RELG 102 1st Edition Exam 4 Study Guide Lecture 11 12 Lecture 11 March 6 The world Islam means submission or surrender as in submission to the will of Allah or God Islam represents the correction or completion of other monotheistic faiths God gives each human a fixed time on earth to do what is right free will Strong monotheistic religion Allah Ones deeds are then judged in the afterlife by Allah Islam is linked strongly to is early formative history Really born in Arabia At the core of Muslim belief are the messenger and message When did Islam begin Infinity the Quran was infinitely with Allah Abraham Ishmael they built the Ka ba Muhammad s migration to Medina in CE 622 Follows a lunar calendar holiest city Mecca Before Muhammad time of barbarism Ancient Arabians essentially practice tribal polytheism Many gods including Allah Manat Slavery women have no rights Tribal polytheism very present oriented not afterlife Yet ancient Arabia did not exist in a vacuum Monotheism was known in Arabia Jews Christians and Zoroastrian merchants Arab monotheists as well called hanifs pious ones Muhammad is one of the 5 prophets of power Abraham Moses Noah Jesus Muhammad Muhammad was a prophet like Moses Muhammad is commanded to Iqra or recite Eventually muhammad accepts the call after three years he is told to preach publically Main message La illaha illa Allah o There is no gods but god o But early on Muhammad is not well received monotheism social justice false contracts Lecture 12 March 18 Mecca Medina and Jerusalem are holy cities for Muslims why Jerusalem o On eve of judgment Jerusalem will be place of refuge against the Anti Christ o The Messiah will triumph there over evil o Muhammad s night of Ascension Muhammad is criticized along two lines o He was a war monger o He was morally corrupt The Quran Only with the Quran will Arabic be cemented The Quran is the book of God But what about the other scriptures Quran as correction The Quran means recitation it is every Muslims duty to recite and learn it it is an expression of piety It is about 80 the size of the new testament with 114 chapters or suras It was received to Muhammad over 22 years but is it a new text Who wrote the Quran The Quran is a scripture God is merciful and just we ve seen this before Tawheed is the unity of Allah Allah G guides us in three ways through Muhammad the Angels and Quran Absolute monotheism here Quran is final revelation from God it is unchangeable Quran on Scripture the people of the book are a community in obedience they believe in Allah and the last day enjoin what is right and forbid what is evil and vie with one another for good works They are of the righteous 3 113 115 if someone kills another person it is as if he had murdered all mankind 5 32 What are the major teachings of the Quran No modern biblical criticism here it is the eternal literal word of God At the center is God or Allah more than 2500 mentiond God is transcendent all powerful The Quranic Universe Three realms heaven earth hell Inhabitants of the world include angels jinn s and humans Jinn s made of smokeless fire Invisible good or bad entities word genies Angels are he link between God and Humans communicate divine revelations Finally human beings share a special relationship to God God breathed his her spirit into him 15 29 Jinn Satan or Iblis refused to bow before Adam hence expulsion and fall from heaven Humans are to implement Gods will No original sin in the Quran sin is not inherent Sin for Muslims disobedience Humans created good but are just limited creatures death result of mortal human condition not sin First you sin then comes repentance then comes Gods forgiveness The worst of sins involves ones relationship with God o Shirk idolatry worshipping other Gods Considered by some to be the one unforgivable sine but the Quran seems to allow for leniency Kufr unbelief atheism ungratefulness to God