Transcript PPT

ISLAM ON BACKGROUND
Prof. Waleed el-Ansary
University 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.
– 2.
– 3.
– 4.
– 5.
Profession of faith (shahadah)
Prayer (shalat)
Fasting (sawm, at Ramadhan)
Alms (zakat)
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
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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