The Man that Birthed a Great Religion

Religion can be defined as a profound spiritual or psychological transformation that is brings all types of people together in a social conversion. Islam, which is the smallest of the three major monotheistic religions, began with the belief of a "submission to Allah" because of the man named Muhammad Ibn Abdullah.

Muhammad was born in the city of Mecca and became orphaned early in life until his adoption by an uncle. He was known as a distant city traveled trader and married a wealthy widow who provided him with financial and emotional support. A fine reflective man who was deeply troubled by the religious corruption and social inequalities of Mecca. In order to escape the tradition that disturbed Muhammad, he began to make long retreats to a mountain cave outside of Mecca. During one of his meditations, a visionary experience from an intermediary of God instructed him to recite the words of beauty and force that attributed them to God.

It was during the time when Muhammad revealed the messages to his tribe, that verses were gathered and became the Islamic sacred scripture titled the Qur'an. During the next decade, Muhammad and his followers were belittled and ridiculed with physical attacked because of a growing monotheistic religion. It was because of one man that a powerful conquest over Mecca took place and created a infamous religion.

http://www.pbs.org/muhammad/timeline_html.shtml
Strayer, R. W. (2009). Ways of the World: A Brief Global History (Vol. 1). Boston: Bedford/ St. Martin's.

Jihad, its true meaning.

When examining the early formation of the Islamic religion in my history class, we learned of the Five Pillars that Muslims must live by. Also, we looked at the five Articles of Faith that a Muslim must believe in order to consider themselves a devout Muslim. Apart from these two requirements of the faith, Muslims must also study the Koran and follow the practice of Jihad. I was particularly interested in why the concept of Jihad was its own category and why it did not just fall under one of the pillars or Articles of Faith. While searching for the answer to my question I came across an academic study that's purpose was to explain the original intentions of the concept of Jihad according to its first interpretation.

This article describes Jihad as something every member of the Islamic society must carry out, that is"they must exert themselves at all moments of life to fight a battle both inward and outward against those forces that if not combated will destroy that equilibrium which is the necessary condition for the spiritual life of the person and the functioning of human society." In simpler terms, Jihad is a battle against the evils of not only the outside world but also the evils generated with in each individual. The vices Muslims are trying to avoid internally are hatred, laziness, forgetfulness, and dissipation. The reason that Jihad is not one of the Five pillars is that each of the pillars reinforces the concept of Jihad. The pillars are set up as a means to help the process of living while successfully accomplishing Jihad.

To learn in more detail the concept of Jihad visit this website: Academic Journal

Early World Baghdad

During the time of the Islamic movement, Baghdad was not close to the Baghdad we see today. In 762, the Abbasid dynasty moved the Capital of the Muslim World to Baghdad. Over the next five centuries, the city became the world's cent of education and culture. The area housed many of the great scholars and they contributed in both the sciences and humanities. Some common theories that derived from them area were common medicine, mathematics, astronomy, chemistry and literature. The city was filled with museums, hospitals, libraries and mosques and most importantly the famous learning center known as Bayt al-Hikmah (the House of Wisdom).



Construction on the House of Wisdom began in the ninth century under the the Caliph Harun ar-Rashid. It was originally founded to house the works from Arun ar-Rashid's grand father, his father, and himself. While his son invited translators to purse a project which involved the translating into Arabic of essential texts written in a variety of languages. The House of Wisdom was divided into departments for each of the sciences and scholars from all disciplines who met and worked within the walls. The building allowed for many different people to work under the roof. On a given day you would see Jewish, Christian, Islamic and Zoroastrian scholars working.





Information from:
http://islam.about.com/cs/history/a/aa040703a.htm
http://hubpages.com/hub/House-of-Wisdom-in-Medieval-Baghdad

The Difference Between Sunni and Shiite Islam

Islam is the second largest religion in the world, with over 2 billion followers, and has two major sects- the Sunnis and the Shiites. Both groups believe in the 5 Pillars of Islam and practice the same principles of the religion but have many differences, from the rightful leader of Islam to the form of Allah's(God's) body.



Today Sunni Muslims make up about 89% of all Muslims with about 940 million followers while the Shiites have only around 120 Million followers. The Shiite population makes up nearly all of Iran and close to half of Iraq. The following map shows the distribution of the Muslim population in Europe, Asia and Africa. The dark green represents the Shiites and the light green represents the Sunnis.










The split between the two groups formed in the years after Muhammad's death. The Sunni's believed that Muhammad's successor should be the most qualified leader and voted on by the people. The Shiites, however, believed that only direct descendants of Muhammad should be allowed to succeed his throne. The Shiites selected Ali, Muhammad's son-in-law, to be their leader but he Sunni Muslims, the majority, voted Abur Bakr as the first Caliph. Ali eventually became the fourth Caliph but was assassinated. The two branches have been in constant conflict ever since the disagreement over the first successor of Muhammad.



While the two branches of Islam both use the same teachings they have many conflicts in belief. Both groups believe in the Mahdi, or "rightfully guided one." The Mahdi is the global Caliph of all Islam. The Sunnis believe the Mahdi has not been born yet and has not come to Earth, but the Shiites believe he is already here on Earth and can feel his presence. The Sunnis believe Allah has a body and can be seen on Earth and in the afterlife. The Shiites believe Allah does not have a body and can never be seen. Sunnis believe anything Allah commands is a good thing, even if it is to murder someone. Sunnis also believe that Allah controls every person's acts while the Shiites believe that Allah know what we will do but does not control it.



Overall, the two branches have the same basic beliefs and teachings but that is where any similarities end. Shiite and Sunni Islam are almost two different religions rather than two different sects of the same religion.

Information was taken from the following websites:
http://www.differencebetween.net/miscellaneous/difference-between-sunni-and-shiite-islam/
http://www.hyperhistory.net/apwh/essays/comp/cw11sunnishiitesplit.htm

"The Trusted One" and his Muslims

In class, we watched a movie on Islam and Muhammed's effect on the country. Islam was an oral culture, they told stories and lessons mostly through poetry. The only way to find out the history of their country, was through poems passed down through generations. Their religion was built upon worshipping spirits, more specifically spirits of the earth ( wind, water, rock, etc). Muhammed, would forever change the religion of Islam. Muhammed became a merchant and eventually accumulated a group of followers called Muslims. Together, they built a book of revelations of natural beliefs (chosen words/description of God) called the Quran. The religion was then centered around this book, just like Christianity is centered around the Bible. I found it interesting and liked the fact that it was easy to become Muslim and take part in the religious beliefs. It was easy to practice. I am a Christian, so the simplicity of being Muslim attracted me because being a Christian is simple too! It takes 2 concepts to be a full-fledged Muslim. You have the 5 Pillars of Islam and the Articles of Faith. As long as you practice and uphold those obligations, you are praticing their faith. There are obligations to Christianity too, but I believe the Muslims' obligations take more dedication, they are more detailed, and there are more 'rules' to follow.

For instance, with Muslims, one of their obligations is to pray 5 times a day and you have to pray at the Kabba. Where as in Christianity, you can pray whenever and wherever you want. Another example is Muslims have to make a pilgrammage to Mecca at least one time in their life. Christianity does not require a pilgarammage to any place.

Being a Muslim created much controversy between the people of Islam, just like Christianity was not accepted very easily either. These 2 religions have many simliarities, even though they may be carried out or practiced differently. Keeping religion simple is a good way to go. It allows for more followers and can potentially be long-lasting. It seems that simplicity is key to success in religious practices.

Christianity full circle

After Constantine the Great converted his religious beliefs to those of the Christian faith, Rome began to accept and adopt some of the Christian practices. Rome had a culture that allowed them to take on the beliefs of others if it bettered the community as a whole. The morals and ethical practices of the Christian religion provided individual motivation toward order in the city. The Romans eagerly welcomed the ideas of individual purpose in life, and an afterlife of salvation and individual immortality. In terms of politics, Romans used the Christian name to establish trade connections with other Christians and eventually Christianity became the only legal religion in Rome. Also, the ability to publicly promote the religion allowed for interaction with many different cultures and provided a larger sense of community among many different peoples.

An interesting connection can be made between the assimilation of Christianity into Roman society and the extraction of it in America society today. The Romans used Christianity to grow not only socially, but also politically. Today, Americans are in a constant state of protest against the founding principles of Christianity in the government. Many Americans want the word "God" to be taken out of the pledge of allegiance, and many more are calling for the removal of Christian influence in the courts. The way in which the Romans were willing to accept beliefs of different religions and adopt them into their community, is exactly opposite to the practices of the United States in regards to religion. The U.S. is trying very hard to rid itself of religion in government all together. Instead of including all the different religions in some way into the practices of the whole community to create a state of acceptance; Americans are discluding every religion in the hopes that everyone will be equal in their position of no voice religiously.

My Take on the First Council of Nicaea

In 325 CE the Emperor Constantine convened a council of Christian religious leaders to resolve many issues and conflicts in the Church. Topics ranged from jurisdiction of the clergy to basic, core beliefs of Christianity. The main reason for the Council was to settle the controversy over the nature of the Trinity. "It was the decision of the council, formalized in the Nicene Creed, that God the Father and God the Son were consubstantial and coeternal and that the Arian belief in a Christ created by and thus inferior to the Father was heretical"1.

The First Council of Nicaea is most famous for the formation of the Nicene Creed, which states the basic beliefs of Christians.

As a Christian I find it very interesting and perplexing that many of my core beliefs were decided by an Ancient Roman Emperor who only converted to Christianity after seeing a Christian symbol in his dream the night before a victorious battle. How well did Constantine understand all of Christianity? How do us Christians know he made good decisions about our religion? And how do we know if Constantine changed basic Christianity beliefs during this council to make them more "Roman?" These are questions many Christians ask themselves after learning of the First Council of Nicaea. But do we really need to freak out over this?

The decisions made at the Council, however, were not made by Constantine alone. Nobody knows for sure who presided over the Council, although it can be assumed that Constantine played a major role in the decision-making process because he was the Emperor and he did call the council after all. Many other high-ranking Clergy members were present at the council so it is safe to say that Constantine did not make any horribly irrational decisions or any major changes that were not agreed to by other high-ranking Church leaders.

So to all my fellow Christians I say no, we do not need to freak out over the original Council of Nicaea. Yes, Constantine was most likely in charge but he was not the only one making decisions- many clergy members were also involved. So do not worry about your beliefs being all wrong because a former Roman Emperor played a role in deciding them. The fact is that at the time a Council was completely necessary to organize the Church and pave the way for it to become as large and as influential as it is today.

1: http://www.thenazareneway.com/council_of_nicaea_nicea_325.htm