History of the Middle East and North Africa 600-1258
Unlike India that has a clearly defined caste system to divide classes, other nations have classes that are implied by economic and social differences. The Middle East after the rise of Islam had an implied class system as well, referred to as High Islam and Popular or Low Islam. There is no actual High and Popular Islam that people are officially divided into, but is perceived through historical analysis. They are concepts derived from historical findings that provide a way to compare and contrast the people, religion, and government of Islam. (Frierson) Hopefully this essay will shed some light on these concepts. “Allah is the Protector of those who have faith: from the depths of darkness He will lead them forth into light.” (Cow 2:257) Jesus Christ would never have expected animated DVD’s, Santa upstaging neither his ‘birthday’, nor the endless sects of Christians all claiming to truly understand his message and scripture. (Unless of course one is Christian and believes he is god and therefore knows all) Whether Muhammad foresaw the possibility of the Muslim community headed for similar disregard of the sacred is debatable. However, the fact that the sin of idolatry was so feared by Muslims has proven substantial power to suppress the same abandonment of the sacred that Christianity has modernized to. Despite the lack of Muhammad dolls and Allah t-shirts, the religion of Islam evolved into a government, empire, and ultimately a vague ideal of holiness interpreted thousands of ways. Having a faceless, mysterious deity not only prevented commercialism of a religion, but served to allow any culture to adopt their unique vision of God. When Muhammad first formed the small...
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... English translation of The Koran. London: Penguin Classics, 2006. Specific Sura The Cow (Referred to as Cow)
Frierson, Elizabeth. In-class lectures, PowerPoint’s, and Portfolio Guidelines University of Cincinnati Course Number 15-HIST-170-001, 20 September- October 2010. (Referred to as Frierson)
Haug, Dr. In-class lectures and PowerPoint’s, University of Cincinnati Course Number 15-HIST-170-001, 20 September- October 2010. (Referred to as Haug)
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Lewis, Bernard. Islam: from the Prophet Muhammad to the Capture of Constantinople, Volume 2. Oxford University Press, 1987. (Referred to as Lewis 2)
Ochsenwald, William and Sidney Fisher. The Middle East: A History. McGraw-Hill, 2004. (Referred to as F&O)
Hinson, Kathy. "Book Review: 'Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes'" The Oregonian. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Dec. 2013.
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The Crisis of Islam: Holy War and Unholy Terror is a book written by Bernard Lewis that ‘in particular charts the key events of the twentieth century leading up to the violent confrontations of today.’(Lewis) Lewis clearly and entirely pointed out key events explaining the choices to be made by the people of the Islamic faith. They must determine whether their religion takes its place alongside other religions in a global community, or whether it will revert back into conflict with non-Muslim nations.
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Islam is a monotheistic and Abrahamic religion alongside Judaism and Christianity. It is currently the second largest religion in the world today. Its beliefs come from the Qur'an which literally means "the recitation" which is believed to be a literal transcription of the word of God. Its main prophet is named Muhammad who began Islam by speaking with the angel Gabriel in a cave during his meditation and then acting as an instrument of God to help write the Qur’an. Muhammad then spread Islam to the scattered tribes of Arabia by becoming the leader of Yathrib and using his wonderful leadership abilities to then grow his influence over virtually all of Arabia. Muhammad is known by Muslims to be the seal of the profits because no profits after Muhammad should be considered legitimate. Muhammad also left behind the Hadith or “tradition” which is a collection of writings compiled of reports of Muhammad’s actions as leader of Yathrib. These reports are used as a more specific code of ethics in day to day life and from these reports the 5 Pillars of Islam are derived (Smith 160). Although Islam shares many similarities to Judaism and Christianity it is often viewed in the US with hate derived from preconceived notions following the attack on September 11th 2001. This paper seeks to provide an overview of Islam’s history as well as its two major sects and 5 main pillars to remove preconceived notions and provide a glance into the minds of the Islamic people.
Mahmood Mamdani, Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: America, The Cold War, and the Roots of Terror (New York: Three Rivers Press, 2005), 5.
Ali, Yusuf. The Holy Qur’an; Translation and Commentary. Ludhiana: Lahore, 1934. Al-Bukhari, Muhammed Ibn Ismaiel. Sahih Bukhari. Trans. M. Muhsin Khan. Vol. 8. Riyadh: Darussalam, 1997. Print.