Starting with the life of the prophet Mohammed, Islam For Beginners details the historic beginnings of Islam and its spread throughout the Middle East and Africa on to the European and American continents. It describes the major achievements of the Muslim community worldwide and examines the influence Islam has had on other cultures. In keeping with Islamic tradition, the illustrations in the book are rendered in two-dimensional silhouettes and shadows and include the repetitive, extendible patterns representative of Islamic expression.
Starting with the life of the prophet Mohammed, Islam For Beginners details the historic beginnings of Islam and its spread throughout the Middle East and Africa on to the European and American continents. It describes the major achievements of the Muslim community worldwide and examines the influence Islam has had on other cultures. In keeping with Islamic tradition, the illustrations in the book are rendered in two-dimensional silhouettes and shadows and include the repetitive, extendible patterns representative of Islamic expression.
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Starting with the life of the prophet Mohammed, Islam For Beginners details the historic beginnings of Islam and its spread throughout the Middle East and Africa on to the European and American continents. It describes the major achievements of the Muslim community worldwide and examines the influence Islam has had on other cultures. In keeping with Islamic tradition, the illustrations in the book are rendered in two-dimensional silhouettes and shadows and include the repetitive, extendible patterns representative of Islamic expression.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781939994103 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | For Beginners |
| Publication date: | 08/21/2007 |
| Series: | For Beginners |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 216 |
| File size: | 13 MB |
| Note: | This product may take a few minutes to download. |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
ISLAM FOR BEGINNERS
By N.I. MATAR
For Beginners LLC
Copyright © 2001 N.I. MatarAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-939994-10-3
CHAPTER 1
REVELATION
Al-Fatiha (The Opening)
"In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.
Praise belongs to God, the Lord of all Being, the All-merciful, the All-compassionate, the Master of the Day of Doom.
Thee only we serve; to Thee alone we pray for succor. Guide us in the straight path, the path of those whom Thou hast blessed, not of those against whom Thou art wrathful nor of those who are astray."
Koran 1: 1-7
The above verses constitute the first chapter of the Koran and are the most widely invoked words in the world of Islam.
Arabia and the Beginnings of Islam
Mecca was a trading center.
It was also a cultural center.
THE ARAB PEOPLE HAD A PASSION FOR POETRY.
Once a year, nomad poets gathered in the market town of 'Ukaz, east of the city, to recite their verse.
Most importantly, it was a religious center.
The Ka'aba was a house of Gods.
Once a year, Arab tribes went there on pilgrimage.
In Mecca stood the Ka'aba, a wooden structure encasing a circular black stone. Inside and around it were 360 deities brought by pilgrims from across the peninsula.
Those deities originated in Graeco-Roman mythology and most of them were female.
Manat was one of the oldest goddesses and was believed to control human fortune.
Al-Lat was the sun deity and was widely popular. Her name meant "The Goddess".
Al-Uzza, the "Mighty One", was favored by the Meccans, along with the Goddess Hubal, the tutelary goddess of the Ka'aba. The worship of these deities involved animal sacrifice.
There were, however, followers of monotheism in Mecca, as in the rest of Arabia.
* * *
There were Jews who were well-established in Yathrib, a rival city to Mecca. Their chief tribes lived both within the city and in Khaybar, north of it. The Jews were part of the custom, language and nomenclature of Arabia.
* * *
So were the Christians who inhabited Damascus and Hira in the north of the peninsula, Najran in the south and to a lesser extent, the Hijaz area. Christians were either Monophysites (Christ has one divine nature) or Nestorians (Christ is man born God). Both groups were persecuted by the Byzantine church and in the next century supported Islam because it offered them toleration.
* * *
There were also al-Hanafiyyeen, followers of the monotheism of the patriarch Abraham (Ibrahim). Ibrahim al-Khaleel, "the friend of God", professed faith in one universal God and in celebration, built, with his son Ishmael, the Ka'aba, the Holy Sanctuary. But after his death, polytheists turned it into a place of idols.
Kuraish was one of the Meccan tribes profiting from the pilgrims to the Ka'aba. The Kuraishltes were dominant in Mecca's plutocracy and were unrivalled merchants in Western Arabia.
In 570 A.D., Abraha al-Ashram, the King of Yemen, attacked Mecca because the city was competing for trade with his capital Sana'a. He used an elephant transported from Abyssinia which frightened the Meccans who had never seen such an animal in warfare.
But God struck the invaders with "flocks of birds" and destroyed them. That year was named by the Meccans "YEAR OF THE ELEPHANT".
In August of that year, a boy was born in Mecca and given the name Mohammad (praiser), an uncommon name at the time. His father, Abdallah, a Kuraishite of the clan of Hashem, had recently died. The child's mother was called Amina and she too died a few years later.
Little is known about Mohammad in His early manhood except that He participated in Meccan politics and helped in the rebuilding of the Ka'aba after it was destroyed by a flood. At the age of 25, He married Khadija, a rich Kuraishite widow, and prospered as a trader between Damascus, Busra, Mecca and Yemen.
Throughout His life, Mohammad had the title of Abul Qassim, "Father of Qassim", His first son.
The Koran, the Holy Text of Islam
Before His fortieth year, Mohammad had often secluded Himself in meditation. In Ramadan (July) 610 C.E., as He sat in a cave in Mount Hira', two miles north of Mecca, Allah (the name of God in Arabic) revealed His words to Mohammad through the Angel Gabriel.
That night of revelation is known as "the Night of Glory".
These are the first words that were revealed to Him. Mohammad was an unlettered Prophet , and what He recited were the wondrous verses of God (ayat ul-Lah), not man- made words.
"In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful, Recite in the name of your Lord who created Created man from clots of blood. Recite! Your Lord is the Most Bountiful one, Who by the pen taught man what he did not know." Koran 96:1-5
The Koran has one overpowering theme:
THERE IS ONLY ONE GOD.
GOD has no associate, no rival, no like. In HIM is the beginning of the creation, and its end; to HIM the human soul should turn; by HIM the universe continues until the "Last Scream" of Judgement Day.
GOD is above human reasoning and imagination, whatever mankind thinks about HIM,
HE is ALLAH-U AKBAR
beyond and greater, transcendent yet imminent, infinite yet as close to man as his "Jugular vein".
In the Koran, God speaks in HIS own voice and words to humanity: HE reminds and threatens, guides and corrects, forgives and punishes. Most emphatically,
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Every Surah (chapter) in the Koran opens with these words: "In the Name of God the Compassionate, the Merciful." These words, known as the Basmalah, remind mankind that
GOD IS MERCY.
This message of Islam was accepted at first by only a handful of Meccans:
• the Prophet's wife,
• the Prophet's friend Abu Bakr known as The Believer,
• and the Prophet's cousin, Ali bin Abi Talib
But within a few years, the faithful became noticeable by their prayers and rejection of idols. The Kuraishites feared that the monotheistic revelation would undermine the lucrative pilgrimage trade, and they began a wave of persecution. As a result, some of the Muslims fled to Ethiopia where they met the Christian Negus (ruler).
These are the words which had been revealed to the Prophet Mohammad about Jesus and which the emigrants repeated:
"Whereupon he (Jesus) spoke and said:
'I am the servant of God. He has given me the Book and ordained me a prophet. His blessing is upon me wherever I go, and He has commanded me to be steadfast in prayer and to give alms to the poor as long as I shall live. He has exhorted me to honor my mother and has purged me of vanity and wickedness. I was blessed on the day I was born, and blessed I shall be on the day of my death; and may peace be upon me on the day when I shall be raised to life.'
Such was Jesus, the son of Mary."
Koran 19:30-34
* * *
The Koran views Jesus as a Prophet born of God's Spirit but without any divine characteristics. Thus He was not crucified, but only appeared to have been. (Koran 4: 155-169)
The Koran honors the Virgin Mary as a model of chastity. There is a chapter in the Koran named after her (Surah 19), and many verses praise the purity and devotion of her life.
"And of Mary, daughter of Imran who guarded her chastity, so that We breathed into her a life from Us, and she believed the words of her Lord and His Books, and was among the obedient." Koran 66:12
In Jerusalem, and on a rock now inside al-Haram a-Shareef (Dome of the Rock), Mohammad prayed and was lifted to the seven heavens where He received a vision of the Prophets of monotheism: Adam, Jesus (lsa) and John the Baptist (Yahya), Joseph (Yusuf), Enoch (Idris), Aaron (Haroon), Moses (Moosa) and Abraham.
Plan of the Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem.
Whether mystical or physical (on the horse "Boraq", as the Prophet himself recounted), the experience of al-Mi'raj remains a mystery of God. Because of it,
Jerusalem is the third holiest city in Islam.
As Meccan hostility continued, the Prophet decided to leave His birthplace for Yathrib where the Koranic teachings had been well received. On the night of His flight, He learnt of a plot by the Meccans to kill Him: He asked His cousin Ali to sleep in His bed so He could slip away. Ali cooperated and the Prophet left with Abu Bakr and a guide on the 275-mile journey westward to Yathrib. When the Meccans caught up with the Prophet, He sought shelter with Abu Bakr inside a cave. Suddenly, God brought forth a miracle: a cobweb, thick tree branches and nesting doves covered the mouth of the cave. Seeing how undisturbed the cave was, the pursuers thought it was empty. Inside, Abu Bakr had feared, but the Prophet assured him of God's help.
"In the cave he said to his companion:
"'Do not despair, God is with us.'
God caused His tranquillity to descend upon him and sent to his aid invisible warriors, so that he routed the unbelievers and exalted the Word of God. God is mighty and wise."
Koran 9:40
This emigration/flight took place in the summer of 622 C.E. It is the HIJRA whence the Muslim calendar begins.
These are the months of the Muslim year:
Muharram, Safar, Rabee' Awal, Rabee' Thani, Jamadi Awal, Jamadi Thani, Rajab, Sha'aban, Ramadan, Shawwal, Dhul Qi'da and Dhul Hijra.
Because the year was measured by the lunar cycle, the crescent became the symbol of Islam. The lunar year is shorter than its solar counterpart by about 11 days.
To convert from Common Era to Hijra, (C.E. - 622) × 33/32 = H
In Yathrib, the Prophet was welcomed by two groups of believers: the earlier emigrants from Mecca and the local supporters.
Henceforth, Yathrib became known as medinat al-Nabiyy, "City of the Prophet", MEDINA. It is the second holiest city for Muslims after Mecca.
* * *
In Medina, the Koran revealed the SHARI'A the Holy Law of the Islamic Theocracy.
The religious, social and legal teachings of Shari'a, in their essentials, have guided Muslims into present times.
UMMA
The Arabs were a tribal people whose group bond was kinship. After the believers were separated from their relatives in Mecca, a new principle of cohesion was needed. God revealed the principle of Umma where the group bond does not depend on blood but on faith in Him.
Such a bond was evident around the Prophet Himself: there was the Meccan and the Yathribite, the Persian and the African, the converted Christian and the converted Jew, the freed slave and the noble clan leader. All constituted the umma because they worshipped Allah.
JUSTICE
Before Islam, the blood-feud prevailed: when a member of a group was injured or killed by a person from another group, the first group had the right of vengeance, a tooth for a tooth, a life for a life.
The Koran praised the Muslim who accepted a penalty on the criminal which was less than the act penalized, or who forgave altogether (Koran 5:45, 16: 126-127). Futhermore, the Koran distinguished in a novel way between deliberate and involuntary killing: if a believer deliberately killed another, he would be punished in hell; if accidentally, he would pay blood money.
Justice was paramount, not vengeance.
MANUMISSION
The Koranic principle of the brotherhood of believers was instrumental in extending compassion to all weak and dependent persons, particularly to the slaves. The Koran mitigated slavery by urging the Muslims to free the slave once the latter accepted Islam:
"Serve God and associate none with Him. Show kindness to parents and Kindred, to orphans and to the destitute, to near and distant neighbours, to those that keep company with you, to the traveller in need, and to the slaves you own. God does not love arrogant and boastful men, who are themselves niggardly and enjoin others to be niggardly; who conceal the riches which God of his bounty has bestowed upon them."
Koran 4:36
Faith was liberation ...
Not only in Arabia, but in many neighboring civilizations, infanticide was commonly practiced. Pagan Arabs killed their unwanted daughters by burying them alive after birth.
The Koran prohibited this murder:
"You shall not kill your children for fear of want. We will provide for them and for you. To kill them is a great sin."
Koran 17:31
MARRIAGE
In order to regulate family life, the Koran instituted marriage as a legal agreement, not a sacrament.
The Koran granted the woman rights that had previously been denied her. In marriage, the woman was to receive the dowry herself, to inherit her husband, to own property, and to engage in financial affairs.
The Koran prohibited Muslim women from marrying outside Islam, but it allowed Muslim men to marry Jewish and Christian women. Those wives could retain and practice their faith, but their children were to be raised Muslim.
In order to protect orphaned girls and widows, the Koran permitted polygyny (Koran 4:3), but this was an option, not an injunction, and was strictly predicated on the individual's ability to be just.
A Turkoman 'asmalyk' used to decorate the bride's camel.
ADHAN
Call to Prayer
The Muslims used to assemble around the Prophet for prayer. As their numbers grew, there was need to call them together, and the Prophet chose as the first muezzin (caller to prayer) a slave from Africa. Bilal, who had been freed after accepting Islam, climbed the roof of a house near the mosque which the Prophet had helped build, and recited the Adhan.
To the present day, the muezzin uses these words in his call to prayer:
Allah u Akbar God is greater. God is greater. I witness that there is no god but God. I witness that Mohammad is the prophet of God. Rise to prayer. Rise to felicity. God is greater. God is greater. There is no god but God.
TOLERATION
Still the Koran prescribed toleration to the People of the Book-the Jews and the Christians. The Koran sanctified God's prophetic revelation to these two communities in the Torah and the New Testament, but accused Jews and Christians of straying from the Straight Path.
The People of the Book were part of the Umma and were to be protected in their religious freedom, rights and properties. Because they were not allowed to participate in the military, they were to pay an extra tax.
"There shall be no compulsion in religion." Koran 2:256
In 635 C.E., the Caliph Omar declined an offer by the Bishop of Jerusalem to pray inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre lest Muslims build a mosque on that site. He prayed outside where the Mosque of Omar now stands.
The Koran prohibited Muslims from gambling, drinking alcoholic beverages and eating pork.
As these and other laws were being revealed in Medina, the eyes of the Muslims were set on Mecca, mother of the cities (um al-qura, Koran 6:93).
Battles broke out between the Muslims and the polytheists of Mecca. In 630 C.E., the city finally surrendered and the Prophet triumphantly returned to His birthplace, showing clemency to His former enemies, all of whom now submitted to God.
* * *
The Prophet then proceeded to the Ka'aba and destroyed the idols while reciting the Koranic verse:
"Say: 'Truth has come and Falsehood has been overthrown. Falsehood was bound to be discomfited.'" Koran 17:81
The Sunna and the Hadith
Two years later, the Prophet went to Mecca with over 10,000 followers. This was His last pilgrimage and from Mount Arafat, He gave His Farewell Address to the Muslims, ending it with these words:
I am leaving you with the Book of God and the Sunnah of his Prophet. O men, harken well to my words. Learn that the Muslims constitute one brotherhood.
The Prophet returned to Medina, but in June of that year, 632 C.E., He fell ill, and in the arms of His wife Aisha, daughter of His best friend Abu Bakr, the last of the Prophets of God died. He was 63 years old.
The Prophet was buried under the floor of Aisha's room in Medina. A mosque now stands above that spot.
Because His life was steeped in the history of Arabia, Mohammad has the most accurately documented biography among all the Prophets of monotheism.
Indeed, the historical context of His life underscores the revelation of the HOLY KORAN.
Cover of a Holy Koran.
At the Prophet's death, Abu Bakr was chosen Caliph, Successor to the Prophet. To the Muslims he announced:
O men, if you have been worshipping Mohammad , then know that Mohammad is dead. But if you have been worshipping God, then know that God is living and never dies.
* * *
This living God was present to the Muslims in the Koran. Throughout His life, the Prophet had recited the verses of the Koran to the "writers of the revelation" who inscribed the verses on animal skins and bones, flat stones, tablets and tree branches and trunks. Others memorized the divine words.
Abu Bakr (fl. 632-634) realized the need to preserve in a single text the divine words of the Koran just as the Prophet had recited them.
He authorized Zaid bin Thabit, along with other "Writers" and "Memorizers" to transcribe the Koranic revelation. They only recorded verses that were verified by at least two witnesses who had heard them from the Prophet Himself.
It was, however, the third Caliph, Uthman bin Affan (fl. 644-656) who oversaw the final collation of the text and its streamlining in the Kuraish dialect of Arabic. He then commanded that a few copies of it be made and sent to the centers of the Muslim provinces. Every other version was destroyed, and the Koran has remained absolutely unchanged for 14 centuries.
The titles of the surahs derive from dominant images or motifs, and a few chapters open with alphabetical letters that remain a divine mystery.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from ISLAM FOR BEGINNERS by N.I. MATAR. Copyright © 2001 N.I. Matar. Excerpted by permission of For Beginners LLC.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Contents
REVELATION,Al-Fatiha, The Opening,
Arabia and the Beginnings of Islam,
The Koran, the Holy Text of Islam,
The Sunna and the Hadith,
COMMUNITY,
Damascus: Islamic Worship The Mosque,
Kufa: Sects Law and Theological Schools Alchemy,
Baghdad: Islamic Science 1: Mathematics and Medicine,
Cordova: Islamic Philosophy,
Isfahan: Sufism and Music,
Samarkand: Islamic Science 2: Astronomy and Geography,
Cairo: The Islamic City,
Djenne: Islamic Africa,
Istanbul: Islamic Power The Impact on Europe,
Agra: Islamic India,
Southeast Asia,
Central and South America,
United States,
Europe,
Muslim Countries of the World,
STRAIGHT PATH,
Islam in the Post-Colonial Phase,
Four Models in Search of the Straight Path,
Bibliography,
Acknowledgements and Sources,