Explain how Muhammad unified the Arab people politically and through religion.
Hi guys, here are the topics for this week 's Wiki:
- Life in Arabian deserts and towns: Eliecer
- Arabian trade of goods and Ideas: Steven
- Mecca before Islam: Lily
- Muhammad becomes a prophet and religious leader: Claudia
- The Hijrah: Kendrick
- Muhammad becomes a political and military leader and returns to Mecca: Gabriela
- The Five Pillars of Islam: Emily
- Islamic way of life: Kanya
- Sources of Authority: Erialbania
- Links to Judaism and Christianity: Luis Alfredo
Muhammad Becomes a Prophet and Religious Leader
-claudia
Muhammad was born in Mecca in about 570 A.D. At that time, the Arabs at Mecca followed polytheistic beliefs; they worshipped several idols, including a supreme god named Allah. They did not accept the concept of worshiping a single god. This is the reason why Muhammad would encounter opposition to his monotheistic teachings.
Muhammad became an orphan at a very young age, for this reason he was initially raised by his grandfather and later by his uncle. He accompanied his uncle to several trading caravans across Arabia; due to this he became a merchant.His job as a merchant made him come in contact with several religions, like this he learned about meditation and began practicing it. One day, according to Islamic texts, while Muhammad was meditating at a cave in a mountain, the Angel Gabriel appeared to him and told him:
"Recite in the name of your Lord who created! He created man, out of a (mere) cloth of congealed blood. Recite; and thy Lord is most bountiful. He who had taught by the pen, taught man what he knew not."
After this, Muhammad came to believe that he had been chosen to be a prophet and that therefore he had to preach the message that angel Gabriel gave him: there is a single god who created humanity. As Muhammad began preaching, some people began converting to his religion. Most Arabs at Mecca were not happy with Muhammad’s monotheistic teachings because he was denying and talking against their gods. Due to his, he and his followers began to be persecuted. They were forced to move to the city of Medina where Muhammad was able to convert even more people to his religion. He would later return to Mecca and take control of it, converting its population to Islam.
Muhammad’s religion would spread throughout the Arabian Peninsula, as his followers spread it either through conquest or through trade. This religion would join the Arab people under a common culture and belief, creating a stronger Arabian identity.
Source of Angel Gabriel’s revelation: http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/cultural/religion/islam/history.html)
The Kaaba at Mecca, now a pilgrimage center for muslims.
The Dome of the Rock, place from where Muhammad supposedly ascended to heaven.
Sources of Authority
Like Christians believe in God, Muslims believe in Allah. According to Islamis belief, Allah sent the angel Gabriel to speak to Muhammaad. During Muhammad’s life, people remembered and recited these revelations given to him by Gabriel. Soon after Muhammad’s death these revelations were written in a book called the Qur’an which is the holy book of the Muslims.
The Qur’an is written in Arabic, which Muslims consider this version to be the true word of Allah. Only Arabic could be used in worship.Because of this, whenever groups got together to worship and pray Arabic was spoken. This helped unite conquered people as Muslim control expanded.
Muslims believe that the Qur’an was given to Muhammad with the purpose of teaching them how to apply it in life. Because of this, they believe that Muhammad’s example is the best model for proper living. The guidance of the Qur’an and the Sunna (Muhammad’s example) was made into a body of law called the shari’a which regulates the family life, moral conduct, business, and community life of Muslims.
The Qur'an
Allah
The Hijrah
The Hijrah was a migration in which Muhammad with a group of supporters left Mecca and went to a town named Yathrib. Because of this movement the town changed its name to Medina and attracted many more followers. At Medina Muhammad show how incredible he was in leadership skills as a political and religious leaderby creating an agreement that united people in a single community and by attracting many converts to Medina.
Source: World History book pg 265 (Paraphrase)
Links to Judaism and Christianity
Islam has some links to Judaism and Christianity, what I mean about this is that this three religions kind of talk about the same people, for example:
• To Muslims Allah is the same god that Jews and Christians work ship.
• The word of Allah (Qur’an) was revealed to Muhammad in the same way that Jews and Christians believe that the torah and the gospels were revealed to Moses and to the New Testament writers.
• All the three religions believe in hell, heaven, and a day of judgment.
• All the three religions trace their ancestry to Abraham.
Even though Jews and Christians have some things in common with Muslims doesn’t mean they think the same, for example:
• Muslims view Jesus as a prophet not a son of god.
• Muslims believe that the Qur’an perfects the earlier revelations.
• Muslims say call the Jews and the Christians “people of the book”, because each religion has a holy book that has teachings similar to the ones in the Qur’an.
Muhammad becomes a political and military leader and returns to Mecca
Muhammad was born into the clan of a powerful Meccan family. He was very interested in realigion and started teaching it. People who were interested in his basic principles of Islam were known as Muslims. Some of his followers were attacked and as a result, he decided to leave Mecca in 622. He went to to a town named Yathrib which later became known as Medina. In Medina, Muhammad displayed impressive leadership skills. He made an agreement that united his people with Arabs and Jews of Medina as a single community. This groups accepted Muhammad as a political leader. Finally, Muhammad also became a military leader in the growing hostilities between Mecca and Medina.
In 630, the Prophet and 10,000 of his followers marched to the outside of Mecca. They entered the city with triumph. Most Meccans gave their loyalty to Muhammad, and many converted to Islam. Muhammad died two years later, at about the age of 62. However, he had taken great steps toward unifying the entire Arabian Peninsula under Islam.
-gabriela elias:)
Mecca Before Islam
Centuries before the rise of Islam in Mecca, it played the role of the main religious, cultural and commercial center for all of the Arabic tribes. The history of Mecca, or that which we know of, dates back to the time of Prophet Abraham, but there is not much information about any earlier history. Prophet Abraham brought his son Ishmael, who was an infant at the time, and his wife Hagar to Mecca on the order of Allah, leaving them there to return to Palestine. He remained in Palestine, visiting his family occasionally. He eventually moved, when he began to construct the Kaaba, as orders from Allah. After the administration of Mecca and the Kaaba was passed on from Abraham to Ishmael, it was left with the Jurhum Tribe, who accepted the religion conveyed by Ishmael, however began to disrespect and deviated it by performing immoral acts. After a certain time, the Khuza'ah tribe, which had migrated to Mecca from Southern Arabia, defeated the Jurhum tribe in a battle and removed them from the city. Later on, Amr bin Luhay, one of the leading figures of the Khuza'ah tribe, broke the tradition of monotheism that Ishmael had established and allowed for the emergence of idolatry when he took over the administration of Mecca and the Kaaba. Eventually, up until the recognition of Muhammad, Mecca was ruled by ancestors of said prophet, however, the religious view was to change when he arose.
FIVE PILLARS OF ISLAM
by ely
1) FAITH
There is no god worthy of worship except God and Muhammad is His messenger. This declaration of faith is called the Shahada. In Arabic, the first part is la ilaha illa Llah - 'there is no god except God'. Then comes illa Llah: 'except God', the source of all Creation. The second part of the Shahada is Muhammadun rasulu'Llah: 'Muhammad is the messenger of God.'
2) PRAYER
Salat is the name for the obligatory prayers which are performed five times a day, and are a direct link between the worshipper and God. There is no hierarchical authority in Islam, and no priests, so the prayers are led by a learned person who knows the Quran, chosen by the congregation. These five prayers contain verses from the Quran, and are said in Arabic, the language of the Revelation, but personal supplication can be offered in one's own language. Because shalat is transliterated from arabic word, so it has multiple english spellings such as salat, salah, sholat, sholah or shalah.Some peoples also called shalat as namaz
Prayers are said at dawn, noon, mid-afternoon, sunset and nightfall, and thus determine the rhythm of the entire day. Although it is preferable to worship together in a mosque, a Muslim may pray almost anywhere, such as in fields, offices, factories and universities. Visitors to the Muslim world are struck by the centrality of prayers in daily life.
Raq'ah: Bowing and prostration. Represents submission to God.
There is also the Qiblah, that is the direction for prayer towards Mecca. Women are not required to attend prayers. When they do, they usually stand behind the men. Fridays, Yawm al-Jum'ah (Day of Assembly),are the main day of public prayer.
A translation of the Call to Prayer is:
God is most great. God is most great.
God is most great. God is most great.
I testify that there is no god except God.
I testify that there is no god except God.
I testify that Muhammad is the messenger of God.
I testify that Muhammad is the messenger of God.
Come to prayer! Come to prayer!
Come to success (in this life and the Hereafter)!
Come to success!
God is most great. God is most great.
There is no god except God.
3) THE 'ZAKAT'
One of the most important principles of Islam is that all things belong to God, and that wealth is therefore held by human beings in trust. The word zakat means both 'purification' and 'growth'. Our possessions are purified by setting aside a proportion for those in need, and, like the pruning of plants, this cutting back balances and encourages new growth.
Each Muslim calculates his or her own zakat individually. For most purposes this involves the payment each year of two and a half percent of one's capital.
pious person may also give as much as he or she pleases as sadaqa, and does so preferably in secret. Although this word can be translated as 'voluntary charity' it has a wider meaning. The Prophet said 'even meeting your brother with a cheerful face is charity.'
4) THE FAST
Every year in the month of Ramadan, all Muslims fast from first light until sundown, abstaining from food, drink, and sexual relations. Those who are sick, elderly, or on a journey, and women who are pregnant or nursing are permitted to break the fast and make up an equal number of days later in the year. If they are physically unable to do this, they must feed a needy person for every day missed. Children begin to fast (and to observe the prayer) from puberty, although many start earlier.
Although the fast is most beneficial to the health, it is regarded principally as a method of self purification. By cutting oneself off from worldly comforts, even for a short time, a fasting person gains true sympathy with those who go hungry as well as growth in one's spiritual life.
5) PILGRIMAGE (HAJJ)
The annual pilgrimage to Mecca - the Hajj - is an obligation only for those who are physically and financially able to perform it. Nevertheless, about two million people go to Mecca each year from every corner of the globe providing a unique opportunity for those of different nations to meet one another. Although Mecca is always filled with visitors, the annual Hajj begins in the twelfth month of the Islamic year (which is lunar, not solar, so that Hajj and Ramadan fall sometimes in summer, sometimes in winter). Pilgrims wear special clothes: simple garments which strip away distinctions of class and culture, so that all stand equal before God.
The rites of the Hajj, which are of Abrahamic origin, include circling the Ka'ba seven times, and going seven times between the mountains of Safa and Marwa as did Hagar during her search for water. Then the pilgrims stand together on the wide plain of Arafa and join in prayers for God's forgiveness, in what is often thought of as a preview of the Last Judgment.
In previous centuries the Hajj was an arduous undertaking. Today, however, Saudi Arabia provides millions of people with water, modern transport, and the most up-to-date health facilities.
The close of the Hajj is marked by a festival, the Eid al-Adha, which is celebrated with prayers and the exchange of gifts in Muslim communities everywhere. This, and the Eid al-Fitr, a feast-day commemorating the end of Ramadan, are the main festivals of the Muslim calendar.
On eighth day pilgrims move to the desert and live in tents. Rituals performed there include:
*Wuquf: Standing in prayer at the Plain of Arafat and Mount of Mercy.
*'Id al-Adha (Feast of Sacrifice): Head or household slaughters animal for feast. Meat is also distributed to the poor.
www.islamicity.com/mosque/pillars.shtml
www.ucalgary.ca/~elsegal/I…/IO5_FivePillars.html
