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ISLAMIC
CIVILIZATION
MUHAMMAD'S
RELIGION
A new
drama began to unfold in the 6th century with the awakening of a rival far
more dangerous to the West than the German tribes: the new faith of ISLAM.
MUHAMMAD
(570~32) was an orphan, raised by a family of modest means.
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As
a youth, he worked as a merchant's assistant, traveling the major
trade routes. When he was twenty-five, he married a wealthy Meccan
widow.
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Wealthy
himself, he became a kind of social activist, criticizing Meccan
materialism, paganism, and unjust treatment of the poor and needy
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When
he was about forty a deep religious experience heightened his
commitment to reform and transformed his life.
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He
began to receive REVELATIONS from the angel Gabriel, who
recited God's word to him at irregular intervals.
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These
revelations grew into the KORAN (a reciting) which his
followers compiled between 650 and 651.
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The
Message
The
basic message Muhammad received was a summons to all Arabs to SUBMIT TO
GOD'S WILL.
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Followers
of Muhammad's religion came to be called MUSLIM (Arabic for
"submission" or "surrendering").
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The
name applied to the religion itself, ISLAM, has the same derivation
and means "submission".
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Elements
of Christian, Jewish, and Pagan Beliefs and Practices
The
message was not a new one.
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A
long line of Jewish prophets going back to Noah had repeated it.
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According
to Muslims, however, this line ended with Muhammad, who was the last
of God's chosen prophets and known as "THE PROPHET."
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The
Koran also recognized Jesus Christ as a prophet, but did not view
him as God's coeternal and coequal son.
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Like
Judaism, Islam was a MONOTHEISTIC and Theo-centric religion, not a
Trinitarian one like Christianity.
MECCA
was a major pagan pilgrimage site (the Ka'ba - a black meteorite that
became Islam's holiest shrine - was originally a pagan object of worship).
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Muhammad's
attacks on idolatry and immorality threatened the trade that flowed
from the pilgrims, enraging the merchants of the city.
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Persecuted
for their attacks on traditional religion, Muhammad and his
followers fled in 622 to Medina, 240 miles to the north. This event
came to be known as the Hegira and marks the beginning of the
Islamic calendar.
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In
MEDINA, Muhammad organized his forces and drew throngs of devoted
followers.
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He
raided caravans going back and forth to Mecca and had his first
conflicts with Medinan Jews, who were involved in Meccan trade.
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By
624 his army was powerful enough to conquer Mecca and make it the
center of the new religion.
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During
these years THE BASIC RULES OF ISLAMIC PRACTICE evolved. True Muslims were
expected:
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To
be honest and modest in all their dealings and behavior.
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To
be unquestionably loyal to the Islamic community.
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To
abstain from pork and alcohol at all times.
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To
wash and pray facing Mecca five times a day.
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To
contribute to the support of the poor and needy.
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To
fast during daylight hours for one month each year.
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To
make a pilgrimage to Mecca and visit the Ka'ba at least once in a
lifetime.
Attitude
Toward Women
In
another distinctive feature, Islam permitted Muslim men to have UP TO FOUR
WIVES -- provided they treated them all justly and gave each equal
attention - and as many concubines as they wished.
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A
man could divorce a wife with a simple declaration, whereas a wife
had to have a very good reason and go before an official to divorce
her husband.
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A
wife was expected to be totally loyal and devoted to her husband.
She was allowed to show her face to no man but him.
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Ulema
In
contrast to Christianity, Islam drew no rigid distinction between the
clergy and the laity. A lay scholarly elite developed, however, that held
moral authority within Islamic society and formed a kind of magisterium in
moral and religious matters.
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This
elite, known as the ULEMA (persons with correct
knowledge), served a social function similar to that of a
professional priesthood or rabbinate,
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Its
members were men of great piety and obvious learning whose opinions
came to have the force of law in Muslim society.
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They
also kept a critical eye on Muslim rulers, seeing that they adhered
to the letter of the Koran..
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Appeal
The
success of Islam lay in its ABILITY TO UNIFY AND INSPIRE tribal Arabs and
other non-Jewish and non~hristian people. In a world where Christianity
and Judaism had reigned supreme among religions, Islam appealed to Arab
pride - for it made Muharurnad history's major religious figure and his
followers God's chosen people.
ISLAMIC
EMPIRES
Islam
EXPANDED BY CONQUEST throughout the southern and eastern Mediterranean,
territories mostly still held today by Islamic states. In the 8th century
Muslim armies occupied parts of SPAIN in the West and INDIA in the East,
producing a truly vast empire.
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In
the West, the ruler of the Franks, Charles Martel, defeated a
raiding party of Arabs on the western frontier of Europe at Poitiers
(today in central France) in 732. This victory ended any possible
Arab effort to expand into western Europe by way of Spain
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Beginning
with Emperor Leo III, Byzantine rulers successful~ defended Asia
Minor from Islamic aggression. Muslim disunity alter the 10 century
greatly aided Byzantine success.
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THE
WESTERN DEBT TO ISLAMIC CULTURE
Despite
the hostility of the Christian West to the Islamic world, there was much
CREATIVE INTERCHANGE between these two very different cultures
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The
more advanced Arab civilization, which was enjoying its golden age
during the West's early Middle Ages, taught western FARMERS how to
irrigate fields.
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Western
ARTISANS learned how to tan leather and refine silk.
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The
West also gained from its contact with Islamic SCHOLARS.
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Thanks to Arabic translators, major Greek works in astronomy, mathematics, and medicine became available to scholars in much of the West for the first time in Latin translation.
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And down to the l6th century, alter the works of the famous ancient physicians Hippocrates and Galen, the basic gynecological and childcare manuals followed by western midwives and physicians were compilations by the famed Baghdad physician Al-Razi (Rhazes), the philosopher and physician ibn-Sina (Avicenna) (930-1037), and Averroes (1126-1198), Islam's greatest authority on Aristotle.
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DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
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How did Muhammad
become the messenger of God? What was Muhammad's mission?
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Why was Islam so
appealing to the Arab people?
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What conditions
hampered the spread of knowledge in western Europe but not in the
Islamic world?
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