Rituals

1. What are the purposes of specific rituals?
Evaluate the spiritual importance that each has for the believer.

In order to become a Muslim and surrender to the existence of God, one must pray everyday to show their dedication to God. This is shown through the ritual of the Salat, or the daily ritual prayer. This is done at specific times and has many intentions (niyya) depending on the person. However, asking for guidance and expressing lamentation are popular. This all applies to the acceptance that their is one true God, Allah, or Tawhid. This allows Muslims to become closer to God, and show their dedication to the religion. Another way to do this is to follow one of the 5 pillars, a pilgrimage to Mecca. This is also called the Hajj, and is usually done during Dhu al- Hijja- from the eighth to twelfth days. This shows their faith in God, or Iman, as well as participation in the Umma or Muslim community. These two rituals are two of the many ways for a Muslim to show his faith and deepen his spiritual participation.

Information was found from the book, Islam, by Zayn R. Kassam.


2. How are specific rituals and doctrines linked?
Discuss the relationship between doctrine and ritual; introduce fitrah, kalimah, sabr, dhikr.

A doctrine is a belief or set of beliefs set, held, and taught by a church or other group and a ritual is a type of religious ceremony. One specific doctrine that Islam's practice is the idea that there is only one God. They practice idea this through the ritual of prayer. During these prayers, fitrah is addressed and thanked for. Fitrah refers to the essential nature of God's creation. By praying, it teaches to us to remain spiritually steadfast which can be done through practicing the idea that there is only one God and praying to that God. This is the idea of Sabr. Kalimah refers to six standard phrases that the religion of Islam follows. Through the phrases, prayer is key for forgiveness and praise. Dhikr, a form of devotion, is also displayed through the ritual of prayer.

http://www.angelfire.com/al/islamicpsychology/fitrah/fitrah.html
http://www.questionsaboutislam.com/faith-beliefs-practices/main-practices-rituals-of-islam.php


3. How does ritual shape daily life?
Discuss how a Muslim lives his or her daily life according to rituals, eg prayerSalat (ritual prayer):

Muslims perform salat or prayer 5 times a day (dawn (al-fajr), midday (al-zuhr), afternoon (al-'asr), sunset (al-maghrib) and evening (al-'isha)). Prayer is always directed towards Mecca and is called daily throughout major Islamic cities. Because salat occurs 5 times a day, it affects the flow and rhythm of Islamic life even for non-Muslims living in Islamic cities.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/practices/salat.shtml

Sawm (fasting):

Fasting or sawm is done during the Islamic holiday, Ramadan. During this holiday Muslims cannot eat or drink from sun up to sunset. This could potentially affect their ability to perform certain tasks during the day, such as sports etc. It also changes their daily schedule because all cooking and eating has to be done before dawn or after dusk.
Source: http://productivemuslim.com/10-issues-that-can-impact-your-ramadan/

4. To what extent does ritual shape communal identity?
Determine the degree to which the Five Pillars create communal identity

The five pillars of Islam are the testimony of faith (shahada), ritual prayer (salat), payment of alms to charity (zakat), fasting (sawm), and pilgrimage (hajj). These are all executed by every Muslim that has the means to preform them. This helps create a common groundwork of practice for all Muslims all over the world and creates a close bond within the Umma, or Muslim community. For example, in preforming the Hajj, Muslims agglomerate to Mecca all throughout the year, and specifically during the Dhu al-Hijja. This allows the Umma to have a common place where Muslims can meet and solidify their beliefs. Daily practice is often preformed with others as well, and creates many times a day when Muslims kneel side by side and preform this ritual. Paying alms and fasting allows for similar values for all Muslims and the testimony of faith gives everybody a basis for their goals. The five pillars outlines the key elements to a practicing Muslim and connects each to the other. Within the Umma, they share not only a religion but daily rituals and values as well. The five pillars contribute to the community of Islam to a high degree.

5. To what extent are rituals affected by social, cultural, and political contexts?
Discuss sharia as it varies from country to country.

Sharia is Islamic law, which dictates legal and moral code. "The debate is growing as to whether sharia can coexist with secularism, democracy, or even modernity, an idea that is being tested by several countries in the Middle East in the wake of popular uprisings and civil wars."
Sharia has been declared the main source of legislation in multiple Sudan constitutions. As these laws have been tweaked for this specific country, Sudan continues to use the criminal, civil and personal legal codes, and punishments derived from Sharia.
This law is applicable to Muslims in Zanzibar as well, giving power to the court to apply Islamic law to matters of succession. Sharia in Zanzibar is specific to the court, making it differ from most countries.
Sharia effects social, political, and cultural contexts by providing order and restrictions by telling the people what they can and cannot do when it comes to moral code.

Source:http://www.cfr.org/religion/islam-governing-under-sharia/p8034
http://www.tolerance.org/publication/sharia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Application_of_sharia_law_by_country

Muhammad Timeline Reflection

I believe that many things contributed to the Islam religion, not a single event. The death of Muhammad's parents caused Muhammad to learn how to serve for himself as well as learn to take in knowledge from others. Another thing that factored into the development of Islam was the greediness that Mecca showed because without this, Muhammad would not have left to fast and meditate in his cave. When the angel appeared to him while sleeping in this cave, Muhammad realized his call in life was to spread the word of God and the idea that there is only one God. When Muhammad followed the angel's instructions, his speakings were written down and later became known as the Qur'an. All of these had impact on the development of Islam and makes it the religion that it is today. 

Muhammad Timeline

570 - Muhammad's Birth- Muhammad was born in a mountain town in the desert plateau in Western Arabia known as Mecca.

576- Muhammad becomes an orphan by the age of 6.

578 – Once his grandfather died in 578, Muhammad was now being taken care of by his uncle who taught him many skills, one being how to survive in battle.

580-594 – As a young boy and teenager, Muhammad worked as a shepherd before becoming a merchant in his adult life.

594 – Muhammad met Khadija bint Khawalayd, a wealthy merchant. They were distant cousins and Muhammad carried her goods to the north and then returned with a profit.

595 – Khadija, like others, was impressed by Muhammad’s intelligence, open mind, and ability to problem solve. Muhammad became known as “The trusted one” and Khadija soon proposed marriage. The two had two sons and four daughters.

610- Mecca's new greediness bothered Muhammad. He began making long trips to a mountain cave outside town where he fasted and meditated. One night, Muhammad was visited by an angel and was instructed to recite the powerful words of God. The main message that Muhammad was supposed to spread was that “there is only one God”

613 - Muhammad began to reveal the message(s) he was receiving from this angel. These were gathered verse by verse and later become the Qur'an, Islam's sacred scripture. The Qur’an is written in Arabic and is an ethical and social guide, although the description of God is avoided throughout the text.

614-621- In these few years, Muhammad and his followers were ridiculed, persecuted and physically attacked for breaking away from traditional Mecca tribal ways. Towards the end of the decade, Muhammad's wife and uncle both died and the leaders of Mecca attempted to assassinate Muhammad.   

622- Muhammad and his followers left Mecca and traveled to Yathrib, who was battling a civil war. Yathrib soon became known as Medina, the City of the Prophet. Muhammad stayed here for the next six years, building the first Muslim community and gradually gathering more followers.

625-629 - Early encounters led to three major battles in the next three years. Of these the Muslims won the Battle of Badr, lost the Battle of Uhud, and outlasted The Battle of the Trench and the Siege of Medina. In 628, a treaty was signed between the two sides, which gave Muslims freedom to move throughout Arabia. Meccan allies broke the treaty in 629.   

630- The balance of power had shifted away from Mecca toward Muhammad and the Muslims.

630-632- Muhammad returned to live in Medina. In the next three years, he united most of the Arabian Peninsula under Islam. Muhammad died on June 8th, 632, from an illness. Within a century, Muhammad’s teachings had spread all over Europe.   

Chapter 3: Looking at life the Islamic Way

1.       Islam explains the bad that exists, by claiming we are evil by our inner and physical nature.
2.       The 3 levels of self-development explain the stages that we must attain to come to the conclusion that God is real.
3.       Islam teaches that as a sincere seeker tries to fully satisfy his or her spiritual hunger, the seeker will eventually move beyond those previously revealed (and compromised) religions and into the Islamic way of life that Allah revealed as His last religious “installment” to the world.
4.       Tawba’s role is to remove the stain of sin. This plays a role in the daily responsibility of individuals by resolving to never do the sin again. This relates to Christianity when Christians ask for forgiveness (Forgiveness of Sins).
5.       God will reward good just as He will punish evil. Allah rewards us according to the amount of our good deeds. It’s a kind of religious capitalism whose results can only make life better for everyone.
6.       By choosing to make good choices while alive and choosing to accept Allah/ his way of living is good for salvation and redemption.
7.       Having a corrupted and warped soul and taking our gifts of free will and intelligence for granted, we are burying our fitrah in a life filled with meaningless pleasure

Discussion Reflection (1/23)

I enjoyed the discussion we had today on the different TED talks and the different articles that we read in class. I found it interesting how they all connected to one another, other than the fact that they all relate to religion. I found the idea of “no religion” in the second TED talk and how you must know all the answers for it to be a religion, to be thought-provoking since the first TED talk specifically discussed how not knowing all the answers and having doubt was essential in the study of religions. I liked that we did a whole class discussion instead of in small groups, as we get to hear everyone’s opinions and feed off of one another.

Chapter 2: Food for the Soul

1.       The famous Ayatul Kursi, or Verse of the Throne, is one of the most memorized passages of the Qur’an and provides an introduction to the way in which Muslims view God.
2.       The four areas that prove the existence of God / Allah, according to Muslims are:

a)      The natural world with all its complexity and beauty, as a sign of an intelligence in the universe because only a designing mind could have constructed it.

b)      Human abilities for thought, belief, invention, creativity, and moral choices.

c)       The revelation of God’s guidance and the existence of religion. They show that there is a right way and a wrong way to live life.

d)      Our inner feelings.

 

3.       “Surrendering to Allah” refers to following God’s way and doing what it is supposed to do.
4.       The Qur’an states that long before God made people, He offered the gift of free will to everything in the universe. That then leaves you with having right and wrong, good and evil. The Qur’an declares that every object in the universe declined this “gift” out of fear of the consequences.
5.       Humans would have free will, self-awareness, intelligence, reason, and a moral compass called a fitrah, or natural inclination, to help guide them through life. Islam points out that all of us have weaknesses and we all desire personal pleasure and the fulfillment of our animal urges.
6.       Fitrah means "pure human nature", "disposition", "constitution", or "instinct” and is our inner nature and disposition to seek Allah.