Transcript A simple guide to the Islam faith

A simple guide
to Islam
Islam is the religion of
people called Muslims.
Muslims believe that
someone is more important
than themselves and they
obey them. Muslims believe
this person is God, whom
they call Allah.
Muslims believe that there is
one God and he is eternal.
Islam – Key Terms
• Islam mean ‘voluntary submission to God’
• A Muslim, therefore, is ‘one who submits to God’
• Allah means God in Arabic. Allah is the same
God that Christians and Jews believe in.
• Mohammad (and his followers) rejected
polytheism
Beginnings
• Muhammad (572-630)
– Not the ‘creator’ of
Islam – a prophet or
messenger of God
– Qur’an revealed to
Muhammad
– A great general who
united the tribes of
Arabia
– Seen as the last in a
line of prophets,
including Abraham,
Moses and Jesus
Spread of Islam
• After Muhammad’s death, Islam spread
(mostly into Persian territory) across
the Middle East and North Africa
• Caliphs were the head of Islam.
Following political differences and
assassinations, there was a schism
within Islam in the mid 7th century
There are over 1.2 billion Muslims in the world
today, living in almost every country in the world.
About 3 million Muslims live in the USA, about
1.5 million live in Britain, and about 220,000 live
in Australia
In most of the countries in northern Africa and
the Middle East, over half of the population are
Muslims.
In Europe, Islam is the second largest religion
after Christianity.
Muslims believe that
these messages were
the words of Allah and
can never be changed.
They were collected
together to form the
Muslims’ holy book
which is called the
Qur’an.
Crash Course
What are the main
practices?
They are called the “five pillars of Islam”.
1. Say the Shahada
throughout the day.
Declaration there is only
One God!
2. Pray five times daily,
facing Mecca. Each
prayer begins with a
recitation of the
opening chapter from
the Qur’an
Prayers must wash in the prescribed way
before they pray. Prayers are formal and
memorized and prayed in various
postures, from bowing to kneeling. The
word mosque means “place of
prostration.”
“In the Name of God, the Merciful, the
Compassionate
Praise belongs to God, the Lord of all Being,
the All-merciful, the All-compassionate, the
Master of the Day of Doom.
Thee only we serve; to Thee alone we pray for
succour. Guide us in the straight path, the
path of those whom Thou hast blessed, not
of those against whom Thou art wrathful, nor
of those who are astray.”
Muslims pray in a place called a
Mosque.
In the entrance of the mosque there is a row of
clocks to inform them of the prayer times for the
day.
Muslim take off their shoes before they enter the
mosque.
Muslims then perform wudu, washing to make
themselves fit for prayer.
The main room of the mosque
•
•
•
•
•
There is no furniture
Decorated in Arabic text.
Never any pictures
Usually covered in carpet
May have a large single dome on the roof or
one or more smaller ones
This is called the Prayer Hall
Muslims pray in this room at prayer times
Muslims pray facing in the direction of Mecca
Muslims may use prayer mats
Muslims prayers involve standing, bowing and
kneeling
3. Alms: Muslims are
required to give 2.5%
of their income to
the poor.
4. Pilgrimage
to Mecca (Hajj)
- Every able
bodied Muslim
must make this
pilgrimage
once.
Sigh.
Activities during hajj re-enact important
events in life of Muhammad
5. Sawm:
fasting and
self-control
during the
blessed month
of Ramadan
Useful words
Allah. – The Muslim God
Qur’an.- Muslim holy book
Mosque.- Place of worship
Wudu – the wash before prayer
Mihrad – Alcove or arch in prayer hall
Minbar – platform or stairs where the prayer leader
preaches
qiblah – direction of Mekkah
Mekkah – can be known as Mecca. A place in Saudi
Arabia
Imam – Muslin leader or teacher
Some contemporary issues:
Islamic State
Caliphate, a disputed concept, no longer has a
hold over all Muslims
Jihad – Unofficial…
• Jihad is considered to be
an unofficial pillar of
Islam by some Muslims
• Jihad translates as ‘holy
struggle’ – this is not the
same as ‘holy war’
• Some see Jihad as an act
of war, but to many (if not
most Muslims), the
ultimate struggle is with
one’s self (living a ‘good’
life)
Roger Du Pasquier (Swiss
Journalist)
•
“The West, whether Christian or dechristianised, has never really known
Islam. Ever since they watched it appear on the world stage, Christians
never ceased to insult and slander it in order to find justification for waging
war on it. It has been subjected to grotesque distortions the traces of
which still endure in the European mind. Even today there are many
Westerners for whom Islam can be reduced to three ideas: fanaticism,
fatalism and polygamy. Of course, there does exist a more cultivated public
whose ideas about Islam are less deformed; there are still precious few
who know that the word islam signifies nothing other than ‘submission to
God’. One symptom of this ignorance is the fact that in the imagination of
most Europeans, Allah refers to the divinity of the Muslims, not the God of
the Christians and Jews; they are all surprised to hear, when one takes the
trouble to explain things to them, that ‘Allah’ means ‘God’, and that even
Arab Christians know him by no other name.”
•
How do you feel about this statement? Do you agree? Disagree? Can you see
evidence in the world around you to support this idea?
•
Discuss with a partner.
Islam and the West
• The term Islam has many connotations in
Western society today
• Important to distinguish between Muslims
and Arabs – the three most populous
Muslim countries are actually in South
East Asia
• Important to differentiate between
religion, culture and ideology
Discuss
• What do you think is it about ‘The West’
that some Muslim fundamentalists
hate?
Sufism
Dating from the thirteenth century, the Sema ritual performed by the
Semezens from the Mevlevi Order of Whirling Dervishes is a UNESCO
Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.
Terrorism
• Muslims do not hate the
West because we are
predominantly Christian
(remember, we believe in the
same God)
– Some are opposed to
atheism or secularism
• Most of the issues which
lead to acts of terrorism are
political, not religious
Terrorism
• Some reasons for acts of
violence against the West
include:
– Cultural imperialism
– Military presence in
Middle East
– Eye for an
eye/Retaliation to
violence, sanctions,
etc
Blowback
• Term coined by the CIA in the 1950s –
refers to the unintended consequences
of intelligence operations
– Eg. US supplies arms to bin Laden for years
so that he can fight the Soviets in
Afghanistan. He uses these weapons and
the people that he has recruited to then
attack the West
Blowback
• There are reasons for each act of
terrorism
• You don’t have to agree with these
reasons, but you have to acknowledge
that, for many, they are real and
important
Islamism
• Islamism is a radical form
of Islam that combines
religious teaching with
political ideology
• Has been used to
encourage individuals to
commit violent acts under
the pretense of religion,
when really, they are
political acts
Stereotypes
• Your job is to separate the religious from the political, and to
ensure that you are not forming opinions of a religion based on
the actions of a radical few.
Charlie Hedbo Cartoon –
Disrespectful?
https://www.rt.com/news/310193-charliehebdo-editor-caricature/
Islamophobia
Muslim schoolgirl's passionate speech about
Islamophobia goes viral after bullies 'blame
sister for Paris attacks'
30 Days in the life of a Muslim
The case of the Yazidis and ISIS
• Newspaper Article
• Dabiq – ISIS Propaganda Magazine
• https://www.google.com.au/search?q=newsp
aper+articles+and+islamic+people&biw=1600
&bih=782&source=lnms&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEw
ipsKOMo5jMAhUP2MKHeSQBvEQ_AUIBSgA&dpr=1