Surrender, Submission (of one's entire life to God)
    Related to the words "salom" and "shalom" - 'peace'
        Muslim - "One who submits"
            Claims adherents at approximately 20% of the world's population

FOUNDER:  Muhammad (called "The seal of the prophets") claimed only one miracle:  The Koran itself - did not "invent" Islam, but is its messenger.  Adherents' position is that Islam was created by God.  Muhammad is considered the last of the prophets.
    Year 622 C.E. - 1sr revelation during a religious retreat.  (622 is the 1st year of the Muslim calendar.)  Exodus to Medina in that year - the Hejira (exodus)
            The first Muslims were:  Muhammad's wife, cousin and son-in-law Ali, and friend Abu Bakr (the first caliph - successor to Muhammad).  The Shiites claim Ali as the founder of their sect of Islam.
        Most sacred cities:  Medina, Mecca, Jerusalem
        Accepts Jesus and Moses as prophets, but Jesus has no divine status.  No trinity.

NATURE OF GOD:  Awesome, fear inspiring.  The fundamental revelation is that there is one God requiring morality and devotion - in this, Islam is consistent with Judaism and Christianity.  God is all-powerful and transcendent - controls the world to the finest detail.
    Allah - formed from the words 'al' (the) and 'ilah' (God).  This is NOT God's name.  It simply means "The God"

CREATION:  This world is good - God created it and said so.  The story of creation - same as Judaism and Christianity.
 

SCRIPTURE:  The Qur'an (Koran) -  114 chapters (suras).  The word 'Koran' means 'recitation'
    Composed basically of three parts:  Doctrinal messages, historical accounts, adn mystical expressions
            hadiths - recollections of Muhammad by early followers.
        Considers the Jewish "Old Testament" (Torah) and the Christian New Testament to be only part of the truth.
            The ultimate truth for Islam is in the Koran -- second chapter:  "This is the scripture of which there is no doubt."
                The Old and New Testaments are only part of the truth (they are earlier revelations).  They were corrupted in transmission (translation) and err in being ABOUT religion rather than being RELIGION itself.
    Refers to Jews and Christians as "People of the Book" (but who are misguided).
 

HUMAN PURPOSE:
    1.  We are fundamentally good.  No original sin.  Influenced by Plotinus (everything is part of God, the One) and Gnosticism (notion that life is a spiritual journey).
    2.  Same ancestry as Judaism and Christianity - traces lineage back to Abraham.  Abraham's sons (Isaac and Ishmael) - Isaac founded the tribes of Judaism; Ishmael went to Arabia and is the background of Islam.
    3.  The story of Ishmael vs. story of Isaac (regarding sacrifice to God)
    4.  Belief in souls, resurrection, judgment day, and an afterlife (including Hell)
 

MORAL LAWS:

    The FIVE PILLARS OF ISLAM

1.  THE CREED (Shahodah) OF ISLAM:  There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is his messenger.
2.  Ritual worship - prayer 5 times a day (Salat = prayer) - requires ritual purification with water (or sand if water is unavilable).  Friday is the day of public prayer.  Called to prayer by a muezzin (chanter) - announces that God is greater than anything else.
3.  Almsgiving - Zakat - 2.5% of worth
4.  Fasting (RAMADAN - MAJOR HOLIDAY) - discipline, sympathy for the poor, give to others - a period of shared discomfort.  9th month of the Muslim calendar/recalls Muhammad's 1st revelation.
5.  Pilgrimage (Hajj) to Mecca

    Main precepts:
    5 articles of faith:
1.  One God
2.  Angels
3.  Revealed books
4.  Prophets
5.  Judgment Day

ISLAMIC LAW (SHARIA):  - does not separate religious and secular spheres.
    1.  Economic:  material goods should be widely distributed.  Shared inheritance (though girls get less).  Cannot charge interest, but may charge a "commission" on loans.
    2.  Women - free consent to marriage/equal in the eyes of God
    3.  Race - equality - they see Abraham's "marriage" to Hagar as the model of intermarriage.
            U.S. -Malcolm X (originally violently racist - after a trip to Mecca, realized that this was not acceptable) - Nation of Islam -- Organization of Afro-American Unity -- American Muslim Mission.
    4.  Force - defend oneself, but do not be the aggressor - God hates the aggressor.

For the Muslim, religion is an ethical enterprise:
    Muslims consider themselves a semitic people - descended from Shem (a son of Noah).

RELIGIOUS PRACTICES, RITUALS:
    Birth Ceremony (akikah) - culturally based, not all participate
    Initiation (shahada) - middle teens
    Marriage - a contract - see esp. p. 418 of text.  A comment there is that women become more responsible after marriage because they are now the legal responsibility of their husband.  Hmmmm.  Where's the responsibility in that?  Something must be missing in the text???
    Funerals - within 24 hours of death, face toward Mecca, plain white shroud

OVERALL PRACTICES, GOALS:
1. Gratitude to God
2.  Surrender to God
3.  The soul is individual
4.  Freedom - the soul will be held accountable

5.  Jihad (struggle) - to spread knowledge and practice of the will of God.

Forbids pork and wine (generally all alcohol, though the Koran lists only wine as forbidden)
    Usury and gambling are morally objectionable.
        Circumcision - done in emulation of Muhammad.  Some Islamic cultures (primarily east African) include this for girls....  Reason?
            The Role of Women in Islam:
                1.  Muhammad forbid infanticide - a common practice in his time (for girls, of course)
                2.  Limits the number of wives to 4; a woman can have only one husband
                3.  Cover one's hair (women) as a sign of submission to God/hair is considered sensual
                4.  Separate prayer - sexes segregated in worship

BRANCHES OF ISLAM:

SUNNI - from 'Sunna' = 'tradition' - Orthodox, approx. 90% of all Muslims.

SHIITE - from 'Shia' = 'faction' - emphasis on the role of individual leaders.
    A political movement of the 7 centurey over Islamic state leadership.  Ali, the son-in-law and cousin of Muhammad, finally made it in the line of succession and was assassinated.
    Those who are leaders have the "Light of Muhammad"
        Twelvers - those who hold that there are 12 successors (imams) of Muhammad.  Seveners - hold with 7.
    The official version of Islam in Iran and Iraq.

SUFI - mystics.  Complete reliance on and remembrance of God.
    'Suf' = woold - deliberate simplicity.  Seeks involvement of the emotions.  The route to God is love, ecstasy and intuition.  The intuitive part is the "eye of the heart."
    Mysticism - direct experience of God
            Rabia - a woman mystic - referred to God as her divine lover.
            Al Hallaj (922 C.E.) - actually referred to himself as God ad was executed.