AHSS 2360 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Rightful Heir, Sunnah, Ummah
28 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Week 4: Islam
Year 1
-There were threats to his life in Mecca
-Invited to Medina in 622 (hijira)
-There he institutes: zakat; Ramadan; directing prayer towards Ka’ba; Friday as day of worship;
bans pork and consumption of alcohol
Return to Mecca
-Ka’ba: Greatest point of sacrality in Islam
-Traditionally ascribed to Abraham, whose son
Ishmael was considered the father of Arab ppls
-630: Muhammad clears the idols
Creation of the Islamic Community (ummah
-First established in Medina
-Islamic confessional body
-Community of believers
-Live by a divinely revealed law rather than tribal norms
-Provides a transparent law for all
-Also defines rights for religious minorities (that is, other monotheists)
-Not based on kinship ties, but belief
Four Rightly-Guided Caliphs
-All were members of the Quraysh
-They oversaw military and religious expansion
-Their reigns were considered to be the “golden age” of Islamic faith
-They are:
Abu Bakr 632-634
Umar 634-644
Uthman 645-655
Ali 656-661
Abu Bakr
-Father-in-law of Muhammad
-Not all people agreed about his right to succeed Muhammad (especially Ali)—who gets to
decide, heredity or communal agreement?
-Sunni Muslims do not believe that Muhammad chose a successor prior to his death
-Abu Bakr spent much of his caliphate trying to keep together the coalition Muhammad had
brought together
Umar
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
There were threats to his life in mecca. There he institutes: zakat; ramadan; directing prayer towards ka"ba; friday as day of worship; bans pork and consumption of alcohol. Ishmael was considered the father of arab ppls. Live by a divinely revealed law rather than tribal norms. Also defines rights for religious minorities (that is, other monotheists) Their reigns were considered to be the golden age of islamic faith. Sunni muslims do not believe that muhammad chose a successor prior to his death. Abu bakr spent much of his caliphate trying to keep together the coalition muhammad had brought together. Qur"an and sunnah are the sources of shari"a; the sunnah specify [the] meaning of the qur"an (f. e. Fewer than 100 verses in the qur"an are direct law. Often today operative in areas with fragile civil and political institutions that is, it offers an alternative legal structure when secular structures fail. From the ummayad family, which had at times opposed muhammad.
