Transcript ISLAM

ISLAM
Medina mosque
Mecca mosque
Muhammad
preaches to early
converts
Central Mosque
Erin-Osun, Nigeria 2005
Mosques in Erin-Osun, Nigeria 2005
Imam’s home/mosque
Mosque next to Iyaloja’s
Key terms
 Islam = “submission to the will of Allah
(God)”; name of religion passed down from
Allah to Muhammad
 Muslim = “one who submits”; one who
practices the Islamic religion
 Qu’ran = “recitation”; Allah’s revelations to
Muhammad for 23 years
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114 chapters (surahs)
6,000 verses (ayahs)
Poetic, spiritual, moral teachings
Pre-hijra revelations = belief in Allah’s spirituality
Post-hijra = how to organize politically,
economically, poor, disabled, crime, etc.
Muhammad ibn Abdullah
 Born in Mecca in Saudi Arabia (c.570 – 632)
 Querysh ethnicity = nomadic traders who
controlled Mecca politically & economically
 Khadijah = wife & 4 daughters
 40 yrs.= Mt. Hira to fast & meditate, received
revelations from Allah through Jibral,
1. Only 1 God, Allah, Muhammad is last prophet
2. Abraham founded the religious tradition, 1st
prophet
3. Jews & Christians strayed from their faith, M’s role
was to restore faith for all people
 Next 23 yrs. = continued to receive
revelations
Muhammad ibn Abdullah
 preached in Mecca
 New beliefs challenged Querysh
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religious beliefs & political/economic
interests
Querysh persecuted M so moved to
Medina
622 = “Hijra”: emigration to Medina, 1st
year of Islamic calendar
ruled as supreme judge & political
leader of 1st Islamic state & returned to
control Mecca
632 = Mohammad died at age 72
Shia, Sunni, & Sufi Islam
 Who should become caliph upon M’s
death?
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Ali, husband of Fatima: Shia Ali
Abu Bakr, M’s disciple
M selected Abu Bakr: Sunni
Shia today: 10-15% of Muslims
Sunni today: 85-90% of Muslims
 Sufism = mystical & ascetic spiritual
practices, no Sharia, spiritual
teachers have direct union w/Allah
(shayks, pirs, walis, marabouts)
Stereotypes
 Orientalism = (Edward Said’s Orientalism,
1979); Western style of dominating,
imagining, misrepresenting & having authority
over the East
 Islam = inherently violent, called for holy
wars to convert people
 Post 9/11/01 = backward religion, terrorists,
violent fanatics who want to suppress
freedom & dissent
Reality = fastest growing of major religions:
1.3 billion pple, 1/5 world population
5 Pillars of Islam
1. Shahada = profess faith in Allah &
Muhammad
2. Salat = pray 5 times/day, facing Mecca
3. Sawam = fast during Ramadan (9th
month)
4. Zakat = give alms to support poor,
orphans, disabled in your community
5. Hajj = make pilgrimage to Mecca (12th
month)
Aspects of Islam
 Cosmology = heaven, earth, hell
 Humans = represent God on earth,
judged according to deeds
 Must follow God’s will, path of
righteousness
 Weak & easily tempted, must repent
 “Islam” = submit to the will of Allah
 Day of reckoning = righteous to heaven, evil
to hell
 Sharia = Islamic law: politics & codes
for criminal law, family, marriage;
different schools of Islamic law (Maliki,
Hanifa, Al-Shafi, Hanbali)
Gender, family, marriage
 Early research: focused on texts, distorted realities,
male researchers no access to women
 Qu’ran: forbids female infanticide & all sexual
immorality
 Sharia law:
 Women inherit ½ parents’ estate
 Women are ½ legal status of men
 Polygyny practiced but not universally
 Arranged marriages: education, age, class, sex
 Economic, political, cultural factors influence
practices: no rigid norms
The Veil
 Pre-Islamic origins: Mesopotamian, Persian,
Jewish, Christian, Byzantine cultures
 Hijab meanings
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Sacred divide between men & women
Outward symbol of separation
Modesty
Morality
 Purdah = enforced seclusion of women
 Revival movements: women reclaim veil
 Protection from strangers
 Desexualizes work environment
 Anti-western colonialism & imperialism: attacked
Islamic cultural identity
Islamic Civilizations
 Islam spread from Arabic region (Middle East) to:
North Africa, Spain, and Asia
 Early civilizations: Baghdad (Iraq), Cairo (Egypt),
Cordoba (Spain), Palermo (Sicily)
 Baghdad (750 – 1258)
 Universities
 Translated texts from Greek, Roman, Hindu, & Persian
cultures into Arabic; synthetic philosophy
 Algebra, geometry, trigonometry, physics, astronomy,
philosophy, art, architecture, medicine
 Arabic = (700-1300, Middle Ages) world’s major
intellectual & scientific language & influenced the
West
Western colonization
 1095-1291 = “Crusades,” EU launched
military expeditions to defeat Islamic
dynasties & return Holy Land to
Christian rule
 EU wanted control of Eastern trade
routes (spices, silk, cotton)
 1400’s = Portuguese establish ports
from Arabia to SE Asia, controlled spice
trade
 1800’s = EU colonizes Middle East:
seeking raw materials & new markets
British & French colonies
 Suez canal: 1869,
connected Mediterranean
Sea W/Gulf of Suez
 101 miles long
 immediate and dramatic
effect on world trade
 combined w/ American
Transcontinental railroad,
allowed entire world to be
circled in record time
 British & French owned
 increased EU penetration &
colonization of Africa
 Egypt: British colony in 1882; sugar,
cotton
 Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco: French
colonies; railroads, mining, agriculture
 Iran: N. Iran was Russian colony, S. Iran
was British; tobacco
 SE Asia: Dutch in 1917; sugar, coffee,
tobacco, indigo
 Malaysia: British; tin, rubber, Chinese
labor
Post-WWII colonies
 French: North Africa, Lebanon, Syria
 British: Egypt, Iraq, Palestine, South
Asia
 Dutch: SE Asia
 Colonial economies based on cash crops:
tea, coffee, sugar, tobacco, cotton,
opium
 Independence/nationalist movements,
new nation-states in 1960’s:
Algeria, Morocco, Egypt, Turkey, Iran,
Indonesia, Malaysia, Kuwait, Iraq,
Tunisia, Syria, Jordan
Post-colonial Islamic Reform movements
 Egypt
 Women are equal to men in constitution
 Anti-sexual discrimination laws
 Women involved in medicine, law,
engineering, management, government,
etc.
 Liberal divorce laws
 Turkey & Tunisia: prohibit polygyny
 Saudi Arabia
 Gender segregation: schools, jobs,
transport, public entrances, etc.
Why Islamic resurgent movements in 1970’s?
1. 1967 Arab-Israeli war: Arab
territories lost to Israel, turned to
Islamic faith for strength
2. Oil boom: Allah’s will; revenues in
Libya, Iran, Saudi supported
fundamentalist movements
3. Disillusionment w/capitalism &
socialism: looked to Islamic solution
4. Iran success: Islamic revolution
overthrew secular, Westerninfluenced shah
Iran’s Islamic Revolution
 1500’s: Shia Islam became state
religion; today, 90% of Iranians are
Shia
 Shia leaders:
 Mullahs = village preachers
 Mujtahids = religious judges
 Ayatollahs = religious scholars, moral &
political leaders
 Shahs = political rulers
 Iran “modernizes”
 economy, military, education
 Educated elite: Western democratic values &
representative govt.
 Opposed Shah’s absolute power
 Shia critique: shah gave West permission to
undermine Islam
 1925-1979 Pahlavi dynasty
 Shia leaders viewed as obstacles to modernization
 Secular laws replaced Sharia law
 No more veil
 1963 “White Revolution”
 Shah was “Great Satan,” puppet of US govt.
 Commercial agriculture, land reform, capitalism,
landless peasants, women vote, SAVAK secret
police
 Ayatollah Khomeini arrested
Opposition increases
1. Rural migrants: sided with Islamic clergy
2. Westernized middle class: democratic hopes
3. University students: Shia Islam like liberation
theology, free them from foreign control
*Demonstrations, protests, fervor*
1979: Ayatollah Khomeini led revolution
“Islamic Republic of Iran” = theocracy ruled
by Shia clergy
Political, cultural, social transformation
Islamic Republic of Iran
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of worship, local police; all Iranians
forced to register
Purge Iran of Western influences
Women forced to wear head scarves
Family Protection Act abolished
Minimum marriage age was 13,
polygyny, divorce at will
10 year war against Iraq
Struggle: moderate democrats v.
conservative fundamentalists
Afghanistan
 1800’s
 British supported leaders
 Modernization (built roads, etc.)
 Unify/pacify ethnic groups
 1920’s-30’s
 Economic development & democracy failed
 Soviet Union supported Marxist movements
 1970’s
 Soviet Union sponsored 2 successful coups
Resistance forms
 Afghanistan ethnic groups: Pashtuns (47%),
Tajiks, Uzbeks, Turkmen, Kirghiz, Hazara,
Baluchis, Sunni (88%), Shia (12%)
 Mujahidin = “holy warriors” launched jihad (holy
war) against Soviet-sponsored govt.
 1979: Soviet Union invaded AF to repress resist.
 West gave financial & military aid to Mujahidin
 Afghans fled to Pakistan
 Soviets withdrew
 1980’s-90’s
 Islamic & ethnic groups fought for power
 West w/drew support from Mujahidin, fearing revolution
like Iran
Taliban emerges
 Taliban = “religious students”
 1994 Islamic faction
 Afghan religious students recruited from
schools in Pakistan
 Militia gained control over most of
Afghanistan
 Strict Islamic guidelines & norms
 No music, dancing, singing, kite flying, cards,
chess, etc
 Men can’t trim beards, women wear burqas
 Al Qaeda supports Taliban
 Headed by Osama Bin Laden = Saudi multimillionaire terrorist
Take-home messages
1. We must interpret multiple forms of
Islam with respect to local cultural,
historical, & political contexts
2. No essential “Islamic tradition”
3. Islamic fundamentalisms have
emerged within the context of:
Western colonialism, Western
imperialism & internal factional,
sectarian, and class differences