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'Italic text'A PRESENTATION ON THE RELIGION OF ISLAM

MAJOR RELIGION AND CULTS                                                                                                              (MI 431)

DR. KETTEKUMEHN MURRAY                                                                                              (LECTURER)

BARCUS M. KANWEAY JR. (SENIOR STUDENTS)

LIBERIA BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY                                                                     SCHIEFFLIN HIGHWAY, PAYNESVILLE CITY,                                                              MONTSERREDO COUNTY, LIBERIA

MAY 24, 2013

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

I.	BRIEF HISTORY OF ISLAM

II. THE BASIC TENETS OF ISLAM

III. RITES AND RITUALS

IV. SACRED NARRATIVES OF ISLAM

V.	DIVISIONS OF ISLAM

CONCLUSION

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INTRODUCTION There is a commonly held belief that religion is a human construct. All studies of religions reveal that religion has common characteristics; one of which is that there is always a human agency who serves as a conduit through which the Divine speaks and directs the adherents. Also, there are rites, rituals, basic narratives, holy writings, etc which a religiously held to or observed. All the major religions of the world possess these common characteristics. Islam is no exception. Therefore, this brief presentation or paper will discuss the religion of Islam. The following aspects of the religion of Islam will be discussed: a brief history of Islam, basic tenets of Islam, narratives of Islam as well as the rites and rituals of Islam and the divisions of Islam. The main focus of this paper is not to give a detailed presentation on the religion of Islam, but it is a brief presentation.

I.	BRIEF HISTORY OF ISLAM Muhammad was born in a noble family of the Quraysh Tribe of Makkah, in the Hijaz region of the present Saudi Arabia in 570 C.E. He started preaching the Religion of Islam to his people when he was 40 years old. From his early youth, he had earned the name “Al- Ameen” or the Trustworthy One from his people. He had been a shepherd, and later a merchant in the service of a rich lady of Makkah called Khadija. When he was 25 years old, he married Khadija, a widow of 40 years. When Muhammad (peace be upon him) was forty, he developed a habit of withdrawing to the solitude of a cave in Mount Hira which was close to the city of Makkah. He used to spend hours, sometimes days on end, meditating in the cave. Once, while he was in the cave an imposing figure suddenly appeared before him and asked him to read a scroll held before him. He was terribly frightened by this sudden appearance, and when the figure asked him to read again, he stammered saying that he had not learned how to read. But the figure, who was Gabriel, the Angel of God, told him: “Read in the name of the Lord Who created; created man from a thing that clings. Read, for your Lord is the Most Generous; and He has taught by the Pen; taught man what he knew not…” (Holy Qur’an 96:1-5) These were the first revealed verses of the Qur’an; and thus started the revelation of the Last Testament of God for man. Since the revelation of this verse, the Prophet’s hibernation in the Cave of Hira came to an end. From then on, he was not to rest; for he had been chosen by God to be His Last Messenger on earth. II. THE BASIC TENETS OF ISLAM As stated in the previous section and the introduction, every religion has a set of tenets which are held onto tenaciously. So, Islam is not an exception. The following are basic tenets of the religion of Islam: 1.	Belief in God, the one and only one God with no partner, no son, no associate, and no companion 2.	Belief in prophet Muhammad (PBUH) as God prophet and Messenger 3.	Belief in the five pillars of Islam (testimony of God oneness and Muhammad prophet-hood, Praying, alms giving, fasting Ramadan, and performing pilgrimage) 4.	Belief in six articles of faith (faith in God, His angels, His holy books, His prophets, Resurrection day, and destiny) 5.	Belief in Quran and following Quran teachings 6.	Following Islam morals 7.	Performing good deeds Furthermore, there are five pillars of the Islamic Faith. These pillars serve as the foundation for most of the religious practices of Islam: 1.	Faith or belief in the Oneness of God and the finality of the prophet hood of Muhammad; 2.	Establishment of the daily prayers; 3.	Concern for and almsgiving to the needy; 4.	Self-purification through fasting; and 5.	The pilgrimage to Makkah for those who are able. III. RITES AND RITUALS What are the rituals of Islam? According to Beth Davies-Stofka in an article which he titled “Rites and Ceremonies,he states “ In addition to the Five Pillars of Islam, a number of further religious practices regulate the lives of Muslims and bring meaning to the most important of life's transitions. The Quran contains prohibitions against the consumption of pork and wine. The prohibition on wine is typically interpreted to mean a general prohibition on alcohol. Smoking is similarly prohibited. Charging exorbitant interest on loans, or usury, is also prohibited in Islam. In Muhammad's day, interest rates were very high and tended to reduce the borrower to poverty. Gambling is forbidden, as it puts both gamblers and their families at risk. Male circumcision is an important religious duty in Islam and required by believers to perform on their newborn sons. There is no single explanation for the origins of this practice. It may have been adopted from the Jewish practice. Some say it reinforces human submission to God, while others view the practice as an important preventive measure against infection. It is also done to imitate Muhammad, who was circumcised. The controversial practice of female circumcision that is present in many parts of the world does not have any religious authority as does male circumcision. Defenders of the practice do not cite religious evidence that it is required in Islam. Marriage is generally seen both as a civil contract in Islam as well as a religiously public and joyous ritual. Passages from the Quran are read, and there is usually a feast following the simple ceremony. Both men and women can initiate a divorce, and there is also a mechanism for annulling the marriage. However, divorce and annulment do not occur at the same frequency as they do in western societies. Death is the most important event in a person's path to God, and the dying person is surrounded and supported by family and friends. Prayers and other passages from the Quran are read for the dying person, who repents of sins and, when possible, performs rituals of purification. At the time of death, those present at the deathbed whisper the shahadah in the dying person's ear. When possible, the dying person recites it as well. When death appears near, family members recite surah 36 from the Quran, which describes God's raising of the dead on the Day of Judgment.

IV. SACRED NARRATIVES OF ISLAM Every religion has a sacred text which it believes contain the “holy writings” of the Divine Being that had revealed himself to the founder of the religion. According Davies-Stofka, here are the sacred narratives of Islam: “The Islamic sacred narrative issues primarily from the life and experiences of Muhammad. Muslims believe that his prophetic role recovers and completes the story of Allah's revelation to humanity. This story is told in the Quran, which includes the account of divine revelation from creation. The Quran says that the world began when God created everything in six days. The world and everything in and around it came into being through God's word. God commanded, "Be," and it was. The Quran does not give a day-to-day account of the creation, nor does it say that God rested on the seventh day . Instead, after completing his creation, God sat on his throne, regulating the world. The world will end on the Last Day, when God will resurrect the dead and judge each person according to his or her deeds. The story of God, the world, and humanity is one in which God, compassionate and merciful, sends prophets to guide us in the right way of living. While Islam's most sacred stories are found in the Quran, there are a variety of other canonical sources, including the hadith, that give traditional stories about the prophets that Muslims recognize. The first prophet was Adam, the first human being, who was the "father of mankind." This is the same Adam of the Jewish (and Christian) Bible. God created Adam from clay, and breathed the spirit of life into him. Then he commanded all the angels to bow before Adam. Only Iblis (Satan) refused, and by his rebellion brought about the fall from paradise. According to some traditions, Adam and Eve were separated after being driven from paradise. Adam landed on the island of what is today known as Sri Lanka, where he spent 200 years doing penitence. Then the archangel Gabriel took Adam to Mount Arafat near Mecca, where he was reunited with Eve. God then ordered Adam to build the Kaaba, and Gabriel taught Adam the rites of pilgrimage. Another significant prophet in Islam is Abraham, (Arabic, Ibrahim), the Abraham of the Bible. Islam teaches that Abraham was the founding father, or patriarch, of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. All three religions view Abraham as the exemplar of monotheistic faith. God called Abraham out of Ur to the land of Canaan, where he was promised as many descendants as stars in the sky. Abraham and his wife Sarah were very old, so Sarah encouraged Abraham to have a child with her Egyptian servant, Hagar. Hagar gave birth to a son, called Ishmael (Arabic, Ismail). The Quran contains the story in which God commanded Abraham to sacrifice his son, but does not name the son. Many Muslims believe that son was Ishmael.” V.	DIVISIONS OF ISLAM Kiwimae in an article tiled “What Are the Divisions of Islam states “The two largest divisions of Islam are the Sunnis and Shi'ites. Sunni Muslims are the largest denomination of Islam. The word Sunni comes from the word Sunnah, which means the teachings and actions or examples of the Islamic prophet, Muhammad. Therefore, the term Sunni refers to those who follow or maintain the Sunnah of Muhammad. Unlike the Shi'ites, the sunnis believe that Muhammad died without appointing any successor to lead the Muslim community. After an initial period of confusion, a group gathered and elected Abu Bakr,, who was Muhammad's close friend as well as his father-in-law, as the first Caliph. Sunnis regard the first four caliphs, Abu Bakr, Umar ibn al-Khattab, Uthman ibn Affan and Ali ibn Abi Talib as the "al-Khulafā'ur-Rāshidūn" or "The Rightly Guided Caliphs". Sunnis believe that the position of Caliph may be democratically chosen, but after the first four Rightly Guided Caliphs the position turned into a hereditary dynastic rule. Since the fall of the Ottoman Empire (1923) there has never been another widely recognized Caliph within the Sunni Muslim community. Shi`ite Islam is the second largest division of Islam. Shi'ite Muslims believe that those leaders who followed after Muhammad (called Imams) were chosen by God to lead the Islamic community and thus the believe the Sunnis erred in having elected Caliphs. According to the Shi'ites it was Ali who was chosen by Allah and appointed by Muhammad to be the direct successor and leader of the Muslim community rather than Abu Bakr. It is Ali that they regard as the first Imam. The largest group of Shi'ite Muslims believe there were a total of twelve Imams with the twelfth Imam believed to be in hiding because of the sins of the Islamic Community but they also believe that he will appear again just before the end times. The Shi'ite Hadiths (that is, stories and teachings written about (Muhammad & Islam) include sayings of the Imams. Many Sunni Muslims criticise the Shi'ites for certain of their beliefs and practices. As well each of these major Islamic denominations can be further sub-divided, there are literally dozens, if not hundreds, of these groups both large and small all disagreeing over some point or other of Islamic practice / Law. Moreover, Kiwimae states the various sects of Islam in the following way: “There are three main sects within Islam: Ahl Sunna (commonly called Sunni), Shi'a (commonly called Shiite) and Ibadi. The main distinction between them is who has the right to power over the community. However, as simple as that may seem at first blush, it lead to numerous smaller but significant differences. Sunni Islam is the dominant sect of Islam worldwide and established the Rule of Intikhabat and Ashura (Elections) for Mohammed's successors. Sunni Islam has many different forms. The most common movement of Islam is Hanafi, which is dominant in South Asia, the Levant, north Mesopotamia, Turkey, and southeast Europe. Sunni also has a mystical movement called Sufism of which many submovements exist like the Turkish Dervishes. In recent times, Saudi Arabia has stimulated a submovement within the Hanbali movement called Wahhabism which is a fundamentalist strain of Islam. Shiite Islam is the dominant sect of Islam in Iran and the surrounding area. It was originally the political faction supporting Ali as Mohammed's successor instead of the elections.

This has led to the ascription of martyrdom to Ali's sons: Hassan and Hussein who wished to promulgate a Caliphate from what the Shiites see as the rightful line. The most prominent movement in Shiite Islam is the Ja'afari Movement. Shiite submovements have historically been quite varied leading to groups as different as the Ismailis and the Alawites, both groups existing outside of the majority Shiite area today. Former Shiite submovements have now exited the religion of Islam such as the Druze and the Baha'i. Shiite movements are unique in that the process of Ijtihad (Open Religious Jurisprudence) continues solely in Shiite Islam.

Ibadi Islam is the dominant sect of Islam in Oman. It is an offshoot of the third party in the Islamic Civil War (Fitna al-Kubra), the Kharijites (the other two parties were the Sunnis and the Shiites). Ibadi Islam is so small that it has no internal movements. Ibadi holds to a moderated version of the Kharijite purification requirements by limiting contact with unbelievers and increasing contact with proper believers. They also hold with the tradition Kharijite view of the Rightly-Guided Caliphs, namely that Abu Bakr and Omar were proper rulers, Othman was not and Ali lost favor when he agreed to the Arbitration with Mu'awiya.

In addition to the three main sects of Islam, there are also minor sects like the Ahmadiyya which are considered blasphemous (takfir) by the remaining Muslim sects. Ahmadiyya was founded by a prophet (Mirza Ghulam) and, according to most Muslims, this violates the Islamic concept that Mohammed was the capstone of the Prophets: the last and final prophet. The difference between Ahmadiyya versus Baha'i and Druze is that the Ahmadiyya still see themselves as Muslims whereas Druze and Baha ‘ah do not.” CONCLUSION Islam is a religion that is very aggressive and is expanding than any other religion in the world today. However, just like any other religion, Islam faces its own challenges. There are many militant groups which carry that name of ‘Islam’ in carrying out their military agenda. The various divisions listed in this paper must be address by Islamic leaders and scholars. Indeed, the task is very hectic.

www.seminary.org barcus m. kanweay jr.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Ahmad, Hazrat Mirza Chulam. The Philosophy of the Teachings of Islam. ILL: A.C. Publishers, 1979.

Fry, C. George. Islam. Grand Rapids,Mich: Baker Book House, 1980

Gribb, H.A.R Mohammedanism: An Historical Survey. Evangelical Mission Press, 1987

--. Isalm. Penguin, 1986.