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6.
Islam: the Prophet Muhammad
and the pillars of Islam
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Current estimates suggest that Islam currently has about 1,200 million adherents, or one fifth of the world population. Statistically, this places it second only to Christianity with around 2,100 million adherents, though that figure includes nominal Christians and should therefore be taken with a grain of salt. Followers of Islam are called Muslims. The term Muslim essentially means ‘a submitted person’. That is the person is submitted to God, who is called Allah. These Muslims are predominantly in North and West Africa, the Middle East, western, southern and central Asia and in south-east Asia. The largest Muslim nation in the world is our next door neighbour, Indonesia with approximately ninety percent of around one hundred and ninety million. That is approximately fifty million more than the next largest nation. The most recent ABS figures rate Muslims as 1.8% of total New South Wales population. If this figure was roughly true across Australia, it would represent around 300,000 adherents nationwide.
 

The History of Muhammad
Islam began in the Arabian peninsula during the seventh century. Despite attempts in the northern section of the peninsula to preserve an ancient way of life, it was on the verge of collapse. Society was based on the tribe rather than on a political state. Stability was maintained by a sense of tribal solidarity. You could rely on others in the tribe. Tribes in the north were polytheistic, having many gods and goddesses. By the seventh century there were some itinerant religious preachers who proclaimed that the most important god was al’ilah, or ‘The God’

At the end of the fifth century, the area around Mecca had been seized by the Quraysh tribe. They made Mecca its tribal religious centre and honoured a shrine in the city called the Ka’aba, or ‘the cube’ which contained images of it tribal Gods. The seventh century saw the break up of this tribal life and religious beliefs. Trade from the south was channelled through Mecca. This brought about a great deal of prosperity to those in Mecca, and this new wealth changed the pre existing tribal ties and ideals to the extent that a completely new social system developed.

Around 570 Muhammad was born in Mecca to parents of the Quraysh tribe. Being orphaned by six, he was then brought up by his grandfather who died two years later. After this his uncle Abu Talib took care of him. As a young man he entered the service of a widow and trader named Khadija. Despite being fifteen years her junior, he married her at aged twenty five.
 
 

Muhammad was not satisfied with the religion of the Meccans. He used to retire periodically to a cave near Mecca for contemplation. He seemed to be among the few Meccans who shunned the idolatry of Mecca, though he did not follow a particular religion. He had his first experience of a revelation from God at the age of forty (610 AD) while in his cave. Islamic tradition holds that this experience was accompanied by a vision of Gabriel who came down to reveal the Truth. This experience disturbed Muhammad, and it was not until some time later that he came to terms with his experience, understanding that it was not evil or just a dream. He now felt called to preach and share his message, though his message only attracted relatives and close friends. His early themes as a preacher were;

The general reaction to his preaching was hostile. This can be traced to the way in which much of his preaching criticised the gods of Mecca and the attitudes within Meccan society. He was considered to be mad and a sorcerer, and his followers were first verbally, then physically persecuted. Muhammad came to understand his struggle in the wider picture of past prophets, such as Noah, Abraham, Moses and Jesus, who had all experienced persecution from their own people. It confirmed for him that his experience was a recurring experience throughout history, and that his mission must continue in the proclamation of the truth revealed to him.

In 622 AD a group came to Mecca from a town called Medina. They were impressed with what they heard, and considered him to be a prophet. Muhammad was invited to go to Medina to become its religious and political leader. This was the turning point in the spread of Islam. It gave the prophet protection and a launching pad for the message to spread further. This migration is known as the hegira, and is the starting point for the Muslim calender. The Muslim calendar is a lunar calender, and is 11 days shorter than our solar year.

Medina’s three thousand inhabitants consisted of two hostile pagan Arab tribes and a community of Arabised Jews. The Jews had developed an agricultural which had been over run by the other tribes. On Muhammad's arrival, he developed a community between the Meccan Muslims who he had brought with him, and the Medinan converts to Islam. This represented a break with tribal religious systems and can be seen as the genesis of the ‘Islamic Community’, or the umma. He also set up a charter guaranteeing religious freedoms for the Jews and actively sought peace. At this time, there was a good deal of respect for other monotheistic religions, including Christianity with which he had some contact with.

And again;

However, unlike the pagan Arabs, the Jews of Medina did not accept the prophethood of Muhammad. In an attempt to reach a political settlement, Muhammad commanded Muslims to pray facing Jerusalem, though this changed when it failed to reign in Jews (and Christians who he also attempted to woo). Muslim-Jewish relations worsened over time, culminating in the expulsion of two Jewish tribes from Medina on the grounds of anti Muslim behaviour, and the near annihilation of the third tribe after collaborating with a hostile Meccan army in 5 AH (627 AD). Despite their hostility, he was keen to win over the Meccans. There were several reasons for this. Firstly, it was the home of Islam, being the place where the initial visitation occurred. Secondly, Mecca was of high strategic importance. It was considered as the Arabic religious centre. It held their sanctuary to which Arabs would make an annual pilgrimage. This sanctuary is known as Ka’ba, or the cube and the Black stone built into one corner was said to have been placed their by Abraham and Ishmael.
And when Abraham, with Ishmael, raised the foundations of the House they said ‘O our Lord! Accept it from us; for thou art the Hearer, the Knower. Sura 2.127

It was clearly a problem to Meccans that Muhammad was in control of Medina on account of its geographical position. Mecca had come to rely on caravan trade particularly with Syria, and Medina was on the Mecca-Syria trade route.

***********ENTER HERE (map Hinnells p. 128)

After being on the receiving end of several attacks, the 10, 000 Muslim army conquered Mecca in 8 AH. Muhammad did not seek the destruction of the inhabitants. Rather, he sought to purify the city, tearing down all the religious idols of Mecca. However, he did keep the cube, but removed its previous religious significance, making it a Islamic sacred site. The defeat of Mecca led other tribes from various parts of Arabia to send delegations to the Prophet, paying homage to him and accepting Islam. By the time of his death in 11 AH Islam had spread to all corners of Arabia.
 

The five pillars of Islam
Major Islamic practices can be summarised under the five pillars of Islam.

These pillars are prescribed in the Qur’an, though none are described there in any great detail. During the first three centuries after the death of Muhammad, these practices came to be strictly regulated by Islamic law. These are the basic activities by which one demonstrates their surrender to Allah, though there are differences in interpretation between the various schools of Islam.

Pillar one is Shahada, or the profession of faith. It is the proclamation that Allah is God above all and that Muhammad is his prophet. The initial proclamation of this by a person signifies their membership into the Islamic community. This confession, as subsequently used in the obligatory daily prayers, means that the person is obliged to practice the Islamic religion in its totality as prescribed in Islamic Scriptures. The term Allah is simply the Arabic proper name for God, and is used by Arabic Christian as well as Muslims. This means that Christians and Jews and all followers of monotheistic religions agree with Muslims on the first statement of the Shahada. It is the second part of the statement that distinguishes Muslims. The assertion that Muhammad is ‘a prophet’ is more than just classifying him as one in a long lines of prophets from God. It is a statement that signifying that Muhammad is the last and greatest of all the prophets throughout human history. This proclamation is the rallying cry of Islam, and the fundamental definition of Islamic belief .

Pillar two is salat, or prayer. Prayer is the first and foremost duty of a Muslim. A friend who was on a mission in Indonesia told us of how she would be wakened each day before sunrise by the local caller, proclaimed from the top of mosques, using loudspeakers to call people to the mosque for prayer with several phrases including ‘Awake, for it is better to pray than to sleep.’ To the Christians credit, they too get up and participate in times of group prayer.

A very physical type of prayer is designated in the Salat. Five times a day the Muslim is to face towards Mecca and, either alone or in a congregation, obtain a state of ritual purity through various preparatory ablutions, and go through a ritual of prayer and action which expresses in both word and deed the surrender of the adherent to Allah. Prayer is more than a ritual. It is fundamentally a moral and spiritual duty, which on an individual level strengthens the believer, keeps away evil and works towards spiritual and moral perfection. On a social scale, it builds and strengthens the solidarity of society and promotes social cohesiveness, equality, brotherhood and disinterested service to humanity. In light of this, it is encouraged where possible that these prayers take place in the context of the congregation preferably at a mosque. This duty is required of all mature aged women and men, though menstruating women and new mothers are exempted from this duty.

Submissiveness is further expressed in the third pillar, zakat, or alms giving. The Qur’an stresses the giving to the poor following the prophets example;

A proportion of each Muslim’s income should be given to support the Islamic community. This can be done in a voluntry fashion, such as giving alms to the poor in the street. However, Islam does not confine itself to voluntry spending. It is enjoined on all financially able Muslims to donate a share of their wealth to be spent on specific purposes;

9.60 is sometimes translated ‘those whose hearts are to be won to Islam’ adding to the ‘cause of God’ which is the spread of Islamic evangelistic activities. In some countries the alms are deducted in the same way as tax and then distributed for good purposes. The Zakat is important as it redistributes wealth and purifies wealth, by its purification of the soul from greed and selfishness, developing a healthy humanitarian attitude within society.
 
The fourth pillar is saum. This involves fasting during the holy month of Ramadan, which is in the ninth month of the Muslim calender. Given the eleven day difference in our calenders, Ramadan can occur at any time during our year. The next occurrence will be near the beginning of December 1999. From dawn to sunset the Muslim must refrain from eating, drinking, smoking, and sexual intercourse. This month of Ramadan is identified in Islamic tradition as the time when the Qur’an was revealed to Muhammad. This month regarded as a sacred time and its proper observance involves this fasting. As the end of this month there is a feast of Id-ul-Fitr. This feast lasts for three days. Before the feast commences, the head of each family distributes alms to the poor. This act is followed by a prayer meeting at the mosque. This first day is a time of rejoicing. Over the three days, time is taken to visit friends and special festive cards are sent to those who cannot be visited.

The final pillar is the hajj. At least once in a lifetime Muslims are expected, if it be physically and economically, to make a pilgrimage to Mecca during the twelfth month of their calendar Dhu-l-Hijja. There they perform specific rituals which recall the events which initiated their tradition. Those who are in Mecca go to a nearby town called Mina just outside Mecca and there is a vast sacrifice of sheep and goats.
 
This sacrifice commemorates Abraham’s complete submission to God’s commands in his preparedness to sacrifice his son. Those who are not in Mecca go to their local mosque and when they return home, if economically possible and permissible by local laws, they sacrifice a lamb, cow, or camel. After sharing a meal any surplus meat is given to the poor.

It is not uncommon for Muslims who have completed the pilgrimage to the Holy Land to take a new or additional name as a symbol of the significance of the event for their personal identity. One example of this can be seen in President Suharto of Indonesia, who had been traditionally considered a very nominal Muslim. He added the personal name “Muhammad” after his pilgrimage in 1990. This represented a strong turning point in his relations with sections of the Islamic community.

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