REL 2029 : Rel2029 Exam3 AllNotes
Muhammed and his culture
Pre-Islamic Arabia
• Polytheists, Jews, Christians, monotheists
o No afterlife
o Fatalism (Time is absolute, inscrutable)
o Islam sees Allah as the same God of Judaism and Christianity… and now he is
reaching out through Mohammed
o Monotheism idea: God is an ethical law giver
• Raiding, … since there is no afterlife, get the most you can in this one
• Trade, … a lot of difference people traveling through
• Rise of wealth and inequality
• Tribalism
o Kinship > law
▪ Virtue of loyalty is more important than objective, impersonal law
▪ “pirate-honor”
o Self-reliance, independence, tenacity, anti-authoritarian democracy
▪ Law could be seen as direct attack on one’s independence
▪ There is a certain glory in fierce independence
o Poetry
▪ The most popular art of this culture
▪ Why? Because they were nomads, they had to carry their art with them…
too hard to carry statues
• Mecca
o Center of trade and center of pilgrimage
o Quraysh
▪ The authorities of Mecca
▪ Muhammed ends up having conflict with Quraysh
o Sacred place
Al-Jahiliya
• Age of Ignorance – the time of darkness before the teachings of Islam
• Virtues of strong > weak, might is right, revenge, no rules
Islamic redefinition of virtue
• Protect weak, forgiveness, restraint
Muhammed 570-632 * know all these dates
• Muhammed had been growing in dissatisfaction with polytheism
o His preaching of monotheism causes problems with Mecca economy…
polytheists don’t feel welcome and economy is lost
• 610 Received revelation (illiterate), conflict with Quraysh
o If he was illiterate, the Quran must have been from God, supernatural message
• Night Journey (mi’raj) and Ascension
o They had to leave at night, death threats, going to a place where he is welcomed
o Travels to Jerusalem
o From Jerusalem, he travels to heaven
o In heaven, he sees all the past prophets
• 622 Hijrah
o Migration to medina
o Islamic calendar started with Hijrah in 622
o Calendar started with Hijrah instead of the revelation because now a community
had been established
• 630 Purged Ka’bah of idols
o Purges Ka’bah of idols and preaches one God
• 632 Died
Muhammed
Religious Reform
• Muslim means “surrender only to God”
• Return to true monotheism
• Surrender to God, humility
• Respects revelation preserved in Judaism and Christianity
o But sees this revelation as flawed – the Jews and Christians misinterpreted what
they received
o Especially Christianity – Jesus is the son of God, trinity, to be worshipped
• 2 major sins: shirk and kufr
o Shirk
▪ Idolatry
▪ Worshipping something other than God
o Kufr
▪ The denial of God
▪ The failure to see God as God
• Last judgment
o In direct contrast with “no afterlife” view and “fatalism”
o Muhammed affirms there is a higher law… everything you do really does
matter… behavior, righteousness, and relationships matter
o Rejects the idea of original sin
Social Reform
• Criticizes Quraysh power and materialism
• Retrieves traditional Arabian values of community and responsibility for the weak
o Tribal ethic
o Those at the top are supposed to take care of those at the bottom
• Rights of women (divorce, property, inheritance, limit on polygamy)
o Legally given rites
o In the 7th century, the Quran gives women rights that are enforced… this is
unusual for he era
• Equality of ummah (surrender to God alone, no human)
o Ummah means “Islamic community as a whole”
o Ummah root is “womb” – speaks to common origin, they be a family
• Fair distribution of wealth
• Compassion
o Correction of this “the strongest survive” model
Surrender to God’s will → Equality, compassion → Successful just and united society
• [religious reform → social justice]
• Virtue and faith are to be rewarded (Day of Judgment)
• Medina as model
o Muslim commonwealth + religious freedom + political equality
▪ Not separation of church and state, but allowing of religious minorities
o Movement away from Judaism
o Means “city of the prophet”
o Dhimmi – people of the book
Qur’an
• Q1: Status, significance
o The original version, in Arabic, is the only truly authoritative version
o Because the Qur’an is poetry, meaning is lost in translation
o Muslims pray in Arabic, even if they don’t understand the language
▪ Like a sacrament
▪ Speaking in Arabic has a ritual power
• Q2: Compilation
o Compiled over 23 years by Muhammed
o Arranged from longest to shortest
• Q3: Use
o Art
o Marriage ceremonies
o Business dealings
• Q4: Ethical teachings **link on moodle
• ----------
• Next Time: Bring JCI book to class
• Online quiz due Friday 9am
Qur’an – “recitation”
• 114 suras (chapters)
o Meccan suras vs. Medinan suras
▪ Meccan suras
• Muhammed would get a revelation that applies to a certain
situation
▪ Medinan suras
• Legal-political concerns
• Practical concerns
• Muslim use: recitation contests, sacramental quality, calligraphy, poetry, repetition has a
meditative peaceful effect (not narrative)
o Qur’an analogous to Christ (Logos)
▪ Christians see Christ as God on earth; Christ is the way
▪ Muslims see Qur’an as God communicating with the earth; the Qur’an is
the way
• Tawhid
o Means “divine unity”
Document Summary
Al-jahiliya: age of ignorance the time of darkness before the teachings of islam, virtues of strong > weak, might is right, revenge, no rules. Islamic redefinition of virtue: protect weak, forgiveness, restraint. Surrender to god"s will equality, compassion successful just and united society. It is allowed but if you see the corruption that can result from it (in modern times especially) don"t do it. Muhammed , he would say prophet muhammed, peace be upon him . Ijma (consensus) sunni, not shiite: local custom often assimilated into islamic law, when a local custom is made into an islamic law, it is now lawful for all muslims, taqlid imitation of precedent. Medieval philosophy and theology: 9th 10th cents: world"s oldest universities, hellenistic influence, aristotelian in logic, physics, metaphysics, platonic in political, social aspects, neoplatonic in mysticism, theology. Caliphs: elected, not chosen from family, caliph is like a human representative of god on earth, were also religious/political leaders.
