Muhammed was born in 570 A.D. and was born in the city of Mecca his name translated means highly praised. He was adopted by his uncle due to the fact that both his parents died when he was very young still. It is told that the angels of heaven blessed Muhammed. Through his life he was always kind hearted to people andw ould give to the poor. He then married a woman named Khadija and from that point on his ministry had started to begin. He went to a cave on the outskirts of Mecca it was in this cave that it was said that the Angel Gabriel spoke to him and that Allah spoke to him and told him wha tto write down in the holy book of the Koran. This was done around 610 A.D. He then after finishing the book and recieving his command from the angel left to tell his wife about it. She believed him and his religion had started. When Muhammed first started teaching his knowledge most people reacted to it violently and with disbelief he only gained a very small amount of 40 converts. The Meccans wanted to get rid of him as they felt he was going to bring them trouble and was stirring an uprising. During this time a group of people from Yathrib whom through word being passed on had come to convert. The city went to Muhammed and they went to Mecca and told the citymen that they were going to leave to Medina. The Meccans followed them in. In the city of Medina all the people seemed to love him and treated him as a politician of sorts. The Meccans attacked the city and Muhammed led a mass uprising against them and won. He then died after this in 632 A.D. The muslims conquered violently Armenia, Persia, Syria,
Palestine, Iraq, North Africa, and Spain in a quest for world domination it seemed. They also tried to conquer France and would probably have spread further. Now one fifth of the worlds population follows the faith of Islam. Muslims also believe that the only standing miracle was the Koran itself and that no other
miracles were performed. They also believe that Jesus and others were prophets and the greatest prophet is Muhammed and that there will be no other prophets besides Muhammed after. Muslims claim the
Bible is errant and the Koran is innerant where Christians beleive the opposite. However, as stated from Smith's book that comes with obstacles for the Koran as it is written from a spiritual way not a historical way. However, it does it's job and teaches God as omnipotent and omniscient. Muslims claim that Christianity is a polytheistic religion and that it was once a monotheistic religion until they deified Christ. However, Muslims claim Jesus as a prophet and the immaculate birth but no resurrection sequence. They also don't believe in original sin and believe that you are only guilty of sin becuase you did it yourself. They believe humans are born good natured and become evil-natured because of forgetfulness.
The five pillars of Islam start with the Islam's creed which is their confession of faith. It is said "There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is His Prophet." this is known as the shahadah. One must say this at least once in their lifetime perfectly. The Second pillar is canonical prayer which after much arguing between Muhammed
and Moses the set amount of required prayers per day was set at five. Once upon waking up, then when the sun comes up, then mid- day, then supper time, then before sleeping. Third pillar of Islam is charity. During the year muslims are required to give 2 1/2 percent of their total income to charity. Fourth pillar is the observance of Ramadan which is the holy month on the Lunar calendar. This is in celebration of Muhammeds journey from Mecca. During this muslims that are able to must fast during this time and can not eat, drink, smoke, or have sex. The Fifth pillar is the pilgrimage to Mecca where it is said that God's final revelation first arrived on Earth. On top of these pillars Muslims cannot gamble, steal, lie, eat pork, or drink alcohol, or be sexually active outside marraige.
Islam changed the economics of the era by removing the caste system due to the flow of charity throughout the society. It also changed the view of women by allowing polygamy and requring inheritance to go to the daughter as well as the son. It also prohibited infanticide which was rampant which the female gender prior to Muhammaed. Also it allowed her rights to be educated and to file for divorce. Even though the Koran teaches divorce as the final last resort. Islam also allowed the woman to choose her partner. The issue of racism was practically extinguished due to the allowance of interracial marraige and wanting any race to follow the religion. In today's age it seems there is a level of racism among the radical sector of the religion though. Fourth is the use of force which was taught to only be used as a last resort and to respect the corpses of military deaths. Muhammed teached a jihad or holy war as a last resort as well and primarily in defense. It seems lately though that the radical section of this religion has taken this to the extreme due to the high amount of violence in the
middle east currently. It is said that if a Christian tries to impart their religion on a Muslim then the Muslim has a right to kill the Christian because the Christian is threatening their life. In a spiritual way. At least that is what I understand from my friends who are Muslim. This is similar to what the Catholics did during the Crusades and forced people to change to their religion or to face death. I guess both sides haven't recovered from the past in this way. Their is also a seperate sect of Muslims called Sufi's which suf means wool. They basically teach that we are all made of God and as such should not have worldly possessions and not become materialistic. They say "Love the pitcher less and the water more."
My thoughts on this chapter: I was very intrigued at the roots of Islam and the history behind it as well as the approach they take on many issues. I found many many similarites to Judaism and Christianity but also many many difference between the three. I also found the author not taking into factor current events betweenthe three different religions. He also didn't go into the two sects the Sunnis and the SHi ites if I'm not mistaken. I found it impressive the different ways that Muhammed changed cultural factors of their time as well. I look forward to going to an Islam service and learning more about Islam in America and see if there are major
or minor differences in the teaching of Islam over here as compared to the middle east.