THE BIRTH OF ISLAM...

TWO LECTURES ON ISLAM…

Why?

1. It is relevant…

     

2. In general, we are ignorant…

…and at times intolerant.

“Every empire, however, tells itself and the world that it is unlike all other empires, that its mission is not to plunder and control but to educate and liberate. These ideas are by no means shared by the people who inhabit that empire, but that hasn't prevented the U.S. propaganda and policy apparatus from imposing its imperial perspective on Americans, whose sources of information about Arabs and Islam are woefully inadequate.”

--Edward Said in LAT, 2003

“From the beginning of Western speculation about the Orient, the one thing the orient could not do was to represent itself. Evidence of the Orient was credible only after it had passed through and been made firm by the refining fire of the Orientalist’s work.”

--Edward Said, Orientalism (1978)

3. It is historically important…

There were three possible candidates to be the HEIRS OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE:

--The church…

--Byzantine Empire…the eastern Roman Empire

--Islam…the Arab World

Islam would take up the inheritance of the Roman and Byzantine Empires.

--the translation and full elaboration of Greek academics: science, medicine, literature, art.

Evidence of the significance of Islam within the classical legacy.

(the classical world continued to influence thinking about science and society largely because of Islam)

THE BIRTH OF ISLAM…

I. The Context of the Arab Peninsula

Isaiah 21:1 “The burden of the deserts of the sea, as whirlwinds passed through it, so it cometh from the desert from a terrible land.”

Arabia Felix…happy Arabia

Bedouin…kinship…

II. Muhammad   (c. 570–632)

-- Khadija

--visited by the Archangel Gabriel:

-via=p..ouse of Khaddify, in Lyholy place and got rid of all of the other faiths... pay a fee, and then leave.  would relish he"Recite! In the name of thy lord."

      Quran  “recitation”

                                          …Hadith

      Mecca…

                  Quraish

Medina…

                  Then back to Mecca: 630

                              Cleansing the Ka’aba

      The Five Pillars of Islam;

                  1. Profession of Faith

"La ilah illa Allah. Muhammad rasool Allah."

لآ اِلَهَ اِلّا اللّهُ مُحَمَّدٌ رَسُوُل اللّهِ

“There is no God but Allah. Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah”

                  2. Prayer

                  3. Charity—Zakat

                  4. Observe Ramadan

                  5. Hajj—pilgrimage (if healthy and enough money)

III. The Arab Conquests

Begin to spread north and northwest…

The Persians had attacked Constantinople in 626…both Persia and Byzantines were weak and war-weary.

      Muslim raids… razzia…

                  …become Muslim conquest.

They conquer Damascus, Jerusalem, Alexandria.

Battle of Qadasiya, 637, Muslims attacked the Sassanid Empire in Iraq…

…Cyprus conquered in 649;

…Rhodes in 654.

…Battle of the Masts in 655. (defeat Byz at sea)

…The eastern part of Iraq conquered in 651-653;

…Armenia conquered in 653-655.

Life under the Arab-Muslim Empire:

Interpret these two quotes…

“...only one possible explanation remains for the Arab success-and that was the spirit of Islam... The generous terms that the invading armies usually offered made their faith accessible to the conquered populations. And if it was a new and upstart faith, its administration by simple and honest men was preferable to the corruption and persecution that were the norm in more civilized empires.”

George F. Nafziger, Mark W. Walton, Islam at War: A History, 2003

“In the wake of the Ridda wars, and of the Arabs' sudden conquest of most of the Near East, the new religion became identified more sharply as a monotheism for the Arab people.

As is well known, the Arabs made no attempt to impose their faith on their new subjects, and at first in fact discouraged conversions on the part of non-Arabs.”

Jonathan P. Berkey, The Formation of Islam: Religion and Society in the Near East, 600-1800, 2003

Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.  Quran 9:29

III. The First Muslim Civil War

POWER STRUGGLE WITHIN ISLAM…

The Caliphs…                   Abu Bakr vs. Ali

                                                      Omar vs. Ali

Uthman vs. Ali

Uthman assassinated, Ali now Caliph…

                              =

Civil War

Winner? Mu’awiya

Mu’awiya moves capital from Medina to Damascus…

Resistance to the Umayyad…

Shi’a…11 Imams and then occultation.

IV. Conclusion:

Back to the question of relevance…