Muhammad: The Prophet of Islam

We have been talking a lot about religion in history. There is always a person or group of people that start a religion and Islam is no exception. Muhammad Ibn Abdullah was the prophet who started Islam. He helped spread the word and made Islam well known in the Arabian Peninsula.

Muhammad was born sometime in 570 AD in Mecca. He was born to a widow and was orphaned when he was a child. He was raised by his Uncle and he worked as a shepherd for his uncle. Muhammad became a very successful merchant and met different people from all kinds of religions/faiths.

He married at the age of 25 to a woman 15 years older than him. Khadija comforted Muhammad and many believe that was god’s doing. Muhammad stayed faithful toe Khadija even though marrying multiples wives was allowed. His wife died when he was 49, but before she died Muhammad was visited by an angel. He was very hesitant, but with encouragement from his wife Muhammad gladly took his position as prophet.

As Muhammad began to spread the word of Allah, he didn’t gain very many followers. The first group of followers went through a lot of hard times. They were stoned, sometimes thrown in jail, and they were refused service by traveling merchants. After this struggle Muhammad got followers in a nearby town and gladly took the job because he was offered protection and loyalty. He successfully escaped to this nearby town known as Yathrib. The Muslims attacked Mecca in 624 and won, but lost a battle in 627. The Muslims didn’t get control of Mecca until 630 and sadly Muhammad died in 632.

http://www.religionfacts.com/islam/history/prophet.htm

Polygamy

Many cultures and religions have different customs and beliefs. Some are widely accepted while others are controversial. For centuries Polygamy has been ridiculed and deemed an abomination in many societies and has been shunned almost out of existence. Islam is one exception of this belief. Many people believe that Islam stated the practice of polygamy, but that is not true. In most societies it reformed the practice. Husbands are only allowed to take four wives, and they are also required to take care of them and give them a good environment to live in

This perception of Islamic polygamy is different than what many think of at first. Most people think of Iraq or Iran and how terrible women are treated. However there are some Islamic Arab countries that don’t allow polygamy to be practiced such as, Egypt and Morocco. However it is estimated that only two percent of Muslims practice polygamy.

Reference
http://www.islamreligion.com/articles/325

The Sunni and Shia

After the death on the prophet Muhammad in 632 CE, a division occurred between Muslims as they argued who should rule the people. Muhammad did not have any direct descendants and therefore the people argued whether Abu Bakr or Ali should lead the people. The Sunni Islam believed that Abu Bakr was the right leader and the Shia believes that Ali should have succeeded Muhammad first.

The Sunni and Shia people believe in the same basic teachings of Islam. They both believe in the five pillars and the articles of faith. However, the fact that they have similar beginnings is irrelevant when looking at the differences between the two groups. The Shiites call of prayer is different and the way they praise is also different. The Shiites pray less often than the Sunni praying about three times a day compared to the five times that the Sunnis pray. Sunnis believe that the first four leaders are legitimately Muhammad's successors. The Shiites believe those after Ali are the true successors. Another difference between the Shiites and Sunnis is Mahdi. Shiites believe that he has already been here, and will return. The Sunnis believe he has yet to emerge into history.

The two groups have more rules that make these groups so different. To this day the two groups still fight over issues.

http://www.islamfortoday.com/shia.htm
http://hnn.us/articles/934.html

Archiecture of Islam -- The Five Pillars

The Islamic religion is based on simplicity. A person cannot simply claim to be Muslim, but if he follows the duties of worship laid out by the Five Pillars of Islam, he is considered a believer. The Pillars, belief, worship, fasting, almsgiving, and pilgrimage, are centered around the faith in one God, Allah, and the word spread by his prophet, Mohammad.

The first Pillar is belief or Iman. Under this duty, a Muslim is to believe in only one God, Allah. Believers must proclaim this in the shahada which states "There is no god but God and that Muhammad is His messenger[1]." According to this principle, nothing is worthy of worship besides Allah and the only duty in life it to serve him.

Worship or salat is the second Pillar of Islam. Under salat, a Muslim must pray five times a day. The prayer can take place almost anywhere, in offices, fields, or markets, and are typically said at dawn, mid-day, late-afternoon, sunset and nightfall. The call to prayer is performed by a Muslim at those times. During prayer, worshippers must face in the direction of Mecca on their hands and knees.

The third Pillar of Islam is fasting or sawm. During Ramadan, Muslims must refrain from food and drink as well as other indulgences such as smoking for one month. The month of fasting is intended to bring worshippers in touch with God and invoke gratitude within them for the things God provides. At the end of Ramadan, a feast takes place called id-al-Fitr to break the fast.

Almsgiving or Zakat is the fourth Pillar. Simply put, worshippers are required to give a specific monetary donation or donation of property to a charity each year.

The final Pillar is pilgrimage or Hajj. This pillar requires all that are able, physically and financially, to make a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in their lifetime. The pilgrimage occurs during the beginning of the twelfth month of the Muslim calendar.

The foundations of Islam laid out by the Five Pullars of Islam Faith do not seem very difficult. If a person wants to become a Muslim, they simply submit to Allah as God, Mohammad as prophet, pray, fast, donate, and go to Mecca once in a lifetime, and they are golden, no questions asked.

Information for this post is composed from the following websites:

http://www.islam101.com/dawah/pillars.html
http://www.pbs.org/empires/islam/faithpillars.html

Mecca, the Home of Islam.

Talking about world religions in class is always interesting to see what began where and for which reasons. I thought it would be interesting to talk a little bit about the Islamic religion, but mostly to focus on Mecca, a very important city for this religion. The supposed founder of this religion was Muhammad, who drifted between tribes a small child and eventually grew to be one of the most influential religious leaders in human history. After leading several revolts, with both wins and losses under their belt, Muhammad and his people finally defeated the opposition and continued to take control of much of the byzantine and Middle Eastern lands.

The history of Mecca dates back to the times of Abraham, also known to the Christianity, Abraham was an important man to Islamic religion and also founded the city. Henceforth, when the city was not in Muhammad’s control, and in control of the Islamic peoples, there came to be an issue. Mecca had fallen to monotheism, and worshipped so called “false gods” in the Kaaba. When Muhammad conquered the city, two interesting things occurred. The first, being that he and his men did little to the then current inhabitants, in other words, they did not kill them. The second being simply, he went straight to the Kaaba and destroyed any inclination of a false god, claiming there was only, claiming the city in his name.

Today, Mecca is the holiest meeting location for the Islamic religion. Individuals who follow this religion will bow down and pray towards the city on a daily basis. It has grown immensely, and become semi modernized. While non Islamic individuals are not allowed in, the diverse numbers of the religion itself, allows for a diverse city.

This is a dome window found at the Stavrovouni Monastery found in the community known as the Monastery of the Holy Cross.

The Western Roman Empire and Eastern Roman Empire had different kinds of Christianity. I wanted to find out more about the kind of Christianity found in Byzantine and how it changed everyday life of the people who lived there. In the Byzantine Empire they practiced Orthodox Christianity. The Byzantine Empire was influenced greatly by Orthodox Christianity, by this I mean their art and literature was based around their faith.

Icons are very important to Orthodox Christianity along with other traditions. Most of the artwork found in this Empire depicted saints and other figures from the bible. Most of the art was abstract and stood for icons, and normally took the forms of small panels. These panels were all over churches a long with crosses and the amazing Architecture. Most of the structures for churches in the Byzantine Empire had domes and were surrounded by many figures from the bible. The dome represents the expansion of the heavens; the Orthodox Christians believed the heavens were always expanding to allow more people to enter. A lot of the churches had colored/abstract panels and beautiful stained glass windows. There were two different forms of architecture for churches found in this Empire.

The basilica type had a long column shaped tower that was covered with a wooden roof, which formed a dome at the top. The other type was the vaulted centralized church. This had separate components that gathered under a central dome. It was very important for the Orthodox churches to have a dome shaped top because of its significance to the heavens. In most of the churches there was a variety of different shapes incorporate into the windows and floors.

I used information from http://www.history.com/encyclopedia.do?vendorId=FWNE.fw..by218900.a and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_Empire.

The picture is found on this website: http://www.holytrinityindy.org/OurParish/AboutourByzantineTemple/AncientByzantineArtandArchitecture/tabid/243/language/en-US/Default.aspx

The Reign of Justinian I.

Justinian was born Petrus Sabbatius, in 483 A.D. Justinian was adopted by his uncle, Justin, during early childhood. Justin was at the time an Imperial Guard, and later became a Roman Emperor. He brought Justinian to Constantinople, providing him with a formal education and entrance to the political world. When Justin became emperor of Rome, Justinian stayed close and was a valued consul. Later, during the end of his rule, Justinian became commander of eastern armies and even began to make large scale decisions for Rome as a whole. When Justin died, Justinian became the official ruler of Rome in or around 527 A.D.

As emperor, Justinian always put first the concerns of Rome, and for this reason was quite successful and liked in during his career. He was said to be very direct, yet easy to approach. His success as an emperor however, had many contributing factors, including, surrounding himself with keen and intelligent individuals. One key factor was his wife, Theodora, who became a very helpful aid as she was an extremely smart individual. She was 20 years younger than he and also in a different social class, which under normal circumstances marriage between the two wouldn’t be allowed however the previous emperor Justin made a law which allowed for marriages such as these. Other individuals who offered great aid were Tribonian, a legal adviser, and a diplomat by the name of Peter.

Justinian conquered back much of the Roman Empire which was lost before the Byzantium era, and also created many new sets of laws, which was called the Corpus Juris Civilis. He incorporated Christianity into his rulings which allowed for Christianity to flourish in Rome. Around the time of 540 A.D. a terrible outbreak of the bubonic plague ended what was arguably one of the Roman Empires finest ruler ships.

Roman and Byzantine Christianity

While the Western Roman Empire (west Europe) was struggling to hold on to their empire while Byzantine (east Europe) began developing, becoming a strong unified state. During this time Christianity spread rapidly, becoming a major religion in Europe for the first time. Both Western and Eastern Europe began developing different beliefs. The Eastern developed Orthodox Christianity and Western Europe developed the Roman Catholic church.

Byzantine was the first of the two to become fully Christian. This could be due to caesaropapism (the emperor's power is tied to church and state). The emperor was God appointed so he had the power to choose the church leader. The leaders of the church were important and were treated as if they were part of the "elite class".

The Roman Catholic Church of the west started off as a more localized religion mainly found in rural areas. Unlike the church of the east, caesaropapism was not practiced.Separation of church and state was important. The Pope is the leader of all Christians and he is a highly respected.

There were more distinct differences between the two churches. Orthodox Christians did not believe that the Pope had authority over all the Christians. The leaders of the church were able to get marry and have hair unlike the Roman Catholic priest who had to remain celibate. Some other key differences were their practice of theology, the Trinity and faith. Despite the difference of the church's political system they also have some similarities. Both churches believe in the same basic doctrines and they believe that the use of idols in worship is offensive.

Christianity has many different branches and a variety of beliefs. It is important for us to recognize that the spread of Christianity in Europe was important because it helped mode Europe in what it is today.

Ways of the World Robert W. Strayer, pg. 269-289

Constantine - Religious Conversion

(Site of the Battle of Milvian)
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Constantine was an emperor of Rome starting in 306 BCE. His conversion to Christianity led to the spread of the religion throughout the state, allowing it to become dominant in the Roman empire. Although it is not thoroughly interesting that he brought about the religion within Rome, the events that caused him to become a follower of the religion is a bit less dry.

Constantine was surrounded with Christian influences throughout his life as his mother, St. Helena, was a firm believer. Whether Constantine adopted this religion in some form as a child or an adult does not matter, but the fact that he was exposed to it probably provided a foundation for what was to come.

In 312 BCE, Constantine, who was a great general in the Roman army, was set to engage in a war against Maxentius, his co-emperor and brother-in-law. Constantine, believing that his army was not strong enough to withstand that of Maxentius, thought he needed the assistance and backing of a higher power than he possessed. After praying for assistance, Constantine saw a vision in the sky which read "in hoc signo vinces " ("in this sign you will be victorious"). After successfully defeating the opposing troops, Constantine adopted the symbol of Christ as the signature of his army, contributing the triumph to his newly claimed religion.

After this Battle of Milvian Bridge, the religion gained momentum within Rome. Although Constantine has always been criticized as a hypocrite because he persecuted certain sects of the religion in which he believed, he adopted and furthered the spread of Christianity in Rome none-the-less. As many people in our country follow Christianity, I think it is interesting for them to be able to look at the inclusion of the religion in other societies and other time periods.

Information for this blog was obtained from:

http://www.thenagain.info/WebChron/easteurope/ConstantineConverts.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine_I_and_Christianity

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine_I

Christian Persecution

For this week’s topic on Western Christendom & Byzantium I decided that I wanted to find out more information on Christian persecution. What I found was an explanation of the top ten primitive mass persecutions found in Foxes Book of Martyrs.

1. In 67 BC Nero blamed the Christians for setting Rome aflame and the death and destruction caused by that fire. Some christens were sewn up in skins of wild beasts, and fed to the dogs, while others were made to wear stiff shirts coated in wax, then fixed to trees while they were set on fire, so they would light the gardens.

2. Under the rule of Domitian in 81 BC Christians were blamed for any famine, pestilence, and earthquakes that happened, and were put to death.

3. In 108 AD, Trajan Christians were beaten, behead, and eaten by wild beasts, killing over ten thousand people.

4. Marcus Aurelius Antoninas in 162 BC Christians were burned at the stake, beheaded, had hot tar poured over their heads, and eaten by wild beasts.

5. In 192 BC Severus continued Antoninas techniques to persecute Christians.

6. Maximus in 235 BC killed Christians for no reason, and had them buried in mass graves.

7. Under the rule of Decius in 249 BC who beheaded Fabian the Bishop of Rome, as well as countless others.

8. Valerian in 257 BC had Christians tortured for entertainment.

9. Under Aurelian in 274 BC the Roman Bishop Felix was martyred.

10. In 303 BC Diocletian had Christians persecuted was done by swords, daggers, crosses, poisons, famine.

Despite the number mass persecutions the Romans carried out, Christianity as a religion still survived much to the despite of the roman aristocrats. Some of these persecutions are incredibly gruesome. Also, it’s hard to believe that people actual tortoured others for entertainment. What I find truly horrifying about all of this though, is the fact that, persecution no matter what religion a person is, still happens today.

References
http://www.allaboutfollowingjesus.org/early-christian-persecution-faq.ht

The Spread of Religion

The influence of interaction between countries were important in the ancient world. Ideas, products, beliefs,and diseases were traded, helping to produce the society we now know. It is especially noticeable in countries that are far away but share similar beliefs or ways of life.

Religion is one of the most widespread beliefs that were transferred through the interaction of various cultures. Religions such as Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam became major religions through interactions by trading routes such as the Silk Road.For instance, Buddhism roots began in India yet the majority of its followers reside in Asia. Christianity is similar. It started in one area but it is now one of the leading religions of the world.

Products such a silk also revolutionized interactions between countries. Once silk became a popular product that only the Chinese knew how to create, more people became interested in learning the trade. Because of the boost in trade and the thirst for knowledge others found out how to make it, boosting their economy.

The interactions between different cultures can influence its people and alter their futures. Its one of the reasons many of us come to college, to interact with others from various backgrounds.

Marriage in Mesopotamia

In my history class we touched a little bit on the history of Mesopotamia and it made me interested in what their culture was like. I found a book on Ancient Mesopotamia’s everyday life. I learned a lot about women’s rights and about marriage rituals. I surprised to see how different things were in Mesopotamia then how things are run in the US today. In today’s society most things are paid by the woman’s family and there is a big ceremony to represent the bride becoming part of the groom’s family, but things in Ancient Mesopotamia were really different.

When a woman in Mesopotamia gets married, she becomes a part of the groom’s family and the new husband is in charge of the woman. He is responsible for his new wife and the husband’s family is in charge of planning the ceremony. Instead of having a wedding ceremony at a church, they have a huge feast at the new couple’s home. The man’s family is in charge of paying for the feast and they even give the family of the woman some money for allowing them to welcome her to the family.

This tradition came from a story about the Enlil who fell in love with a pretty daughter of the gods. He had made a mistake on what she wanted and realized she wanted marriage, he went to her parents and asked her father for permission to marry his daughter. He then sent her family herds of animals and he sent his future wife a lot of jewels and gems. It is believed that by sharing a feast made/retrieved by the husband’s family makes the wife part of the family. This feast was not just to rejoice about the new marriage, but to incorporate the woman into her new family. After the feast the new wife was treated as every other member of the husband’s family.

More Infomation about this can be found in Everday Life in Ancient Mesopotamia. By Jean Bottero

Property Rights of Women in Ancient Egypt

In many ancient civilizations, women were seen as inferior to their male counterparts. As a result of this, their rights were severely limited. Most women in these societies could not hold property of their own. In ancient Egypt, however, women were not restricted as much in this area.

Egyptian women were allowed to own property. This is most visible in the setting of marriage. When a woman married, she brought personal property to the house of her husband. In most civilizations, she would not be entitled to take the property with her in the case divorce, if divorce was even accepted, but in Egypt, if a divorce occurred, a woman was entitled to all property she brought to the marriage.

If a husband and wife acquired property whilst married, the wife had rights to one-third of all property. If the husband passed away, the wife was entitled to two-thirds of all property, with the other third being divided among children firstly, followed by brothers and sisters of the deceased. In other societies, a majority of the property would be passed to the brothers and father of the deceased, leaving little if anything to the wife and children.

In my opinion, this is one aspect that made ancient Egypt more suitable for both genders. It appears that men and women were treated more equally there than in most other ancient societies. Although women were still in charge of household duties as well as child bearing and rearing, they were allowed to do many things aside from those few and could act as a bigger part of society.

www.library.cornell.edu/colldev/mideast/womneg.htm

http://www.helium.com/items/497107-the-life-of-women-in-ancient-greece

Picture courtesy of : http://ceramic-studio.net/ceramic-history/

Eyptian Mummification

I would like to expand on an older post one of my group members created about mummification and the burial process. I am currently reading the book Death and Burial in Ancient Egypt for my critical book review. Many people focus on the mummification part of ancient Egyptian society; well I would lie to explain to you why ancient Egyptians practiced mummification.

First of all, it is important to know that Egyptians were not obsessed with death they were obsessed with life, and their beliefs in the afterlife showed that. Most funerary beliefs in ancient Egypt are associated with the myth of their god Osiris. Osiris was the first mummy that ever existed, or so the myth says. In pictures he is often depicted like a mummy with his arms crossed over his chest.

A quick version of the myth is that Osiris was the ruler of Egypt and was very beloved by his subjects. His brother, Seth was very jealous and so he created a casket, and tricked Osiris into it. Seth slammed down the lid of the casket and flung it into the Nile. Isis, his wife, went in search and found the casket and brought it back to Egypt. Now, I’m not really sure if he was found dead, or not, because the article doesn’t say.

However, when Isis brought the casket back, Seth opened it, and cut Osiris into pieces and scattered them around the provinces of Egypt. Isis, along with her sister Nepthys, who is also married to Seth, went in search of Osiris’ scattered body parts, and when they gathered them all up, Isis bound his body and then mated with him, which I find rather disturbing.

Isis then became pregnant and gave birth to a son Horus. When Horus was older, he was able to defeat Seth and become King of Egypt, while his father, Osiris became king of the afterlife.

It is this myth that gives birth to Egyptian beliefs in the afterlife, and why they practice mummification.

References

Salima, Ikram. Death and Burial in Ancient Egypt. London: Pearson Education Limited, 2003.