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.