Islam Origins And History

Question 1

Ghazu

Answer 1

Originally the raids undertaken in pre and early Islamic times to gather wealth and booty.

A ghazi was a fighter in a holy war for Islam.

The term was often applied to organised bands of raiders on the frontiers of the Dar al-Islam (the House of Islam)

624 AD Muhammad participates and/or acquiesced in ghazu with his followers from Mecca now located in Medina.

Question 2

Islam’s Perception of Politics is as a religious sacrament, not simply a secular quotidian function.

Answer 2

Politics is therefore what Christians perceive as a function of the secular world not the sacred one.

Arabs on the other hand, literally see politics as exactly that, a sacrament.

As far as Islam is concerned, it (politics) is the arena, in which people experience God, and which enables ‘the divine’ to function effectively in the real world.

Question 3

Fitnah - Trial, Temptation

Answer 3

Civil wars within Islam during the Rashidun and Umayyad periods - early 1st millennium

Question 4

Dhimmi

Answer 4

A protected subject in the Islamic Empire, who belonged to the religions tolerated by the Quran:- Jews, Christians, Zoroastrians, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs - all had to recognise Islamic sovereignty.

Question 5

Orthopraxy

Answer 5

In the study of religion, orthopraxy is correct conduct, both ethical and liturgical, as opposed to faith or grace.[1][2][3] Orthopraxy is in contrast with orthodoxy, which emphasizes correct belief.[citation needed] The word is a neoclassical compound—ὀρθοπραξία (orthopraxia) meaning ‘right practice’.

Question 6

Ismailis adopted the reasoning of the Falsafah, the third of the four Muslim esoteric movements 9th century

Answer 6

Faylasufs admired the Greek Philosopher and Hellenistic thought process.

I.e., ‘rationalism’ was the highest form of religion and could be connected to the Quran.

The ‘Supreme Deity’ equated to the ‘Prime mover’, that history was an illusion, it had no beginning, middle and end as the Universe had emanated from a first cause - The Prime Mover’ - (Aristotle, Physics, book viii, chapter 9).

Question 7

5 Pillars (rukin) of Islam

Answer 7

Rukn - 5 essential practices of Islam.

Shahadah - Muslim confession of faith - there is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his prophet.

Salat - The five times daily prayer.

Fasting - During Ramadan.

Zakat (purity) - alms for the poor.

Hajj - Pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in your lifetime.

Question 8

Dar al-Islam

Answer 8

The house of Islam; lands under Muslim rule.