Islam Final!!!!!!!!!! Flashcards
Hadith of Gabriel
- very famous hadith that is the most common, in terms of teaching about Islam; Features the Archangel Gabriel and Muhammad’s followers; The Angel Gabriel relays various tenets of Islam to Muhammad
Ihsan
Creating beauty and goodness, acting as if you could see God, and if not, knowing that he can see you
Tawhid
To declare oneness of God
Shirk
Literally means “to share/associate with”, associated with polytheism, ascribing things that belong to God to anything that is not God; Example: Cheating: someone is placing their desire for sex or romance outside of their religious obligation and God’s desire for them to honor their marriage
Kufr
Unbelief;disbelief; implies covering up what one knows to be true
Give an overview of the Hadith Gabriel. What happenss? What are the Prophet’s answers to each question?
The Prophet and some of his companions run into a suspiciously clean stranger in the middle of the desert, who appears to know the Prophet very well. The angel continues to ask Muhammad questions about Islam, of which he answers, to the bewilderment of his companions; the traveler is later revealed to be the archangel Gabriel
Overview of the Hadith Gabriel; What happens? What are the five questions that Gabriel asks? What are the Prophet’s answers to each question?
-the messenger of God is staring at the edge of an oasis with a few of his companions and he runs into a stranger, who he kneels at the feet of, and then the mysteriously clean traveler asks him about Islam. that angel is revealed to be the archangel Gabriel who teaches Muhammad the five pillars
- 2AG- What do you know about Submission? PM: : Peform the ritual prayer, pay akat, partake in prescribed tax, profess that there is no god except for God, and if you are able, make pilgrimage
- 2AG- Tell me about faith. PM: Faith means having faith in God, his angels, his books, messengers, and the last day
- Tell me about Ihasn; PM: Worship God as if you see him
- 2AG: Tell me about the hour; PM- I don’t know any more than you do
- 2AG: What are the Hour’s marks? PM: herddsmen wil build high buildings; enslaved women will give birth to their masters, children will not listen to their parents
How is God described in the Qur’an and the Hadith?
- God is traditionally given 99 name; some of which include : All-Knowing, All-Powerful, Just, Loving, creeator
- God is One
- Allah=God, the only God
- God is beyond gender, neither male nor female, has qualities that we associate with or ascribe to both men and women
Explain at least two rational arguments that Muslims made for the existence of God
Argument from design; the universe is too complex and detailed to be some sort of cosmic accident
- Expert testimony; central and original evidence of Prophet Muhammad, as well as the derivative and confirmatory evidence of his followers
- Prophets have existed throughout all of human history, vouching for God’s existence; prophets are morally impressive
What are the six articles of faith given in the hadith Gabriel? Briefly explain each article as understood in the Islamic tradition
Belief in:
1. The oneness of God
2. Angels
3. Sacred books of Allah
4. All of the prophets- All of God’s prophets are the conduit by which God speaks to humans: God “chooses” them, communication with God is constant and direct; there are aspects ascribed to them(EX. infallability–sometimes
5. Day of the Judgement
6. Divine Decree - that whatever happens in one’s life is preordained, and that believers should respond to the good or bad that befalls them with thankfulness or patience.
A few sentences about each
Explain at least one mystical argument that Muslim scholars made for the existence of God
Man is born with knowledge of God, in the heart(if the heart sees dimly, it is not performing its proper function)
* Fitra: innate/primordial disposition towards worshipping and seeking God
Its seeing has the same verdical truth as seeing w/ the eye
Human heart is a locus of perception—spiritual sense
Explain how Muslim scholars sought to reconcile free will and predestination in Islam. a) why are these concepts often percieved to be in tension? b.) what does the Qur’an say about each concept?
- they’re in conflict because people ask “if God knows that we will make bad decisions that’ll lead us to hell, why create us at all?
Qura’an: we have it and God gives it to us, endowing man with the ability to differentiate btwn good and evil; this free will equips man w/ the ability to shape his fate in the alfterlife, giving him two choices:righteousness or transgression
Predestination: God experiences time differently than us, or if you ask some, at all; He endowed everything with particular qualities and potentialities, made men with a limited sphere of it; Man has true freedome of choice, while at the same time, everything is predetermined by God; both exist at the same time
Compare and contrast humans, angels, and jinn in Islam.
Humans: Made of clay, possesses fitra, have a purpose of life, worships God, experiences God’s mercy and Free will
Angels: made of light and generally do not have free will, and interact with humans by conveying revelation, protecting humans, recording our deeds, and ecnouraging good deeds
Jinns; spirits made from smokeless fire, can be good or bad, with the purpose of their creation being to worship God. Can have religion and have usually little interaction with humans, with the “bad” ones being whisperers to humans, or outright possessing them, excorcising them typically involves reciting the Qur’an
Explain Muslim understanding of prophets; why and to whom does God send prophets? How many have there been? How many are mentioned in the Qur’an? Can prophets sin? How are their messages similar or different?
- Prophets are sent to every group of people, to maintain consistent and clean correspondence with God, via signs. There have been 124,000 prophets total in Islam, the Qur’an mentions 24, with only five having their own written records; Prophets are all similar in the way that they all profess monotheism and moral accoutnability to humanity, with the differences being specific rituyals or forms of worships, as well as differing rules, depending on the time and context; Prophets are usally held to be unable to sin, but the extent to which the argument applies varies, some believe that prophets can’t commit major sin, but others say that they are completely infallable
Previous scriptures mentioned by the Qur’an
- Abraham-Suhur
- David-Psalms
- Jesus-the Gospel
- Moses-the Torah
Three signs of the coming of the end of the world, as recorded in the hadith
- Planets crasshing into each other
- The immediate feeling of the end of the world
- Abundance of police
- the Prophet interceding on man’s behalf
- Destructive rainfall
- Moral degradation
Three post-death events before heaven and hell; what arguments does the Qur’an make for the coming of a Day of Judgement?
- The grave- You go straight there after death, aware of the world, but unable to interact with it; the amount of time in the grave varies from person- to -person
- End of the World: day of ressurection in the Next world; end of the micro and macrosm; multiple signs;two angels of death determines one’s faith
- Day of Judgement
How are heaven and hell described?
Hell: Fire, torment, pain, anguish, regret, people can move between the two, but it is incredibly rare
Heaven: Garden: everything you wish for and more;rivers;fruits one cannot conceive, general things beyond human conception
Ablution/Wudu
Ritual in which one washes the mouth, nose, hands, forearms, face, head, and feet; if they had sexual intercourse before, genetalia, performed to be pure enough to touch the Qur’an and perform ritual prayer
Shahadah
“testimony” or bearing witness to a covenant that one renews with God, professing that there is no God but God; One of the five pillars
Salat
Canonical prayer; 3 times a day for most Shi’ites and 5 for most Sunni; WUdu must be performed beforehand, involves bowing and prostration, one of the five pillars of Islam
Zakat
2.5% charitable donation that the Qur’an deems suitable, wealth means money, as well as liquid assets
Ramadan
The ninth month on the Islamic lunar caledar; Month of daytime fasting, taking place when the Qur’an itself was revealed; between the new cresccent moon and new moon; different in every part of the world so it is not static, also has an equalizing effect
Hajj
Derived from pre-Islamic Arabia; Means “pilgrimage”; it was appropriated to Islam; is the pilgramage to Mecca and the surrounding rituals
Minaret
Tall pillars, where someone will climb to the top and issue a call for prayer
Mosque
Also called a masjid;Islamic house of worship
Adhan
Call to prayer in islam; Short version is “Allahu Akbar” or “God is greatest of them all; first introduced in Medina by the Prophet Muhammad
Discuss the role of purification in Islam: How does one become ritually pure? How does one become ritually impur? What is the philosophy behind purification?
- One becomes ritually pure by performing wudu and becomes impure by defecating, having sex, sweating, sneezing, amongst many other things
- The philosophy is that the Qur’an is God’s law made solid and in order for someone to lay their hands on it with reverence to Him, they must clean/purify themselves
What are the five pillars of Islam? Explain how each is performed and their spiritual significance in a brief paragraph for each
- Shahadah : Testimony or ‘evidence’, bearing witness that there is no god but God and that Muhammad is his disciple; profession of Islam;repeated multiple times during the 5x a day prayer; this is performed when converting; deacribed as a re-orientation of mentality and viewpoint towards the world
- Salat - the command to establish regular prayer at various intervals throughout the day and Muhammad gets this via the Night Journey; helps maintain a good spot on the Day of Resurrection:; each prayer has diff frequencies at a diff time; 1. Dawn–>sunrise2. noon–> afternoon 3. afternoon-> sunset 4. sunset–>darkness. 5. )night–> dawn; spiritual significance- expresses one’s total and utter imotence before God
- Fasting - Fasting is generally good, whether done for Ramadan or not; Ramadan is the obligatory fast during the ninth month of the lunar calendar, abstaining from eating, drinking, and sexual relations during daylight hours, often communal : Spiritual significance: helps to discipline the lower self and appreciate the blessing of food/drink more; though, you’re excused if you are pregnant, nursing, sick, or on your period
- **Spending for the sake of God ** - Charity that goes to poor, freeing slaves, travelers, in essence, charitable giving, reminds one that wealth is a gift from God, calculated after one’s needs have been met; 2.5 percent wealth tax *think net worth, but the individual can pay more; Spiritual significance: purification of one’s possissions and selfs; helps to encourage to keep the rich connected to the poor
- hajj* - Composed of multiple rituals; minimum one time in life, if able; 2 million ppl gather to mecca; First two weeks of the twelfth month of the lunar hijra calendar, over a seven day period;ritual cleansing and shaving is required; no sex or killing of sentient beings; pilgrimage-goers enter the masjil all-haram to perform the counterclockwise circuit Spiritual significance: it is a reminder that all will be returned to God
How is the Islamic calendar structured?
twelve months; starts with new crescent moon and ends w the next new moon; lunar month is 29 1/3 days x 12= 354 days
What are two possible wisdoms in Muslims’ following a lunar calendar as opposed to a solar calendar?
It ensures that no one place on Earth gets the short end of the stick; everyone experiences diff length fasts
- makes every ramadan a different experience
Shariah
- Literaly means “a path leading to water; the will of God for human life, public and private, with the public being enforced by humands and the private occurring between one and God; ethics, worship, sacred and secular
Fiqh
“Deep undestanding”/jursipruence; humans’ understanding of what God ordains
- split into brances of understanding; often takes place in rules written out by academics
Qiyas
using analogical reasoning to reason modern occurrences with Shariah; ex; the question of “is vodka impermissible?”
- process: original case -> new case - > effective cause–> wisdom
Madhhab
Road to follow/opinon; Way to act within islamic jurisprudence
Maqasid
Higher purposes of Islamic law; meaning, purpose, and wisdom that God has enacted in the creation of Shariah; Grounded in ratio and rationale; knowledge of this helps one to understand distortions and abuses of it
Halal
permitted
Haram
Forbidden
Five possible values/legal valuations given to all human actions
- Obligatory-wajb/fard- must be done; God rewards you for doing it and punishes you if not; needs to be a clear command in a certain text, like the Qur’an; EX; Hajj, ramadan, Zakah
- Recommenced/mandub- Highly desired, but not required;rewarded by God for actions, but not punished for omitting them; the source is many Sunnah, unclear injuctions, unreliable texts, the Prophet did it sometimes;women’s noon Salah and giving extra charity
- permissible- Neutral value; no punishment or reward for doing them, there is not evidence for these; EX. political and administrative matters
- Reprehensible= Undesirale actions that are not forbidden; rewarded for not doing them when faced with temptation but not punished for doing them; sourced by the Prophet sometimes doing it, or an untenable source
- Prohibited(haram)- Absolutely forbidden; punished by God for committing them and reqrded for avoiding them;source: clear transmission and a reliable source, the Qur’an, reliable hadith: EX: robbery, fornication
What are the main sources of Islamic law for Muslims? Identify and explain at least five
- Qur’an- book of God,one must follow its prescribed pratices; only 80 to 500 verses are prescribed fiquh, often is in need of interpretation;not a large source of Islamic law but a very very important one
- Sunnah- Second “root” covers way more than the Qur’an; Subdivisions: dadith and practices of the Prophet’s followers
- Qiyas - Analogical reasoning, applied to interpretation and points not clearly covered by the Qur’an or sunnah; process is “original case->new case->effective case->effective cause–> wisdom)
- Ijma/consensus=When leading mujtahids of a particular time come to the same view on a particular issue; may never occur
- Ijtihad- an incredible effort to solve a case, not for the purposes of making law but to discover God’s intended law
- Continued ijtihad-When and Ijma appears no longer necessary but needed elsewhere, due to modern times changing circumstances
Mufti
Scholar who gives an opinon on specific issues of fiqh: were once Islamic legal practicioners in the age of Islamic empires; state actors, at times, in the modern day
Fatwa
Mufit’s opinon/ruling;advisory;sensitive to circumstances and the customs/culture of the place and country it is issued in; can be given in newspapers, popular magazines, and the internet; non-binding in some cases and binding in state policy; handles existing facts and anticipated situations
Three reaasons why well-trained sincere Muslim scholars still disagreed on what the law should b
- strength of hadith
- Is this particular hadith sound - threshold to consider hadith
- Do we include Weak Hadith
- meaning of word - EX: to wash up to the elbows; “to” to mean up to and including or just up to
- Disagreement about whether of not we should consider the customary practice in the city of Medina in the 8th century
Can Islamic law change even though it is grounded in fixed scriptural texts
Yes; we have already seen many diff interpretations
EX: 4 madhhabs
If law is in part chosen from madhhabs by the ruler-we’re going to implement Hanafi law- then you could have legal change by simply swtiching the madhhab in general or on a particular issue
Laws are often tied to assessments of a particular scientific question/public policy question. If our understanding of that question changes, then the law would change
Many medieval Muslim scholars who said that sultan should try to expand the borders through military conquest (in a geopol. context where errybody was attacking errybody and if not, your neighbors gobblle up your territory
There's a prohibition on murder Biomedical ethic question---Can we pull the plug on a patient who appears to be brain dead with no chance of recovery **Genderally what is most susceptible to change are laws about social transactions (contracts, marriage, war, etc.) and less so worship**
Sufi
Man of religious learning; the person who eprforms Taswwuf
Sufism
Total dedication to allah; Islamic spiritual mystique;”Islamic mysticism; origin of the name is from 119 years after the Hijra; the key is worshipping Allah as though you see him; Sufis deal with the non-quanitifable aspects of worshipping God, with multiple schools of thought
ihasn
Worshipping God as if you can see him, because if not, he sees you
- doing what is beautiful, creating beauty
Dua
Call on God
Nafs
Ego
Ruh
Spirit
Dhikr
The recitation of all of God’s names, prayers, or phrases, all to remember God
When and how did Sufism originate and develop?
Roots of Sufism were there from the beginning - Hadith Gabriel that talks about ihsan-worshipping God as if you can see him
Sufism – organized discipline for spiritual growth and refinement; about 112 years after the hijra
How: Parallel to the development of legal school (madhhabs) and theological schools
First we have masters Students codify their teachings, publish in book form Codified is thee particular approach How do you build the desire to worship God? Cultivating love? Cultivating fear of God Cultivating gratitude Emphasis on asceticism (avoiding this world and its pleasures Eventually we get Sufi spiritual orders
States of heaart regarded as obligatory and prohibited by the Sufis
Obligatory:
1. Love of Allah
2. Mercy
3. Love of Each other
4. Presence of the Mind in prayer
5. love of the Prophet
Prohibited
1. Envy
2. Fear
3. Arrogance
4. Showing off in acts of worship
5. Despair
Reccommended: doing the obligatory and voluntary 2. seeking repentence 3. ) having a good guide
Tariqas
monastic orders; established by students of a great spiritual order; literally means “way” or “path”’ Path that one needs to follow to journey towards, with the goal of eliminating the “evil-commanding soul”
Seven stages -1. Repentance 2. Abstinence 3. renunciation 3. Poverty 4. patience 5. trust in God 3. complete submission to God’s will
Dhikr
rememberance of Allah, calling him by his beautiful names to strengthen Iman ; helps to know God inall aspects
Three different spiritual methods of various tariqas
- Qadiriyyah - conversion of wrongdoers, based on moral rectitude
- Shadihiliyyah- Spiritual reform, goal or fnosis or attainment of wisdom and purity of soul; members could not be externally distinguished from rest of society
- Chistiyyah- adopts many Hindu customs and ceremonials; bridge Islamic and Hindu mysticism; mistrust of government; stern ascetism and giving away of surpluses
Three diff types of Sufi literature and prominent author/example
Poetry : Abu Hamid b. Abu Bakr Ibrahim- Conference of the Birds
Maxims - Shaykh Ibn ‘Ata’ Allah - the book of Wishom
Literary Parable - Rumi - Mathnavi
What ways do the Qur’an and hadith encourage the production of art?
The Qur’an encourages creating beauty; Ihsan
- Hadith of Gabrial
- Hadith in Sahih Muslim- God loves beauty
- Qur’an- God loves those who continually create his beauty
Islamic beliefs /principles manifest in Islamic art
- Unity of God, radial symmetry/focus on one center
- Infiniy present within many patterns - infinity of God
- Beauty-God is beautiful and Islamic art strives for beuty:
- God is utterly unlike his creation – art should not remind someone of things already created
- Qur’anic verses
Brief overviw of the history of Muslim immigration to the United States
Pre-1492- there was talk of a voyage to the Atlantic that caused Mansa Musa to become ruler of the Mali Empire, may have been the first time that Muslims have reached the Americas, it is unclear; Statues in pre-Colombian Mexico that look like Madinkanh statues and certain Meso-American words having West African roots; Muslim world maps that had a more accurate map of South America thean Columbus; Estavanico de Dorantes, a Black Moroccan Muslim who explored North America
15th-19th century-
* Africanss: the trans-atlantic slave trade; many enslaved Africans from North and West Africa were Muslims
* Europeans: Anthony Jansen Van Vaes or Anthony the Turk, who had land in what would become New York, he had a very Muslim father, and there were other European Muslims cconverts who came to the Americas, as well
20th century-beyond- traditional immigration patterns to the U.S., in three waves
Wh
What were the three waves of Muslim immigrants over the past few century
early 20th century- mostly unskilled workers from the Levant who ended up settling in the Levant and assimilating
Between WWII and 1967 - the United States needed more brainpower for the Cold War, so they encouraged the immigrations of Scholars from Arab countries and South Asia
1968 and beyone - after the eugenic-based and racially biased immigration laws of years past were llifted, more Muslim immigrants came to the U.S. this is the largest cohort that comes during the period of worldwide islamic revival and are very culturally in-tune with the motherland and didn’t have much of an interest in assmilating; from all over the Muslim world
