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Summary of curriculum Islam, a living tradition (book Sheppard: Introducing Islam)
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Summary Islam in the Modern World
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Islam, een levende traditie2. On the eve of Islam
The Hellenistic- Iranian world
Two superpowers
- The Sasanians
Iranian in language and culture.
Founded 246 CE
Ruled by the Greeks (+/- 330 BCE, Alexander), reacting against this influence
- The Byzantines
Greek
In constant conflict with each other, during Muhammad’s lifetime the war weakened both powers,
making the rise of Islam possible.
Religion in Iran: Zoroastrianism
Named after the Iranian Prophet Zarathushtra (Greek: Zoroaster).
Under Sasanians it became the state religion, aka less tolerant of other religions.
Cosmic dualism between Good and Evil.
Ahura Mazda ‘’The Wise Lord’’ and Angra Mainyu ‘’The Evil Spirit’’.
The task of humans is to side with Ahura Mazda.
Central to Zoroastrianism is a concern for purity and ritual, and particularly important is the cult of the
sacred fire, since fire is believed to be the symbol of Ahura Mazda and the purest element created by
Him.
Byzantine Christianity
Culturally Greek.
Orthodox.
Other forms of Christianity
-Nestorians: seemed to want to separate the natures of Christ (divine and human).
‘’Church of the East’’
Forced out of Byzantine territory, would prosper under Muslim rule and would make significant
contributions to Islamic civilization.
3. The beginnings of Islam
Muslim history to about 700 CE
The Arabs before Islam
The Arab peninsula was influenced but not ruled by the Sasanians and Byzantines.
In central Arabia were tribes, mostly nomadic but many living in agricultural settlements or trading
towns.
Mecca was a trading town, which was settled by the Qurash tribe in about 500 CE and became
, prosperous through the caravan trade.
These Arabs worshipped spirits associated with natural features such as stones and trees. There were
also jinn (called ‘’genies’’ by Westerners), invisible beings that could help or harm humans, that could
possess a person and make them crazy, or could inspire a poet.
They also recognized higher gods and, in the background, rarely invoked, was the creator god ‘’Allah’’.
The Qurash believed Allah had three daughters.
There were sanctuaries used by several tribes. The most important one was Mecca, a pilgrimage site
that had been founded centuries earlier by Ibrahim and his son Isma’il. It included a building known as
the Ka’ba, believed to have come from heaven.
The Arabs’ ethical values were not closely related to these spirits and gods, but rather to the tribe. Each
tribe’s way of life, sunna, was laid down by tradition and illustrated in the poetic accounts of the exploits
of its past heroes.
Tribal members were roughly equal, some families had more prestige.
The career of the Prophet Muhammad
Born in 570 into the Hashemite clan of Qurash.
Became an orphan at the age of six, his uncle Abu Talib cared for him after his grandfather did.
Grew up kind of poor, financial security came when he married Khadija, a wealthy widow engaged in the
caravan trade. The marriage was a happy one and produced several children. He only took a second
wife after she died.
At some point Muhammad began to make periodic retreats for spiritual reflection in a cave near Mecca
called Hira’. During one of these, in the year 610, he had a vision in which an awesome figure appeared
to him and commanded: ‘’recite in the name of your Lord Who created, created humans from a clot;
recite for your Lord is the most generous, Who taught by the pen, taught humans what they did not
know’’.
Khadija was his first ever follower, where after he began to gather a small group of followers.
The first messages spoke of Allah’s goodness and power but did not ban the worship of other deities.
This ban came shortly after, provoked by increasing opposition from the Meccan leaders.
In 619 both Khadija and Abu Talib died, taking away his support and protection in Mecca.
Soon after this he experienced a miraculous journey one night to Jerusalem (isra’) and from there an
ascent to heaven (mi ’raj).
Muhammad now began to seek support outside of Mecca. He was eventually approached by
representatives of Yathrib, a farming oasis divided by tribal conflict. They asked him to mediate. In 622
most of his followers left Mecca for Yathrib and in September he himself made the move. This is known
as the Hijra, or Emigration. The Hijra is Year One in the Muslim calendar (hijri). Yathrib was to be known
as Madinat-al-Nabi (the city of the Prophet), or Medina for short.
After three important battles, Muhammad effectively eliminated the opposing Jewish tribes which were
present in Medina.
In 628 the Muslims sought to make a pilgrimage to Mecca, but the Meccans refused to allow this. They
did however come to a ten-year truce, in which pilgrimage would be allowed. This allowed Muhammad
to spread his message among the surrounding tribes.
Muhammad died in 632.
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