Fifth Snippet from My New Book, >Fundamentals of an Excellent Liberal Arts Education<: Islam (Historic Roots and Early Development)

In this article I provide the fifth snippet from my new book, Fundamentals of an Excellent Liberal Arts Education.  This segment is taken from my chapter on World Religions, in which I cover Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Confucianism, Daoism (Taoism), Shinto, traditional Native American religious concepts, traditional African religious concepts, the Graeco-Roman pantheon, and the Norse pantheon.


Thinking that the presentation of my coverage of Islam should be helpful in clearing up misconceptions arising from skewed interpretations of the faith by groups such as Al-Qaeda (worldwide movement originating in Saudi Arabia), Taliban (Afghanistan), and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS; also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant [ISIL]);  I have decided to make this section on Islam my snippet from the World Religions chapter.


The Life and Revelations of Muhammad


Muhammad was born about 570 A. D. to a humble family of Mecca, a traditional religious center on the Arabian peninsula. As a young man, Muhammad made his living as a caravan driver, caring for and leading camels carrying the mercantile items of Arabian provenance to many outposts in West Asia (Middle East, Near East), places that we associate geographically with the nations of Iran, Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and Israel. On his journeys, Muhammad met many Christians and (especially) Jews, from whom he learned of the literature and theology based on the Old and New Testaments of the Holy Bible, as well as the Torah and Talmud of the Hebrew tradition.


At about 28 years of age, Muhammad married a wealthy widow by the name of Khadija. His enhanced economic security gave the introspective young man more time to contemplate the religious texts that he had encountered on his travels and to compare these with his own reflections upon the religious ideas and practices common to Arabia. In Mecca, there was a religious elite of priests who conducted rituals in worship of a variety of jinn (deities of nature and commerce) and superintended a number of shrines, including the mysterious Ka’aba, which drew circumambulating worshipers around its cuboid structure.  


Muhammad came to have doubts about the moral integrity of the priests and the validity of their objects of worship; he felt spiritually driven toward a monotheistic faith inspired by the God and the ethical precepts of the Judaeo-Christian tradition. At forty years of age Muhammad was inwardly rent by spiritual turmoil, leading him to retreat to a nearby mountain for deep thought and soulful solitude. After a time, he perceived that the angel Jibra’il (Gabriel) spoke to him the very words of God, whom he would call Allah, giving him revelations destined to reshape the religious landscape of the Arabian peninsula, other parts of West Asia, an expanse of North Africa, and eventually the Malay peninsula and islands now known collectively as Indonesia.


Jibra’il commanded Muhammad to “Recite” the words; thus did Muhammad go forth to speak the words of Allah that he soon committed to memory. This process continued over a 22-year period during which Jibra’il continued to impart the words of Allah to Muhammad.

The Words of the Prophet Recorded in the Qur’an


Muhammad was, like Jesus and all but a few people of their times, illiterate. The revelations of Allah (via Jibra’il) to Muhammad would eventually be recorded in the holy book, Qur’an (Koran). Muhammad conveyed his religious revelations orally, transmitting a message promulgating strict monotheism in the Abrahamic tradition; extolling the virtues of the Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and the prophets and apostles of Judaeo- Christianity; and calling people to a staunchly righteousness code of moral behavior.


The Qur’an is composed of 114 suras (chapters) divided into many ayat (verses) containing in all about 78,000 words. The message in the Qur’an exhorts people to believe in the august power of Allah, honoring Him with just and moral actions. The Qur’an conveys instances of punishment meted out to those who disobeyed Allah. It notes signs of God in nature, cites sermons extolling the righteousness of Allah and the need for strict adherence to moral precepts; relates stories demonstrating Qur’anic principles, and provides instructions for adjudication of legal cases. The Qur’an is used by adherents as a sourcebook for how to handle practical matters such as divorce, inheritance, and warfare; along with more purely religious instructions for seasonal fasting and weekly ritual. For all aspects of life, the Qur’an is the complete referent for Muslims, those who adhere to the religion of Islam (“Submission” [to the Will of Allah]).


The Hejira and Return to Mecca


Muhammad stirred the jealousy and moral discomfort in the established jinn priests, who rightly perceived the Prophet as a threat to their own power, prestige, and livelihoods. Such was their nature of their pressure on and admonitions to Muhammad that he felt impelled to leave Mecca one evening in 622 A.D. (CE), an event known to the Islamic faithful as the hegira (hejira, hjra).


This “flight” took him to Medina, some 100 miles (160 kilometers) from Mecca. There Muhammad regrouped, recited the revelations, and prophesied according to the mission that Allah through Jibra’il had given him. Over the course of the next several years, Muhammad attracted a devoted following, trained a skilled army of soldiers for the holy war (jihad) against the religious establishment in Mecca, and planned his return to the holy city.


In 630 A.D. (CE), Muhammad implemented his plan, returning in force to Mecca. His forces soundly defeated the army of the established priesthood and other members of the traditional elite. Muhammad died two years later having set the tone and the context for a vigorous expansion of the new faith, first on the Arabian peninsula, and then far beyond.


The Five Pillars of Islam


Five sustained, lifetime commitments are incumbent upon every devout Muslim. They are known as the “Five Pillars of Islam,” as follows:


1) To repeat with sincere regularity the Muslim Creed: “There is no God (Allah) but God (Allah), and Muhammad is his Prophet.”


2) To give alms to the poor and for religious purposes, in the amount of about one-fortieth of one’s income.


3) To fast at the occasion of the holy month of Ramadan; the required fast occurs daily during that month, wherein no food is eaten from dawn to dusk, with all meals taken during the hours of darkness.


4) To pray facing Mecca five times each day.


5) To make a pilgrimage to Mecca at least one time during the course of the able-bodied life (circumstances such as poverty, chronic illness, and old age ameliorate the duty).


Major Divisions of Islam


When Muhammad died, important figures in the Muslim community of Mecca, taking stock of social standing, closeness to the Prophet, and leadership skill, opted for Abu Bakr as the first of the Caliphs (Khalifa). The next two Caliphs “Successors” chosen were ‘Umar and ‘Uthman. Fourth came ‘Ali, the husband of Muhammad’s daughter, Fatima. The latter selection was none too soon for some of the leaders who had touted 'Ali’s case from the very beginning and harbored ill-feeling at his having been passed over.


Those who had lobbied for Abu Bakr considered themselves to be the followers of custom (Sunnah); those whose campaigned for ‘Ali and failed considered themselves the ”party of Ali”(shi’at ‘Ali). Today these divisions between the first group, Sunni Muslims, and the second group, Shi’ite Muslims, persist.


History shaped the views and the conflict between the two groups. When ‘Ali was assassinated in 660 A.D. (CE), the Shi’ites strongly suspected those who ranged themselves against ‘Ali from the beginning of the post-Muhammad period. There then ensued a dispute as to how the next Caliphs should be chosen. Sunnas wanted them elected, but Shi’ites maintained that they should be descendants of ‘Ali and Fatima. In 680 A.D. (CE), ‘Ali’s brother, Hussayn, led a revolt against the abiding Caliph, Yazi ibn Mu’awiyah. But Hussayn’s supporters dithered, and Hussayn was killed at the Battle of Kerbala (in contemporary Iraq).


To this day Shi’ites remember this event with formal mourning observances, some of the faithful even scourging themselves in an act of atonement for those who failed properly to back Hussayn’s revolt. Today most Shi’ites consider the legitimate and historically important first leaders of Islam to have been ‘Ali and eleven of his successors: the Twelve Imams. Those who identify these successors to Muhammad as prime leaders of the Muslim faith are known as the “Twelve-Imam Shi’ites”; another group, the “Seven-Imam Shi’ites,” do not regard the last five Imams to be in the lineage of major leaders.


There are some minor doctrinal and ritual differences in these two Shi’ite groups; for example, the Twelve-Imam group adds lines to the call to prayer that are absent when the Seven-Imam group gathers, and the two groups have disparate prayers ritualized for funerals. And Shi’ites in general differ in quite a few ways with Sunnis as to religious practice. Shi’ites have a more flexible view of marital unions with regard to permanency, with divorce as a viable option. They believe that God also can and does reverse His decisions on occasion, whereas Sunnis regard the decisions of God as eternally immutable.


But the historical dispute over the succession to Muhammad lies at the heart of the Sunni-Shi’ite division. As the minority group harboring ill-feeling for a perceived injustice, the Shi’ites have frequently been considered the more irascible and militant of the two groups. Events in Iran with the violent overthrow of the Shah of Iran and the taking of American hostages, both in 1979, buttressed that perception.


Recently, though, Sunni---  rather than Shi'ite--- fringe groups have given evidence of a propensity to use violence with the purported goal of spreading their interpretation of the will of Allah throughout the world.  Such minority groups agitating for an idealized Islamic state include Al-Qaeda (worldwide movement originating in Saudi Arabia), Taliban (Afghanistan), and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS; also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant [ISIL]).


Two Muslim groups that bear mention in a discussion of Islam are the very different Sufis and the adherents of the Nation of Islam:


The development of Sufism is traceable to the life of the Persian poet, Jelaluddin Balkhi (1207-1273 A.D. [CE]), who became known as Rumi. Rumi befriended a dervish (ascetic) by the name of Shams; when the latter disappeared mysteriously, Rumi felt the spirit of Shams guiding him in the generation of profound poetry. Rumi had a sense of spirituality as ecstatic experience, and as such an expression of “dervishes.”


The search for ecstatic union with Allah is the core of Sufi experience but make them suspect Muslims in the view of both Sunnis and Shi’ites, who view Allah as too awe-inspiring a figure to accept union with humanity in this way; the orthodox view holds that opportunity to draw near the majesty of Allah must await ascent to Heaven, only for the ritualistically devout at the end of the earthly sojourn. But Sufis, who do not consider themselves to be a denomination or sect, identifying variously as either Sunni or Shi’ite, insist that their fervent expression for the love of God is the anchor of their Islamic faith and consistent with the will of Allah.


The Nation of Islam was founded as a religious movement by Wallace Dodd Ford, who took the name Fard (“Righteousness”) Muhammad. He identified as Muslim but generated ideas divergent in many ways from orthodox Islam. For example, orthodox Muslims, whether Sunni or Shi’ite, consider Muhammad to be the Prophet of Allah, not in any sense an incarnation of God or messianic in nature; Fard, though, claimed to be the Messiah. His successor, Elijah Poole, introduced additional unorthodoxies, such as the idea that black people, as the first humans created by God, would survive an apocalyptic event at the “end of times”; white people, though, as later creations possessing Satanic propensities, would be destroyed.


In time, Elijah Poole took the name Elijah Muhammad. In the early 1960s, the civil rights campaigner Malcom X (formerly Malcom Little) joined the Nation of Islam and became the most charismatic spokesperson for the movement led by Elijah Muhammad. From the 1960s forward, there was a trend toward more orthodox Muslim beliefs among members of the Nation of Islam. Malcolm X blazed this theological trail when he left the Nation of Islam and founded the Organization of Afro-American Unity in 1964; he paid a heavy and unjust price for this when he was assassinated by a member of the Nation of Islam in 1965.


When Elijah Muhammad died in the 1970s, his son (Warith Deen Muhammad) changed the name of the movement to American Muslim Mission and advocated ideas consistent with Sunni orthodoxy. A group calling itself the Original Nation of Islam continued to espouse the doctrines of Elijah Muhammad. But over the course of the decades thereafter, leaders of the Original Nation of Islam moved closer to Muslim orthodoxy in their expressed beliefs, and in 2000 the two organizations announced an end to their rivalry.