ISLAM ON BACKGROUND

Prof. Waleed el-AnsaryUniversity of South Carolina

Department of Religious Studies

GABRIEL

• Hadith of Gabriel – Link to pdf file

3 ASPECTS

TAWHID

• Tawhid as doctrine of unity (also sometimes transliterated Tauhid)

RELIGIONS

• Aspects of religions & profession of faith– Theistic– Non-Theistic– Atheistic

PROPHETS

• Islamic concepts of prophets somewhat broader than in Christianity:

• Rasul or prophet bringing tawhid and sacred law

• Nabi as messenger of news

ALLAH

• Islamic Concept of God– Personal divinity (referred to in masculine) – Impersonal divinity (referred to in feminine)

MESSAGE[R]

• Islamic as theocentric

• Christianity as logocentric

KNOWING GOD

• Problems of knowing God– Divine names versus essence– Formula of transcendence

GOD’S WILL

• What does God will?

• Insha’Allah

5 PILLARS

• The five pillars of Islam:– 1. Profession of faith (shahadah)– 2. Prayer (shalat)– 3. Fasting (sawm, at Ramadhan)– 4. Alms (zakat)– 5. Pilgrimage (hajj & umroh)

I: WITNESS

• Shahadah as profession of faith

• Normally translated along the lines of “[t]here is no God but Allah, and Mohammed is his prophet.”

II: PRAYER

• Shalat (prayer), remembering & attachment to God– Morning (midpoint dawn & sunrise)– Noon (midpoint sunrise & sunset)– Afternoon (midpoint noon & sunset)– Sunset– Night

• Astronomical observation as reflection of necessity of fixing prayer times, beginning of Ramadhan, etc.

MOSQUE

• Mosque from mesjid meaning place of prostration, as opposed to sanctified place as such

• World as mosque, and nature as a place of worship

LANGUAGE

• al Quran (aka Koran) as sacred word• Arabic as direct language of revelation is

sacred• Thus, prayers are supposed to be in

Arabic• Embarassment currently with airport

cases, etc.• Concept of canonical prayer largely lost in

West, still alive in Islamic world

III: FASTING

• Fasting (sawm) normally but not exclusively during Ramadhan is intended as third pillar and to separate one from one’s body

IV: ALMS

• Alms (zakat as tax) to achieve detachment from goods

• Perhaps 2.5% wealth tax as tradition, but modern variation

V: HAJJ

• Pilgrimage or hajj to Mecca as Abrahamic exercise, so pre-islamic practice reconstituted

• Umroh or minor pilgrimage (often times thought desireable, but not required as pillar)

SUNNI & SHIA

• Sunni versus Shiite thought• Most striking differences on political side in

ruler’s qualifications– Sunni-> caliph as prophet’s representative

consults with religious scholars, but need not be a technical expert on religion himself

– Shia->imam as religious expert necessary to be political leader, and so religious expert dimension makes popular selection problematic

JIHAD

• Typical jihad as Holy War translation & concept wrong• Correct interpretation is rather inner battle against

passions (actual battle or fighting is different concept)• Hierarchy of Jihad

– Inner battle– Moral applications– Actual battle ( justified under Islamic thought if

• (1) Islamic borderlands threatened,• (2) Moslems being slaughtered, or • (3) fighting & threates within the Islamic world (Napoleon earlier,

later colonialism)

ISLAMIC WORLD

• What is the Islamic world?

• Spread of Islam requires distinguishing between Islam’s political versus religious expansion (debate within Islamic law over political expansion)

• Arabian zone, Persian zone, Turkic zone, South Asia & Malay & Indonesian zones

ANTI ELEMENTS

• Much of what is called jihad is simply opposition to western influences within the Islamic world

• But distinguish jihad (struggle) vs heraba (impermissible terrorism)

• In Islamic law, much of what is referred to in the West as Islamic terrorism is actually extremism as arbitrary interpretations leading to deviation judged as heraba

ISLAMIC LAW

• Spectrum really, interpreted locally in terms of Quran & haddiths, concept of fiqh as Islamic jurisprudence

• Some elements very specific (e.g., just war doctrine)

• Some matters more interpretation locally (e.g., veiling or hijab, not literally required under Quran or traditional practice, not to mention cultural influences like burkas as full body cover except eye slit, etc.)

GOD & CAESAR

• Religion and the State different concepts in part as result of differing Sunni and Shia political philosophies re ruler’s qualifications– Sunni-> caliph as prophet’s representative

consults with religious scholars, but need not be a technical expert on religion himself

– Shia->imam as religious expert necessary to be political leader, and so religious expert dimension makes popular selection problematic

SHARIAH

• Islamic law as embodiment of divine will, but issues then of secular law in Islamic countries, who controls law (government vs clergy), and many more complication visible later in the course