RLG204Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Vikings, Androcentrism
Document Summary
Sources: the qur"an is responsive to the problems that the people of muhammed (pbuh) had and the best source we have to tell us about that time, hadith are hard to date and verify. Islam through other people"s eyes: constitution of medina. Islam didn"t pop out of nowhere, major theological ideas were present in previous religions. Arab cultural context: poetry, worship of multiple gods, dahr (time or grinding fate) No afterlife, rather poetry immortalizes individuals and tribes. Economies of mecca and medina: mecca trade in leather, foodstuffs and metals. No water so there was no agriculture: medina was an oasis so agriculture was a main form of a trade. Arab social context: status of women were lower than that of their male counterparts, status was different among and within tribes, most vulnerable were low status women and slaves. Androcentrism: understanding the world from the perspective of men as the center or the standard, man/mankind.
