal Ataturk in 1923, and the caliphate was abolished in 1924. The Moguls were a Muslim dynasty of Turko - Mongol origin who conquered northern India in 1526. The Mogul Empire reached the climax of its power in the period from the late 16th century until the beginning of the 18th century. Under the emperors Akbar, Jahangir, Shah Jahan, and Aurangzeb, Mogul rule was extended over most of the subcontinent, and Islamic culture (with a strong Persian flavor) was firmly implanted in certain areas. The splendor of the Moguls is reflected in a special way in their architecture. In the 18th century Mogul power began to decline. It survived, at least in name, however, till 1858, when the last sultan was dethroned by the British.
Islam penetrated West Africa in three main phases. The first was that of contacts with Arab and Berber caravan traders, from the 10th century onward. Then followed a period of gradual Islamization of some rulers' courts, among them that of the famous Mansa Musa (r. 1312 - 27) in Mali. Finally, in the 16th century the Sufi orders (brotherhoods of mystics), especially the Qadiriyya, Tijaniyya, and Muridiyya, as well as individual saints and scholars, began to play an important role. The 19th century witnessed more than one Jihad (holy war) for the purification of Islam from pagan influences, while later in the 19th century and in the first half of the 20th century, Muslims formed a significant element in the growing resistance to colonial powers. In the post colonial period Islam plays an important role in Nigeria, Senegal, Guinea, Mali and Niger, while there are smaller Muslim communities in the other states in West Africa.
For example, Turkey and many of the Arab countries have become secular republics, whereas Saudi Arabia is virtually an absolute monarchy, ruled under Muslim law. Iran was ruled from 1925 to 1979 by the Pahlavi dynasty, which stressed secularization and westernization. Growing resistance from the Muslim community, which is overwhelmingly Shiite, culminated in the forced departure of the shah and the establishment of an Islamic republic under the leadership of the Ayatollah Khomeini. However, while opinions differ with regard as to how Islam can continue to function in modern societies as a force relevant to all aspects of life, the great majority of Muslims hold fast to the notion of the comprehensive character of Islam as well as to its basic theological doctrines.
The promise and threat of the Last Day, which occupy an important place in the Koran, continue to play a major role in Muslim thought and piety. On the Last Day, of which only God knows the hour, every soul will stand alone and will have to account for its deeds. In the theological discussions of the Last Day and, in general, of the concept of God, a significant issue has been whether the descriptions in the Koran (of Heaven and Hell, the vision of God, God being seated on the throne, the hands of God, and so on) should be interpreted literally or allegorically. The majority view accepts the principle of literal interpretation (God is seated on the throne, he has hands), but adds the warning and qualification that humans cannot state and should not ask how this is the case, since God is incomparable (bila kayf, "without how"; bila tashbih, "beyond comparison").
The last of the six articles, Predestination, is also a theocentric issue. Because the divine initiative is all decisive in bringing humans to faith ("had God not guided us, we had surely never been guided," 7:43), many concluded that God is not only responsible for guiding some but also for not guiding others, allowing them to go astray or even leading them astray. In the debate of later theologians on these questions, the antipredestinarians were concerned less with upholding the notion of human freedom and, therefore, of human dignity, than with defending the honor of God. According to these thinkers - the Qadarites and the Mutazilites, of the 8th to 10th centuries - the Koranic message of the justice of God "who does not wrong people" (". . . they wrong themselves," 43:76) excluded the notion of a God who would punish human beings for evil deeds and unbelief for which they themselves were not really responsible.
The major concern of their opponents was to maintain, against any such reasoning, the doctrine of the sovereign freedom of God, upon whom no limits can be placed, not even the limit of "being bound to do what is best for his creatures." Two important theologians of the 10th century, al - Ashari (d. 935) and al - Maturidi (d. 944), formulated answers that would mark for the centuries to come the traditional (Sunni) position on these points. Although one's acts are willed and created by God, one has to appropriate them to make them one's own. A recognition of a degree of human responsibility is combined with the notion of God as the sole creator, the One and Only.
Around this concept of the unity of God another debate arose on the essence and attributes of God; it focused on the question whether the Koran - God's speech - was created or uncreated. Those who held that the Koran was created believed that the notion of an uncreated Koran implied another eternal reality alongside God, who alone is eternal and does not share his eternity with anyone or anything else. Their opponents felt that the notion of a created Koran detracted from its character as God's own speech. The Sunni position that emerged from these discussions was that the Koran as written down or recited is created, but that it is a manifestation of the eternal "inner speech" of God, which precedes any articulation in sounds and letters.
None of the theological issues referred to above can be understood fully unless the sociopolitical context of these doctrinal debates is taken into consideration. The interrelation between theological positions and political events is particularly clear in the first issues that arose in the history of Islam. Reference has already been made to the division between the Shiites and the Sunnites. The Shiites were those who maintained that only "members of the family" (Hashimites, or, in the more restricted sense, descendants of the Prophet via his daughter, Fatima and her husband Ali) had a right to the caliphate.
Another group, the Kharijites (literally "those who seceded"), broke away from Ali (who was murdered by one of their members) and from the Umayyads. They developed the doctrine that confession, or faith, alone did not make a person a believer and that anyone committing grave sins was an unbeliever destined to hell. They applied this argument to the leaders of the community, holding that caliphs who were grave sinners could not claim the allegiance of the faithful. While the mainstream of Muslims accepted the principle that faith and works must go together, they rejected the Kharijite ideal of establishing here on earth a pure community of believers, insisting that the ultimate decision on whether a person is a believer or an unbeliever must be left to God. Suspension of the answer till Judgment Day enabled them to recognize anyone accepting the "five pillars" (see below) as a member of the community of believers, and to recognize those Muslims who had political authority over them, even if they objected to some of their practices.
The witness to God stands here side by side with the concern for the poor, reflected in almsgiving. The personal involvement of the individual believer, expressed most clearly in the formulation of the shahada, "I witness there is no God but God, and Muhammad is the messenger of God," is combined with a deep awareness of the strength that lies in the fellowship of faith and the community of all believers, significant dimensions of both the ritual prayer and the pilgrimage.
Muslim worship and devotion is not limited to the precisely prescribed words and gestures of the salat, but finds expression also in a wealth of personal prayers, in the gathering of the congregation in the central mosque on Fridays, and in the celebration of the two main festivals: Id al - Fitr, the festival of the breaking of the fast at the end of Ramadan; and Id al - Adha, the festival of the sacrifice (in memory of Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son). The latter, observed on the 10th day of the month of pilgrimage, is celebrated not only by the participants in the pilgrimage, but also simultaneously by those who stay in their own locations. The interpretations of jihad (literally, "striving" in the way of God), sometimes added as an additional duty, vary from sacred war to striving to fulfill the ethical norms and principles expounded in the Koran.
This recognition of other prophets besides Muhammad and other Scriptures besides the Koran is coupled with the firm conviction that the perfection of religion and the completion of God's favor to humanity have been realized in the sending down of the Koran, the sending of Muhammad as "the Seal of the Prophets," and the establishing of Islam. People's reactions and response to this final criterion of truth became, therefore, the evidence of their faith or unbelief. Those who, on the basis of what they had previously received from God, recognize the message of the Koran as the ultimate Truth show themselves thereby as true believers, while those who reject it prove themselves to be unbelievers, no matter by what name they call themselves.
Willem A Bijlefeld
Bibliography:
General:
M Abdul - Rauf, Islam: Creed and Worship (1975); K Cragg,
The House of Islam (1975); H A R Gibb, Mohammedanism (1949); P K
Hitti, Islam, A Way of Life (1970); B Lewis, ed., Islam and the Arab
World (1976); K W Morgan, ed., Islam: The Straight Path (1958); S H
Nasr, Ideals and Realities of Islam (1966); F Rahman, Islam (1979);
J Schacht and C E Bosworth, eds., The Legacy of Islam (1974); W M
Watt, What Is Islam? (1968).
Islam in Modern History:
K Cragg, Counsels in Contemporary
Islam (1965) and The Call of the Minaret (1985); J L Esposito,
Islam and Politics (1984); D MacEnoin and A Al - Shahi, eds.,
Islam in the Modern World (1983); E I J Rosenthal,
Islam in the Modern National State (1965); W C Smith,
Islam in Modern History (1959); R Wright, Sacred Rage (1985).
Sociology of Islam and Ethnographical Data:
I R Al Faruqi
and L Lamya, The Cultural Atlas of Islam (1986); R Levy,
The Social Structure of Islam (1957);
R C Martin, Islam: A Cultural Perspective (1982); R V Weeks,
ed., Muslim Peoples: A World Ethnographic Survey (1978).
'And say: "All the praises and thanks be to Allah, Who has not begotten a son (nor an offspring), and Who has no partner in (His) Dominion, nor He is low to have a Walî (helper, protector or supporter). And magnify Him with all the magnificence, [Allahu-Akbar (Allah is the Most Great)].' (Holy Qur'an, Surah 17, Verse 111)
Replacing "Muhammadanism" with "Islam" is really the best thing to do, because never has there been an Islamic scholar which used this term to describe Islam, it has no valid ground. Moreover, Islam means "Submission to God", and this term is MUCH more appropriate than a term based on a human's name. (Note; It IS required in Islam to strive to be as Muhammad (PBUH), for he was the personification of the Qur'an! Next to the Qur'an, there is a book called the Sunnah, which contains sayings, acts, and words and acts of approval of the Prophet (PBUH).
A R Mulder
P.S. you might ask yourself what value the (Peace be upon Him) means after the name Muhammad (PBUH). It is what Muslims say whenever the Prophet's (PBUH) name is mentioned. The actual Arabic words, from which this was translated mean; May the mercy and peace of God be upon him.
At the same time, we get some violently vicious e-mails from alleged
Muslims as well:
I really wish you see God soon and he will tell you how wrong you are
and how much wrong you have spread...
I wish that God punishes you right now... Instead of just burning you in
hell... So you feel it...
If you think this is a threat threaten me with one too...
No I know why I should hate you... you people are good only for putting
words in order that only will take you all to hell...
Well I'm not making threats... If you feel it's a threat fine with me
cause you always find Muslims making threats and calling them terrorist
while you have right to say anything against our religion and prophet
and if we say we didn't like your idea about it you think it's a
threat...
Is it any wonder that peace between Muslims and Christians seems so impossible? Even though there are many rational, calm and peace-loving people on both sides, there seem to still be plenty of irrational fanatics on both sides who seem to just be looking for an excuse to kill something. And, as humans, we consider ourselves "intelligent!"
And, for the record, the 2,000 articles in the BELIEVE site were selected for giving balanced presentations of their specific subjects, presenting both the strengths and weaknesses of each position. If a person of ANY Faith is averse to ever hearing a single negative word about one's own Faith, then BELIEVE is not the place to be.
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