Ritual Assignment

1. How does ritual shape daily life?
     Rituals are very important to the life of a Muslim. For example, prayer is a daily action in a Muslims life. They pray five times a day and this helps to submit to the will of Allah (Islam). These prayers provide an opportunity for Muslims to glorify and thank God for everything that he has done for them. Praying daily allows you to ask for hope and forgiveness and help to get through your struggles in life (jihad). Prayer can be related to anything in relation to Islam, for example people can pray to Allah to get help in getting a job or having a child or getting married. Because of the required 5 daily prayers, prayer can be considered to be a focal point in their relationship with Allah.

2. How are specific rituals linked to a foundational figure?
     Rituals revolving around Muhammad's life are observed because it is a way for Muslims to remember how important Muhammad's life as a prophet was to them. Eid al- Ghadeer is the celebration of the appointment of Ali ibn  Abi Talib as Muhammad's successor. This celebration also marks the anniversary of Muhammad's sermon about maula. This holiday is typically celebrated by shia Muslims and they usually follow the tradition of a mass oath reasserting the commitment to Islam. This festival observes the message to God as revealed to the Prophet (Risalah).

3. What gender issues might be raised by the way rituals are performed?
     The rules in relation to marriage differ by gender in the Islamic religion. A woman's family must pay a certain fee before she can become engaged to her husband. This draws up the concern that women are viewed more as property than  as human beings in Muslim culture. This is not true as these assumptions are usually made by people who don;t understand the religion. Also the men must follow strict rules as in they must get married or they will fall into sin. I think that dowries bring up a lot of issues because in poorer parts of countries, many families cannot afford their daughters dowry and as a result she cannot get married. This makes women look inferior to men in society and it makes them look as if they can't do anything on their own. The Qur'an does place one gender before the other, but I think a key factor is how society (especially people who may not understand the background of Islam) may interpret the Qur'an.

4. How are specific doctrines and rituals linked?
     The Qur'an has a very big impact on certain rituals especially prayer. Salat is one of the Islamic pillars and it is ritual prayer. People recite the Qur'an during prayer and these people are called hafiz. Muslims typically complete the recitation of the whole Quran during tarawih prayers. In order to extrapolate the meaning of a particular Quranic verse, most Muslims rely on the tafsir. Muslims regard the most reliable Qur'anic commentary as being contained in the Qur'an itself. In other words, the ways in which certain ayat clarify other ayat are regarded as being the most significant form of commentary. A second form of Qur'anic commentary is how the Prophet interpreted the Qur'an. And his comments on the Qur'an (as well as everything he ever said or did) are recorded in the hadith collections. After these two forms of commentary, knowledgeable companions and later generations of pious and learned Muslims expressed their view of the meaning of various ayat. It was on this foundation that the science of Qur'anic commentary was built.

5. What are the purposes of specific rituals?
     Almsgiving is a central activity in Islam. The Quran explicitly requires it and often places it alongside prayer when discussing a Muslim's duties. Zakat means purifying your wealth for the will of Allah; to acknowledge that everything we own belongs to Allah and to work towards the betterment of the Muslim Ummah. Zakat is not only a means to purify one’s wealth but it is also a spiritual purification which serves as a means to draw an individual closer to the Creator, Allah. 

Muhammad Timeline

This is a timeline of Muhammad's life, compiled of events from the article "The Glorious Qur'an " and the TV documentary " Islam: Empire of Faith"

• Born 570AD in the Arabian Peninsula (in Mecca)
• From Mecca he was sent to live with the Bowdoin tribe in the desert
• Parents died at age six- orphaned
• taken in by his grandfather and later his uncle Abu Talib
• Very adaptable (child to everybody)
• Wars began to be waged over water
• The Caba was in Mecca; sacred stone that was worshipped and provided peace. Also they were economically important (place for trade)
• Muhammad traveled with his uncle who was a merchant and soon made the same journey in the service of a wealthy widow named Khadijah
• Khadijah became a mentor to Muhammad and soon afterward she married him.
• Disputes over the Caba began to occur.
• After settling disputes between the four leaders and the sacred black stone, Muhammad became known as Al-Amin
• In a cave above Mecca in a place called Hira, an angel in the form of a man cam to him and required him to recite to the Lord God almighty.
• This experience was the start of Muhammad's prophetic phase in 610AD
• Delivered message that there is only one God (one God meant one people; Muhammad delivered social justice)
• The Qur'an showed itself through Muhammad's followers recording his sermons/messages
• Muhammad's wife and uncle dies in 619AD
• A refuge opened to Muhammad (Yathrib) because he had no protection from the people who were trying to kill him
• Journey from Mecca to Yathrib became known as the Hirjah. 622 in Christian calendar; marks Muslim year 1
• When Muhammad was ruler over Yathrib, he did not challenge others faith
• Muhammad's house is considered the 1st mosque
• War (tried to wipe out the Muslims) between the Meccans
• 3 very bloody battles over 3 years
• When people heard about the war and that the Muslims had god on their side, they began to join the very small army.
• Muslims win the war; Muhammad embraces the Meccans instead of killing them
• When Muhammad entered Mecca, he destroyed all idols
•  After this, Islam quickly spread across North Africa and Eastern Asia and some parts of Southern Europe
• In 632AD Muhammad died (before he could see his empire flourish)

In my opinion I think that the wars greatly influenced Muhammad's life and the spread of Islam. During the beginning of the war, the Muslim army was very small and they didn't really have a chance of winning the war. But they did have something in common: faith in a higher power who could give them the strength to win. This faith was seen by other tribes and in no time the army grew exponentially. This allowed the to win the war and gain Mecca back. The wars also contributed to the spread of Islam because after Muhammad and his army conquered Mecca, they did not kill the citizens there as another leader might have done. Instead he embraced them and his compassion convinced them that whatever power is over this man can have a positive effect on us as well.

Chapter 2: Islam for Idiots

Question Answers:
1. The Ayatul Kursi gives and introduction to the way in which Muslims view God
2. 1) The natural world with all its complexity and beauty. This is a sign of an intelligence in the Universe because only a designing mind could have constructed it.
    2)Our human abilities and capacities for thought, belief, invention, creativity, and moral choices. No animal or plant can do what we do.
    3) The revelation of God's guidance and the existence of religion. They show that there is a right way and a wrong way to live life. Prophets, Holy Books, flashes of insight- all these serve as proof that guidance is real and purposefully directed.
    4) Our inner feelings. These propel us to seek the meaning in things and show that we have a soul that seeks harmony with nature, the universe and a higher power. Why should we all want to know the answer to the big question "why" is there is no "because"? The existence of a question necessitates the existence of an answer.
3. To surrender to Allah means to follow Islam and to be Muslim. Muslim can be applied to both living and nonliving things .
4. The role of free will is to guide you to accept "the trust" and transcend nature and to be able to conceive of itself and make decisions using an intellect and the power of reason. It established right, wrong, good and evil.
5. Fitrah is important because it provides moral guidance. We all have fitrah because we can choose to become Muslims and surrender to God/Allah.
6. Fitrah is your moral view that are influenced by your environment.

What Went Wrong?

This article written by Bernard Lewis explores present day issues involving Muslims and his perspective of what he thinks went wrong. As I was reading this article the tensions between Muslims and Jews was really put into perspective for me. One question I have is: is Muslims and Christians worked cohesively to oppress the Jews, than why do we often see them battling heads? I feel that all three of the religions mentioned in this article have more in common than they think. Not to say that they are the same, but some aspects are similar. Another thought that comes to mind is: Is the US fueling the fire in the conflict between Palestine and Israel?

Welcome

This blog is for my IB World Religions Class. Our current religion that we are studying is Islam!