ISLAM - Huston Smith Part II

The Standing Miracle

• Qur’an translates to “recitation” – 114 surahs (chapters), read literally
• “Standing Miracle” = recitation of the Qur’an from God to Muhammad, only miracle Muhammad claim
• Qur’an come to Muhammad over 23 years in small segments through Gabriel
• Qur’an continues God’s earlier revelations of the Old and New Testaments – these unreliable because of partially corrupted transmission and only tell portions of Truth
• Qur’an directly doctrinal and indirectly historical, language barrier, form of Divine Speech

Basic Theological Concepts

• God
– Immaterial and therefore invisible, omnipotent to instill fear
– Muslims see monotheism as Islam’s contribution to religion
– Can lift heart and soul to gracious presence to receive strength and guidance for life’s troubled course
• Creation
– Created by a deliberate act of Allah’s will: real and important, material world good (because created by Allah)
• Human Self
– Gave us life with 2 obligations: must be grateful for life received, surrender oneself completely to Allah
– Coming to Islam – must be done ourselves, individuality of human soul everlasting
• Day of Judgment
– Depending on judgment, soul transcends to heaven or hell
– Heaven: fountains, gardens, sumptuous food and drink, gold goblets
– Hell: burning garments, molten drinks, maces of iron, and fire

ISLAM - Huston Smith Part I

Islam Background

• Allah – al meaning “the” and Ilah meaning “God.”
• Religion did not start with Muhammad, but from the beginning of time, by God
• Same origins as Christianity, however begin to differ when Abraham banish Hagar and Ishmael – Muslims say to Mecca where Ishmael’s descendents became the Muslims, descendents of Isaac became Jews

The Seal of the Prophets

• Muhammad = “Seal of the Prophets” because while he was preceded by other prophets, he served as their culmination; name translates to “highly praised”
• Born into ignorant world – no obligation to anyone outside tribe, scarcity of material goods, orgies and gambling, religion based on evils and exalted no sentiments or moral restraint
• Whole family die young, live with Uncle and family – bereavements make him sensitive to human suffering
• Grow up and enter service to widow Khadija, fall in love and marry
• Begin to visit cave to contemplate, settles on the idea of Allah, the God
• Night of Power, angel visit Gabriel and tell him to proclaim his love for Allah
• Muhammad religion controversial for 3 reasons:
1. Uncompromising monotheism threatened polytheistic beliefs and revenues from pilgrimages to Mecca
2. Moral teachings demanded an end to philandering at the time
3. Challenged injust social order – all men equal in the eyes of the Lord
• Muhammad and followers persecuted

The Migration that Led to Victory

• Meccan nobility threatened – city of Yathrib (now Medina) ask Muhammad to become leader and promise to follow teachings and beliefs of Islam, devout Muslims follow Muhammad (journey called the Hijra)
• Muhammad rule blend of justice and mercy – bring five different tribes together
• Meccans attack, Medina win spectacular victory
• Muhammad unite all of Arabia (even Mecca) = miracle

3 TOK Question Choices

1. To what extent is truth different in mathematics, the arts, and ethics?
2. How can the different ways of knowing help us to distinguish between something that is true and something that is believed to be true?
3. "We see and understand things not as they are but as we are." Discuss this claim in relation to at least two ways of knowing.
   

Islam "Looking at Life the Islamic Way" Reading Notes

The Three-Fold Journey:

• 3 levels of self-development to pass through during life -
  

1. Animal Self - basic instincts and desires
2. Accusing Self - higher-order questioning of our purpose
3. Restful Self - transcending worldliness as a focus

• These are the stages we attain as we struggle toward the realization that God is real and we should move toward him
• Born sinless and free of sin, but drawn into pleasures of world around us
• Aim of fitrah - counteract this trend and elevate our minds to seek God
• Iman - Arabic word for faith or belief
  

The Animal in All of Us (Animal Self):

• Basic desires (food, wealth, power, etc.) guide our life choices
• Shaytan (evil jinn) - seeks to corrupt/ruin us so that we will eventually forget our Creator - lay upon fears/desires/emotions

Stepping Up to the Plate (Accusing Self):

• Happens when we discard our animal self and receive a flash of insight
• Reflect on the meaning of life and ultimately become motivated to seek spiritual guidance - realize that we need God and need to mold our lives according to his way
• Less attached to materials , more introspective, and less irritable and stressed
• Through daily prayer, reflection, fasting, study, and a consciousness of morality, we become more at ease and closer to God

The Supreme Achievement (Restful Self):

• Through devoted effort, we ma achieve complete peace and tranquility
• No worldly holds, lead lives of contemplation, awaiting meeting the creator
• Maintain a normal life, but no longer living to satisfy themselves, instead realizes the higher purpose of life

Sin and Redemption:

• Surrendering to God = believe in him, follow a harmonious lifestyle, and follow a personal code of morality that leads to a higher understanding of God's nature
• Qur'an - last installment of divine guidance to the world (following Gospel of Abraham, Psalms of David, etc.) and is the culmination of God's previous revelations
• Major sins of Islam: idolatry, stealing from an orphan, committing adultery, disobeying parents, collecting interest on investments, accusing a woman falsely, giving false testimony, committing murder or suicide or infanticide, enslaving a free person, and engaging in slander or gossip
• Virtuous deeds of Islam: speaking the truth, being kind to family, honoring parents, giving charity, feeding the poor, fighting injustice, freeing slaves, returning borrowed property, studying and learning, and being kind to animals

How Does God Forgive?:

• To receive God's forgiveness, must go through process of repentance (tawba) -
  

1. Feel remorseful about the sin
2. Repent your action to God by saying, "My Lord forgive me."
3. Make restitution for the sin (if possible)
4. Resolve to never do the sin again

Law and Order:

• For some crimes - prescribed penalties that must be paid in this life
• Judge allowed to forgo the punishment if mitigating circumstances allow

Everything Counts When It Counts:

• Save/damn yourself everday through belief, actions, and overall record (can be good or bad)
• Must ask God for forgiveness everyday until we leave this world
• Sins (if unrepented) will be held against us, good deeds work in our favor
• Don't earn your way to heaven, salvation is believing in God and surrendering your will to him

The Last Payday:

• The more good you do, the more rewards you will get from God
• The "capitalism" of Islam

Our Report Card:

• Day of Judgment - confronted with our book of deeds
  
• Based on actions, sent to Heaven or Hell

There'll Be Hell to Pay:

• Consequence of rejecting God and remaining in Animal Self is that our soul becomes corrupted - wasted free will and intelligence
• akhirah - Arabic word for next life
• When deserved punishment is finished, newly cleansed soul may rejoin God's presence and receive it's reward in Heaven
  

Islam "Food for the Soul" Reading Notes

The Seven Core Beliefs of Islam:

1. Belief in God
2. Belief in the angels
3. Belief in the revealed Books of God
4. Belief in God's many prophets
5. Accepting that there will be a Last Day
6. Belief in the divine measurement of human affairs
7. Belief in a life after death

We All Have the Same God:

• Allah means the one and only God - same God as Christian and Jew God
• God is the one true reality, nothing is permanent except God
• Proof for God's existence in 4 areas -
  

1. complexity and beauty of natural world - must be designed by intelligent mind
2. human abilities/capacities for thought, belief, invention, creativity, & moral choice
3. Prophets, Holy Books, flashes of insight - all revelations of God's guidance and existence of religion
4. inner feelings - seek meaning in things, harmony with nature/universe/higher power, desire to answer "why?"

The Universe is Muslim!:

• There is God and everything else besides him
• Two categories of non-God: whatever is surrendered to God's will and whatever is resisting his will
• Qur'an states that the entire universe is Muslim

Aladdin Rubbed the Wrong Lamp:

• Jinns - genies that exist for their own sake that cause supernatural phenomena & paranormal events - can be good or evil
• haunt houses, possess people spook animals, give predictions to physics, and cause inexplicable phenomena

Touched by an Angel:

• Angels - made of light energy and can materialize into any form they need to in the physical world, have no free will and exist only to serce Allah
• 4 top angels -

1. Jibra'il (Gabriel) - brings revelations to prophets
2. Azra'il - angel of death (Malikul Mawt)
3. Mika'il (Michael) - controls the weather
4. Israfil - blow the horn signaling the end of the universe

Accepting the Burden:

• God offered the gift of self-awareness/free will to every living and non-living thing in the universe - all deny except humans - with this power comes great responsibility (SPIDERMAN)

Was God Right to Make Us?:

• God created humans and jinns for the sole purpose of serving HIm and surrendering to his will
• Our most basic needs are fulfuilled on the ultimate level when we achieve union with God's goodwill

Soul Soup:

• ruh = spirit in Arabic
• Humans get - free will, self-awareness, intelligence, reason, and a moral compass (fitrah)/natural inclination to help guide through life

Our Compass Points Inward:

• All have inherent weakness - desire personal pleasure and fulfillment of our animal urges
• Reason alone cannot guide us to right actions because of animal urges
• Choice of surrendering ourselves to Allah or of rejecting Him

Can You Stand on One Leg?

• Our purpose - come to the realization that God is real and that we must surrender our will to His
• By surrendering to Allah, we live a stress-free life in harmony with all things around us
  

Muhammad and the Founding of Islam Reading

Arabia Prior to Islam -

• 2 lifestyles: earn living from agriculture/trading or nomadic life following animals from one grazing area to the next
  
• Tribes popular - provide support, protection, and a sense of identity
• No central government - feuds settled on tribe to tribe basis
• Poets believed to be possessed be jinn (spirits of the natural world) and have supernatural powers - called on to defeat enemies
• Religion = regional beliefs, Allah believed in as creator of the universe, but had little involvement in the daily life of people

The Town of Mecca -

• Commercial and religious center - surrounding area considered sacred - no animal could be killed and tribesmen in trouble could claim refuge
• Growth of materialism and individual wealth/power - undermine traditional values
• Gap between rich and poor widen and resentment of less fortunate intensify

Muhammad's Early Life -

• Early life - camel driver, came into contact with monotheistic ideas, never learned to read or write
• 595 - impress Khadijah, she propose and he accept
• 15 years of prosperous life - only found passing satisfaction with the comforts of prosperity - sensitive to the grievances of the less fortunate

The Coming of Revelation -

• Angel Gabriel appear to Muhammad and order him to recite words - didn't believe him, only realized after the experiences continued and Khadijah encouraged him
• Accept that God expected him to serve as his divine messenger
• 613 - assume the title of Prophet of God and begin to preach openly in the streets
• Muhammad's message: only one god, Allah; power of God; day of judgment to come; and to worship other deities was to violate God

The Opposition to Muhammad -

• 619 - Muhammad and followers leave Mecca to Ta'if, but kicked out back to Mecca - Khadijah and uncle Abu Talib die
• Gabriel visit Muhammad during sleep and take him to Jerusalem then to heaven - meet with Abraham, Jesus, Moses, and other prophets and stood before God
• 620 - men from Medina ask for Muhammad's help to restore peace between tribes - slowly convert groups to Islam
• 622 - death threat to Muhammad, hide in cave - once safe, journey from Mecca to Medina (Hijrah) - mark the beginning of the Islamic calendar

Muhammad: Politics and Prophethood -

• Offered lodging by both tribes in Medina - refuse both wisely
• Initial problems: tribal feuds dividing the town, work and shelter for the Meccans who came to Medina, counter opposition to the teachings of Islam, and Meccan merchant clans determined to destroy him
• Make a series of agreements to forge links between Meccans and Medinans - mounting distrust from Jewish tribes
• 624 - God tell Muhammad to instruct followers to pray in the direction of Mecca - break from the Jewish tribes (2 of 3 leave Medina)
• Muhammad instruct Meccan followers to raid for supplies (weren't farmers)

The Clash of Arms -

• 624 - large caravan Meccans fight Muslims (outnumber 3 to 1) but Muslims win
• Muhammad vision - defeat represented as a test for the true believer, those who still believed would find reward from God
• Meccans march on Medina and lose, Muhammad turn against last of Jewish tribes, men slaughtered and women and children sold as slaves
• Meccans turn over Mecca to Muhammad - agreement represent recognition of Muhammad's leadership and strength of Muslim community
• Muhammad secure hold over the peninsula - bring an end to the cult of the three goddesses

Victory and the Final Pilgrimage -

• 630 - Muhammad leave Mecca after establishing Muslim control over the town and winning support of the Meccan population
• 632 - rule that only Muslims could worship at the Ka'bah in Mecca