Islam on the world stage, Strayer 11

11/2/2013

The Arabic calligraphic symbol for the prophet, Mohammed.

It's important as Westerners that we set aside our stereotypes and prejudices as we study the remarkable phenomena of Islam, a cultural "package deal".

I strongly recommend you rely on you own research into Strayer an not the efforts of last

63 Comments

Claire Metusalem

11/2/2013 10:09:46 am

MQ #1: In what ways did the early history of Islam reflect its Arabian origins?

~ Islam drew on an older form of Arabian identification of Yahweh and Allah, and also Arab self identification as being children of Abraham.
~ The Quran denounced the social practices of Mecca sought out to return to the old values of the Arabian tribal life - such as sharing goods.
~ The Quran's message rejected the Arab clan and tribal structure. The Quran replaced the structure with the umma, which is the "community of all believers."
~ The Arabian Peninsula was next to the Sassanid and the Byzantine empires. Because of this, the Arabian Peninsula began to house Zoroastrians whose ideas of monotheism started to influence Muslims.

Did I miss anything?

Claire Metusalem

11/2/2013 10:18:42 am

Oops, accidentally pressed submit. Well here's my answer for MQ #2:
How does the core message of Islam compare with that of Judaism and Christianity?

~ Islam, Judaism, and Christianity are all monotheistic religions. (Allah is the God in Islamic religion).
~ Muhammad, the "messenger of God," "represented himself in the line of earlier prophets" - those prophets being Abraham, Moses, Jesus, etc.
~ It was an invitation to return to the old religion of Abraham, from which Christians, Jews, and Arabs all deviated from.
~ The Quran in comparison to the Jewish prophets, "demanded social injustice and laid out a prescription for its implementation."
~ Islam, in comparison to Christianity, developed a punishment/reward system for the people, heaven and hell.

Paris Bezanis

11/3/2013 09:50:13 am

I don't know if this can be included but I think it's important that in Islam there was no distinction between religious and political law or authority, it was all under the realm of the Quran and teachings of Islam.

Maroline Johnson

11/4/2013 10:06:56 am

It seems to me that Islam is a lot more strict than Judaism or Christianity. The 5 pillars are very structured and important to the muslims. They scorned the Christian idea of the Trinity, yet they drew heavily from the conception of the Deity.

Bingham

11/2/2013 11:10:06 am

Both great answers Claire!

Bingham

11/3/2013 01:29:02 am

Just uploaded chapter 11 "people, places, things".

Bingham

11/3/2013 02:12:03 am

Did nuclear war happen and I failed to notice?

I just put up my mindmap for most of Strayer 11 in both Freemind and PDF.
http://www.binghamsplace.com/mind-maps.html

Claire Metusalem

11/3/2013 06:08:29 am

Awesome! Thanks!

Victoria Cashman

11/3/2013 02:52:48 am

MQ #3:

"In what ways was the rise of Islam revolutionary, both in theory and in practice?"

In Theory:
-Muhammad declared Islam independent from Judaism and prayers were now directed toward Mecca, where Islam declared itself open to all people
-The religious appeal of Islam and it's promise of gain to all who followed contributed to its rise in Arabia.

In Practice:
-Military successes against Mecca led neighboring tribes to believe Islam was on the rise, thus alliances were negotiated
-Muhammad's periodic military actions and willingness to marry within other tribes also contributed to Islam's rise in Arabia.
-Islamic society became a large state at its start, unlike Eastern and Western Europe
-Muhammad was both a religious and political leader, unlike the situation in Western Europe.
-Unlike Byzantium, Islam did not allow a separate religion to develop within its empire
-Unlike Roman Catholicism, there was no religious hierarchy in Islam. One person did not exercise all authority like the Pope did.
-Unlike Byzantium and Western Europe, their religious laws were synonymous with civil laws. (sharia law system)
-Because of all these aspects that set the Islamic community apart from other empires in the period, it became an encompassing empire in Arabia.

I was a little confused about dividing the question up into these two categories, so if anything needs to be switched around please say something.

Victoria Cashman

11/3/2013 03:22:09 am

Was the Arab Empire so friendly to the people it conquered because of the principles of Islam? Or is there something I'm missing?

Bingham

11/3/2013 05:01:00 am

I think that certainly once the conquering was done, they were seeking converts. We know many Arabs were motivated to fight in order spread the one true faith. The Prophet was, blessings be upon him, and so later Arabs were inspired to be kind and encourage people into the umma.

Cashman

11/3/2013 05:27:48 am

Thanks!

Victoria Cashman

11/3/2013 03:35:04 am

MQ #4:

"Why were the Arabs able to construct such a huge empire so quickly?"

-Merchants in the community wanted profitable trade routes and places for agriculture
-Individual people found wealth and higher social status in military activities
-Mostly, the community was on the verge of collapse after Muhammad died and expansion was a task that most everyone in the community supported.
-Arab empire flourished due to the religious justification of conquering others. They believed it only occurred as a force of God.
-Arabs sought to limit destruction by living alongside their conquered peoples, creating places for them in their social hierarchy, and making separate towns for their military.
-Arabs eventually began to seek converts, but allowed conquered peoples to practice their own religion if they paid taxes.

Emily Soice

11/3/2013 10:44:06 am

I also read that this expansion continued a long pattern of tribal raids into surrounding civilizations, but with the Arabs now having a central command capable of utilizing the entire Arab population; local elites and bureaucratic structures were incorporated into the new Arabic empire; and something that Crash Course WH greatly stressed was that Arabia was between two massive, but weakened empires(Byzantium and Persia) which allowed the Arabs to conquer a large area more easily than usual

Jackson

11/3/2013 04:21:51 am

Is it just me, or do the margin questions of this chapter seem very insufficient to covering all of the content Strayer talks about? Are the margin questions as important in this chapter as past ones?

Claire Metusalem

11/3/2013 04:36:30 am

Personally, I think that they are actually helping me more than other chapters have been.

Victoria Cashman

11/3/2013 04:42:13 am

Some of them do seem a bit weird, but the comparison ones still really help me. Like differentiating between the two types of Islam and the one about Sufis and their beliefs.

Bingham

11/3/2013 06:25:14 am

I can't tell. There's always more than just the answers to the margin question.

Victoria Cashman

11/3/2013 04:52:51 am

I guess I'll answer more questions...

MQ #6:

"What is the difference between Sunni and Shia Islam?"

-Sunni Muslims believed caliphs, the successors to Muhammad, were the rightful leaders that the community selected, while the Shia Muslims believed leadership should be based upon lineage, where blood relatives of Muhammad exercised power.
-Sunni believed authority came from religious scholars called ulama, while Shia believed authority came from imams, who were the only ones who interpreted the Quran
-Sunnis were seen as advocates of the new order in the society of Islam, while Shias saw themselves as the minority who opposed the order.
-Shias believed their defeated leaders were hiding and would return at the right time, while Sunnis did not.
-Shias saw Umayyad caliphs as illegitimate, while Sunnis agreed with Umayyad rule.
-Sunni Muslims believed in strict following of sharia law, which controlled all political and social life.

Victoria Cashman

11/3/2013 05:02:56 am

And MQ #7:

"In what ways were Sufi Muslims critical of mainstream Islam?"

-Sufis saw the expansion and growing power of Islamic civilization distracting from Muhammad's messages.
-Sufis were a mystical sect of Islam, as they desired to become one with the divine.
-Sufis pursued ignoring of the ego and union with Allah (Could this be considered close to some Daoist principles?)
-Sufis believed laws did not bring a follower closer to God
-They believed the ulama (Sunni Muslims) to be corrupt, as they pursued expansion and their egos.
-Ulama saw Sufis as people who contradicted religious doctrines because they incorporated other religious practices in their beliefs, were said to be one with God, and received new revelations after Muhammad's death.

Bingham

11/3/2013 06:23:42 am

It's nice to see someone is working Victoria!

Claire Metusalem

11/3/2013 06:56:49 am

MQ #5
What accounts for the widespread conversion to Islam?

~Christians, Zoroastrians, and Jews found similar elements in Islam that are in their religion. (Monotheism, ritual prayer, fasting, heaven & hell, divine revelation, and final judgement).
~ Islam was associated with the sponsorship of a powerful state.
~ Conquest called into question the power of old gods, while the growing prestige of the Arab Empire attracted many to Allah.
~ Living in the Islamic-governed state provided a variety of incentives for claiming Muslim identity.
~ In Islam, merchants found a religion that was friendly to commerce, and in the Arab Empire they enjoyed a huge and secure arena for trade.

Let me know if I'm missing anything!

Paris Bezanis

11/3/2013 08:02:01 am

Do you think there is any significance that Islam and Christendom emerged from the peripheries of established civilizations and because of their remoteness a different "form" or "path" was chosen?

Bingham

11/3/2013 08:53:37 am

I think they were both revolutionary because they were in the periphery. They couldn't have formed in an established tradition.

Paris Bezanis

11/3/2013 09:23:59 am

So in its description of the demands of the Quran, it mentions how it sought to return to the older values of Arab tribal life which contradicted the life in the cities such as Mecca which were highly commercialized. Yet I thought Islam valued or at least tolerated merchants and trade, yet it did not approve of wealth hoarding and other things that often go hand in hand with trade. How did all that work out? Also, was Muhammad connected to any particular tribe? The Quran was direct word of God, and it said a return to the old ways was correct, but Muhammad himself was not practicing these ways..wasn't he the product of this cosmo/metropolitan Arabic city factor?

Paris Bezanis

11/3/2013 09:37:13 am

Ignore that second question, Strayer says he's in Quraysh tribe.

Kizer

11/4/2013 08:25:46 am

I was also wondering about those conflicting principals.

Bingham

11/4/2013 09:32:39 am

Welcome to the study of religion!

MQ #4 (again)

11/3/2013 10:02:10 am

Why were Arabs able to construct such a huge empire so quickly?
1.) Newly organized state with central command was able to mobilize the military potential of the entire Arab population.
2.) Individuals saw expansion as a route to wealth and social mobility
3.) Merchant leaders supported expansion as a means of tapping into profitable trade routes and agricultural regions
4.) Incredible potential energy of the Arabian transformation needed to be spent, especially when the umma threatened to unravel after Muhammad's death.
5.) As Arabs won more victories, they believed their religion and conquests were God-given, result of divine support, similar to the Roman-Catholic crusaders after their capturing of Byzantium.
6.) Arab leaders recognized the need to maintain already existing political structures, and were able to mitigate the negative impact and destruction of local peoples, making conquering much smoother.

Paris Bezanis

11/3/2013 10:02:53 am

I wrote that, sorry my name is not MQ#4

Nicole

11/3/2013 11:17:15 am

I understand that we are trading the comprehension test for a DBQ so, are we just answering margin questions to internalize the chapter?

Claire Metusalem

11/3/2013 12:42:03 pm

MQ #8
How did the rise of Islam change the lives of women?
~ The Quran viewed women as inferior and subordinate
~ Women were beaten for disobeying men due to the viewings of the Quran.
~ Women were given control over their own property (particularly dowries), and were granted rights of inheritance, but at half the rate of their male counterparts.
~ With married, women were expected to enjoy sexual satisfaction, and could sue for divorce if it was not being met to their standards.
~ The practice of having multiple husbands was banned, while polygyny was permitted.
~ In the upper classes, women experienced restrictions in the Abbasid era while the Islamic civilization flourished.
~ As the Arab Empire grew, the position of women became more limited. Veiling and seclusion became common, and separate quarters within the homes of the wealthy were the domain for women. There was even a separate bridge built for them.
~ "Honor killing" was another sign of a tightening patriarchy. Men would practice this on women when they violated a sexual taboo.
~ Islam offered new outlets for religious life.
- The Sufi practice allowed a greater role for women
- In Shia Islam, women teacher of the faith were termed mullahs
- Visits to tombs and the public bath provided opportunities for women to communicate with other women outside their family circle.

Shaikha

11/4/2013 11:14:11 am

Can I just note that the Quran doesn't in any way view women as inferior nor subordinate however elevates them. I can also bring you verses from the Quran to prove it. I'm sorry, I just had to put this out there.

Claire Metusalem

11/4/2013 12:46:27 pm

No! Thank you!

Bingham

11/4/2013 08:58:30 pm

Agreed. The Prophet never taught gender inequality, which is remarkable considering the time and place.

Paris Bezanis

11/5/2013 01:44:37 pm

Don't forget the hadiths that were published which shed more negative light on women. These became important sources for Islamic Law (later), and this can be seen in the alteration of the Adam and Eve story.

Bingham

11/3/2013 09:03:56 pm

Understand from whom? You didn't hear it from me, and the calendar says otherwise.

Emily Soice

11/4/2013 12:17:38 pm

In tenth century Spain were Muzarabs permitted to live only in particular places, while Christians, though facing other discrimination, did not?It seems as if religions other than Islam were persecuted, but so were those who sought to convert.

Bingham

11/4/2013 09:06:23 pm

Early, it was a tolerant society, but like so many in history, with time, they became less so. I think that from the sultanate's point of view, the Muzarabs might have been interested in the broader Arab culture, but it was more significant that they were non-believers, and therefore not part of the umma.

Chase Duffin

11/4/2013 12:37:48 pm

I attempted answering one of the margin questions.

MQ#9 - What similarities and differences can you identify in the spread of Islam to India, Anatolia, West Africa and Spain?

Similarities:
*Islam spread to India, Anatolia, Spain through Turkish conquest, meaning they were invaded by Turks who had already converted to Islam
*Islam took over authority/rule of India and Anatolia
Diff:
*came to West Africa because Muslim merchants brought it from N Africa which was already Islamic and provided important link to traders who were Muslim. It was a peaceful/voluntary transition
*Islam took over and fully penetrated Anatolia both culturally and in rule, but did not completely take over culture of India or Spain
*Anatolia was focused on a centralized church and state, leaving them mostly leaderless and dispirited whereas in India, they were decentralized and lacked a unified political and religious establishment was able to absorb the shock of the Muslim cultural invasion.

Is this all, or did I miss some things in it?
.

Bingham

11/4/2013 08:51:15 pm

Careful. Spain was invaded by Arabs and Berbers, or was in Beduins?
Rule of India was only local until the Delhi Sultanate in the 13th c.

Chase Duffin

11/4/2013 12:42:07 pm

And I wanted to check something out that I noticed on the tenth margin question, "Why was Anatolia much more Islamized than India?" I noticed that most of the points that I made can all lead back to size of the population of each place (Anatolia being only 8 million and India being roughly 48 million). Could I be on to something possibly? Or did I fall off the track somewhere along the way?

Lillian Evans

11/7/2013 02:26:54 pm

I think this is definitely a huge part of it.But some other parts were:
Christians were discriminated against.
Byzantium was weak (Anatolia was a part of/ ruled by Byzantium)
there were priests that were unable to serve their communities
India was better able to absorb the shock of external invasion while still keeping their own culture,
and Sufi's provided schools, mills, orchards, hospices, and rest places for travelers.
Basically, the fact the Byzantium was weakened made it a lot easier for Islam to look appealing.

Malia Nellums

11/5/2013 09:00:41 am

so I started a community mapping of the chapter on prezi. To get to it go to prezi.com.
email: malia.nellums72@gmail.com
password: Bingham
this is for everyone so we can collaborate on ideas and what we think connects in this chapter.
PLEASE add things, don't be afraid.
think of it as an extension to the forum

Lolo Ledbetter

11/5/2013 10:42:14 am

Can someone explain the 2 jihads to me?

Sam Molina

11/7/2013 10:30:48 am

The first jihad, known as the "greater jihad" by Muhammad, was each Muslim's inner struggle against their greediness, selfishness, negative aspects like that, with their main goal to live a good and godly life.
The second jihad, known as the "jihad of the sword", was both the defending of Islam and conquering of evil and unbelieving forces to establish Muslim rule and protect the umma (new Islamic society) from threats of aggressors. This type of jihad was seen as lesser than the "great jihad" and was authorized by the Quran.

Paris Bezanis

11/5/2013 12:04:25 pm

This thought just dawned on me, could you compare the Islamic State to the Christian Byzantium empire in that both were a fully developed political and religious entity, with no differentiation between the two? Ch. 10 stated that the Orthodox Church dictated all walks of life, and Ch. 11 mentions how Sharia law (which was purely religious) became the state system. Could that comparison be drawn?

Bingham

11/5/2013 08:52:15 pm

Yeah, it's a valid comparison, but in the case of Byzantium it wasn't really by intention. It sort of evolved that way, and the the religious leader and political leader were never the same person, unlike Islam. So with Byzantium, it's more control of the church by the state than it is church and state as one and the same.

Paris Bezanis

11/5/2013 12:08:29 pm

Was Muhammad so revolutionary in part because he was so accessible and "tangible"? He served as a political and military leader and worked as an active organizer of the umma.

Kathryn King

11/6/2013 08:55:35 am

Did the Quraysh lose it's status as Meccas dominant tribe after the gods in the Kabba were deemed untrue gods? They controlled access to the Kabba, and in my mind, the decline in the use of the Kabba would lead to the decline of the Quraysh.

Nicole

11/6/2013 12:07:38 pm

Why was Anatolia so much more thoroughly Islamized than in India?

•difference in demographic balance- Anatolia's population of 8 million vs. India's 48 million
•more Turkic-speaking peoples settled in Anatolia, giving them a much greater cultural weight than in India
•disruption of Anatolian society was far more extensive- massacres, enslavement, famine, and flight led to a sharp decline in the native population
•centralized Byzantine civilization in Anatolia became leaderless and dispirited, while India was better able to handle external invasion because of their initial lack of political/religious establishment
•Turkish rulers of Anatolia built a new society that welcomed converts and granted them material rewards and opportunity for high office
•cultural barriers were less severe; common monotheism of Christianity and Muslim respect for Jesus and Christian scriptures
•Sufi teachers began to think of the two religions as different versions of the same faith
•Sufis established schools, mills, orchards, hospices, and rest places for travelers, replacing the remnants of Christian Anatolia

Leina Betzer

11/7/2013 09:43:04 am

I am still confused about MQ#3...what does strayer mean by theory vs. practice? could somebody clarify?

Victoria Cashman

11/7/2013 10:45:40 am

I answered it above....

Leina Betzer

11/7/2013 10:57:46 am

I saw your answer but my question is how did you descided what to put in the theory category vs. the practice category?

Cyrus

11/7/2013 11:05:38 am

I think the theoretical aspects of Islam being revolutionary were the vaguer components of its rise. The big idea here is that the rise of Islam was opposed by elite families, especially the Quraysh (Muhammad's own tribe!), and here are the more specific ways that I found:

-that Muhammad claimed to be the "Messenger of Allah",
-a belief in absolute monotheism,
-the call for social reform,
-condemnation of Mecca's business practices,
-and Muhammed's supposed betrayal of his own tribe.

On the other hand, in practice Strayer is asking for the specifics, which are much fewer, like:

-the emigration of Muhammed and his followers to Yathrib (and later, to Medina), called hijra
-the Islamic community, or umma, was a supertribe
-membership a matter of belief rather than birth
-independence from Judaism
-spread throughout Arabia
-early military successes against Meccan opponents
-growing numbers converted
-Arabia under new Islamic state by the time of Muhammed's death
-instantly political; soon a huge empire
-Muhammed was a religious, political, and military leader

If anyone notices I left something out (I know it's a bit late for this), let me know.

Leina

11/7/2013 12:28:09 pm

Thank you!!

Sean Moses

11/7/2013 11:05:22 am

Hey can anyone explain this to me?
". . . Sufis claimed to be one with God, receive new revelations. . ."
Because Muhammad said that his word was the FINAL revelation from God so would this mean that on this point at least the Sufis were in direct opposition with Muhammad?
Thanks

Cyrus

11/7/2013 11:51:25 am

It appears no one has answered margin question #11, so I'll give it a shot:
What makes it possible to speak of the Islamic world as a distinct and coherent civilization?

-a common commitment to Islam
-ulama - learned scholars who transmitted Islamic beliefs and practices
-spread word of Quran, and preserved and taught sharia
-created an education system to unify Islamic civilization
-religious orders of the Sufis
-Sufi shaykhs (teachers) gained disciples widely
-Qadiriya order began in Baghdad and spread throughout Arab world and into sub-Saharan Africa
-thousands of people made pilgrimage to Mecca (hajj) yearly, gaining a sense of the umma, or Muslim community
-

Shaikha

11/7/2013 03:15:51 pm

Couldn't go to bed so decided to try answering all margin questions and put this thing together for whoever decides to check this out tomorrow..

Margin Review Questions

In what ways did the early history of Islam reflect its Arabian origins?
- Islam drew on an older Arab identification of Allah with Yahweh, the Jewish High God, and Arab self-identification as children of Abraham
- The Quran denounced the prevailing social practices of an increasingly prosperous Mecca and sought a return to the older values of Arab tribal life.
- The message of the Quran also rejected the Arab tribal and clan structure, which was prone to war, feuding, and violence. Instead, the Quran sought to replace this structure with the umma, the community of all believers.
- The Arabian Peninsula was next to the Sassanid and the Byzantine empires. Because of this, the Arabian Peninsula began to house Zoroastrians whose ideas of monotheism started to influence Muslims.

How does the core message of Islam compare with that of Judaism and Christianity?
- like Judaism and Christianity, is monotheistic. Allah is the only God, the all-powerful Creator.
- Muhammad presented himself in the tradition of earlier prophets like Abraham, Moses, and Jesus.
- Like the Jewish prophets and Jesus, Muhammad demanded social justice and laid out a prescription for its implementation.

In what ways was the rise of Islam revolutionary, both in theory and in practice?
- The Islamic community, or umma, broke with the previous tribal structure defined by family and clan in Arabia, replacing it with a system in which membership was a matter of belief rather than birth, It becoems universal, if you are a Muslim.
- Muhammad was not only a religious figure but also a political and military leader able to implement his vision of an ideal Islamic society.
- Islam possessed no separate political and religious organizations, although tension between religious and political goals frequently generated conflict, THEOCRATIC.
- Unlike Christianity, no professional clergy mediating between God and humankind emerged within Islam.
- No distinction between religious and civil law existed in the Islamic world THEOCRATIC.
- islam differed from other religions and ruling systems in beliefs was the reason why the religion changed the countries in came in contact with.
- allah is god and mohammed is his messenger
jesus was just a prophet while Christians believe he’s the son of god, and died for our sins
- they differ in how Islam uses Quran and Christianity uses bible
- no distinction between religious law and civil law, so important in the Christian world, existed within the realm of Islam
- islam was from the beginning associated with the sponsorship of a powerful state, quite unlike the experience of early buddhism or Christianity
- unlike other religions, Islam became widely popular in a matter of about 40 years, when Christianity for example took hundreds of years to become publicly popular
- revolutionized the treatment of women.
- they believe in the strict worship of the redeemed, this involves praying five times a day in the direction of mecca
a pilgramage is required if financially possible while this is never seen in Christianity or Judaism.
- men where allowed to have four wives at a time.
- religious laws and civil laws were similar, unlike the christian systems
- islam gave countries sense of unification throughout the middle east, north africa, and eastern asia
- muslims did their best to limit the disruptive impact of their conquest on the nations they defeat
- Muhammed had military and political control

Why were Arabs able to construct such a huge empire so quickly?
- For the first time, a shared faith in Islam allowed the newly organized state to mobilize the military potential of the entire Arab population.
- The Byzantine and Persian empires were weakened by decades of war with each other and by internal revolts.
- Merchant leaders of the new Islamic community wanted to capture the profitable trade routes of the Silk Roads.
- Individual Arabs found in military expansion a route to wealth and social promotion.
- Expansion provided a common task for the Arab community, which reinforced the fragile unity of the umma.
- Arabs were motivated by a religious dimension, as many viewed the mission of empire in terms of jihad, bringing righteous government to the peoples they conquered.
Islam didn’t spread because of the “Jihad of the sword” since during the life of the prophet, none muslims still lived in Madena unless they’ve plotted against the murder of the prophet. (long story)
- People were accepting Islam because of the message it was sending and because the Islamic world at that time had such a huge impact in world literature, arts, sciences and philosophy
- Islam brought Europe out of the dark ages, when the Christian world was flat on its face.
- The arab army was united by belief
- Islam promised the warriors

Shaikha

11/7/2013 03:18:29 pm

Continuation..

Islam promised the warriors of Islam who died in battle a place in paradise.
It was both a religion and a political entity

There are more points but I think those are enough for now..
What accounts for the widespread conversion to Islam?
Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians could find familiar elements of their own faiths in Islam.
From the start, Islam was associated with the sponsorship of a powerful state.
Conquest called into question the power of old gods, while the growing prestige of the Arab Empire attracted many to Allah.
Although forced conversion was rare, living in an Islamic-governed state provided a variety of incentives for claiming Muslim identity, tax breaks for example.
In Islam, merchants found a religion friendly to commerce, and in the Arab Empire they enjoyed a huge and secure arena for trade.
It is easy to convert to islam. All one has to do is just follow the 5 pillars and you are in
Islam was easy to follow
It’s settle and no two lines contradict each other
The Quran speaks about the other religions as well, Christianity and Judaism making them clearer
Christianity and Islam both worship the same god which makes converting easier
The reason Islam was created is because Judaism and subsequently Christianity have failed to stay true to their origins.

What is the difference between Sunni and Shia Islam?
(I’ma try to be as bias as I can. Keep in mind that these ‘differences’ don’t mean the Sunni’s and Shia’s ‘hate’ each other - common misinteruption.)
Time for a background story before the answer;
After the death of the prophet he left his will with his wife stating that Imam Ali (as) was going to be the leader after. Imam Ali was the first man to convert to islam when he was still a child, he was partially raised by the prophet and was the husband of the prophets son. One incident led to another, and the Caliphas were knocking on the prophets daughters door asking for her husband. After she informed them that he’s out for prayers and they cannot come in they forcily entered and physically abused her till they broke her ribs and got her fathers will and left. When her husband came back with their son, Imam Hussein (as), she told them what happened and that’s what fued the separation between Shia’s and Sunni’s. Shia’s were the people who followed Imam Ali (as) saying that he was the one to rule after the prophet, while the Sunni’s believed it was the Caliphas. The conflict grew larger when it was Omar’s turn to be the Caliphas. Backstory again, Omar proposed to the prophet’s daughter, and the prophet said no; he holds a grude again Imam Ali (as) because he got to marry the prophets daughter. In the eyes of the Sunni’s, Shia’s are looked upon as people who abandoned islam after the prophets death, which means they’re eligible to be killed.
Summary of that chunk of words; Shia’s = followed Imam Ali (as) / Sunni’s = Followed the Caliphas.
Answer from Strayer:
1.Sunnis held that the caliphs were rightful political and military leaders, selected by the Islamic community, while the Shia held that leadership in the Islamic world should derive from the line of Ali and his son Husayn, blood relatives of Muhammad. 2.For Sunni Muslims, religious authority in general emerged from the larger community, particularly from the religious scholars known as ulama. Meanwhile, the Shia invested their leaders, known as imams, with a religious authority that the caliphs lacked, allowing them alone to reveal the true meaning of the Quran and the wishes of Allah. 3.The Shia tradition included a messianic element that the Sunni tradition largely lacked.

More differences:
Shia’s pray 3 times a day combining the the 2nd&3rd and 4th&5th making Islam more adaptable especially consider their history of wars (against the last Calipha’s son) while Sunni’s pray 5 times a day.
Shia’s take in consideration the Sayings of the 12 imams.
Shia’s believe that there’s a 13th imam who would come and save the world from devistation before the end of the world, (he’s a sign towards the end of the world)
Shia’s call for prayers includes teh mentioning of Imam Ali (as) and they pray on rock
Sunni’s followed Muaweya Ibn Sufyan (He was the (I’m not sure you can call him a Calipha but he’s a political leader) who ordered the death of all the decendents of the prophet.
Sunni’s believe that Aisha is the prophets favorite wives and was the only human to face Imam Ali (as) in a battle and not die (he didn’t kill her because she’s a women), She’s basically the role model to all Sunni women while Shia’s believe she betrayed the prophet.
I can go on, it’s all details of history thou but you get the idea and basics.

In what ways were Sufi Muslims critical of mainstrea

Shaikha

11/7/2013 03:19:25 pm

It gets longer..

In what ways were Sufi Muslims critical of mainstream Islam?
Sufism desiers an emotional ecstatic union with God
Sufism was sharply critical of the more scholarly and legalistic practitioners of the sharia; to Sufis, establishment teachings about the law and correct behavior did little to bring the believer into the presence of God.
Sufis held that many of the ulama of mainstream Islam had been compromised by their association with worldly and corrupt governments.
tradition that the more spiritual and mystical aspects were preserved.
he original Sufi were basically mystics - people who followed a pious form of Islam and who believed that a direct, personal experience of God could be achieved through meditation and self-disciplin which appealed to buddhists.
It refused the expansion of Islam thinking it was a religion only for them
Whereas mainstream Islam tended to be rather scholastic in nature, Sufism focused on personal peity, which was easier for many Muslims to accept and live by.

Dont know much about this thing, sorry

How did the rise of Islam change the lives of women?
The Quran banned female infanticide, gave women the right to own property and granted them rights of inheritance. It also allowed men to have sexual relations with consenting female slaves, but any children born of these unions were free, as was the mother once her owner died.
As the Arab Empire grew in size, the position of women became more limited. Women started to pray at home instead of in the mosque, and veiling and seclusion of women became standard practice among the upper and ruling classes. Other signs of tightening patriarchy, such as "honor killing" of women by their male relatives for violating sexual taboos which derived from local cultures, with no sanction in the Quran or Islamic law.
The Sufi practice of mystical union with God allowed a greater role for women than did mainstream Islam.
Islamic education, either in the home or in Quranic schools, allowed some women to become literate and a few to achieve higher levels of learning.
Islam was friendly to women and elevated gender equality
It gave women more power
It gave women ways to stay out of tough situations and leaving it to men (for example, giving the women only have the responsibility to testify in the court)
In terms of religious obligations, such as the Daily Prayers, Fasting, Poor-due, and Pilgrimage, woman is no different from man. In some cases indeed, woman has certain advantages over man. For example, the woman is exempted from the daily prayers and from fasting during her menstrual periods and forty days after childbirth. She is also exempted from fasting during her pregnancy and when she is nursing her baby if there is any threat to her health or her baby's. If the missed fasting is obligatory (during the month of Ramadan), she can make up for the missed days whenever she can. She does not have to make up for the prayers missed for any of the above reasons. Although women can and did go into the mosque during the days of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and thereafter attendance at the Friday congregational prayers is optional for them while it is mandatory for men (on Friday).
In marriage, both men and women have equal rights and sayings.
Nowhere in the Quran do we find any trace of any notion of blaming Eve for the first mistake or for eating from the forbidden tree. Nowhere, even though the Quran speaks about Adam, Eve, and the forbidden tree, but in a totally different spirit
there is no restriction in Islamic law that says a woman cannot work or have a profession, that her only place is in the home.
when it comes to financial security, Islamic law is more tilted in many respects towards women

That’s enough for you to ace this test kay?

Shaikha

11/7/2013 03:20:07 pm

Some more..

What similarities and differences can you identify in the spread of Islam to India, Anatolia, West Africa, and Spain?
Islam spread to India, Anatolia, and Spain in part through force of arms of Islamic armies, while Islam arrived in West Africa with Muslim traders.
Sufis facilitated conversions by accommodating local traditions, especially in India and Anatolia, but played little role in West Africa until at least the eighteenth century.
In India, West Africa, and Spain, Islam became one of several faiths within the wider culture, while in Anatolia it became the dominant faith.
In South Asia, Islam found a permanent place in a long-established civilization as invasions brought by Turkic-speaking warrior groups from Central Asia, recently converted to Islam, brought the faith to India
West Africa did not experience migrations from the Arab people to conquest and convert.
Why was Anatolia so much more thoroughly Islamized than India?
Unlike India, far more Islamic Turkic-speaking peoples settled in Anatolia. This, coupled with the much smaller population of Anatolia and the massacres, enslavement, famine, and flight that occurred during the conquest, gave Turks a much more important position in Anatolia.
Anatolian society was more centralized than India, and the Christian Church and Byzantine imperial infrastructure in Anatolia were fatally weakened during the Turkic invasion. India's more decentralized civilization was better able to absorb the shock of external invasion.
The Turkish rulers of Anatolia built a new society that welcomed converts, and the cultural barriers to conversion were arguably less severe there than in India.
Anatolia was closer to the Arabian peninsula where islam was concentrated
The anatolian culture wasn’t very different
They were familiar with Islam’s ways

What makes it possible to speak of the Islamic world as a distinct and coherent civilization?
At the core of that civilization was a common commitment to Islam.
No group was more important in the transmission of Islamic beliefs and practices than the ulama, an "international elite" who created a system of education that served to bind together an immense and diverse civilization.
The pilgrimage to Mecca (the hajj) drew many thousands of Muslims to Mecca each year from all over the Islamic world.
The focus on learning the Quran in Arabic allowed Islam to communicate across a wide swath of the old world.

In what ways was the world of Islam a “cosmopolitan civilization”?
Muslim merchants plied the Silk Roads, Sea Roads, and Sand Roads of the Afro-Eurasian world, and the Islamic world promoted long-distance economic relationships by actively supporting a prosperous, highly developed, "capitalist" economy.
Islamic civilization also facilitated a substantial exchange of agricultural products and practices: sugarcane and cotton
Techniques for manufacturing paper also arrived in the Middle East from China and later spread from the Middle East to India and Europe.
Also Islam made original contributions to the world of learning: algebra, political science, astronomy, and optics
Islam was a religion made to make people’s lives easier and not harder.
All the restrictions put on people by the Quran (not mentioning hadethis and that stuff) are there for the benefit of humans.
No matter what your social status is, you’re equal in Islam
The prosperity of the Islamic civilization can be attributed to the cosmopolitan nature that characterized the historic Islamic civilization which enabled new discoveries through interaction of cultures; Greeks, Romans, and the Christians.
Islam is widely spread creating and mixing cultures on it’s way.

All you need!

Kizer

11/9/2013 03:59:49 am

Where's the new forum?

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Islam on the world stage, Strayer 11

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