These fairly raw notes were for a number of evening lectures and seminars with a very loose format, which inevitably span many of the familiar themes. But loose or not, they seem at a glance to have a fuller summary of the History of Islam than the degree lecture dealing with the same topic, which may make them useful. Also at a glance, there are a number of references to slide or OHP material which in its absence makes some of the material a bit vague. Make of it what you will.
Faculty of Divinity - Adult Education Dept
Islam
Bismillahirrahmanirrahim[if supportFields]>PRIVATE
Let us begin in the traditional Islamic manner,
In the Name of God, the All-merciful, the All-compassionate.
When talking of Islam in the Christian West, one is constantly faced with not just ignorance about the subject, but the distortions and prejudice that result from centuries of literature, written in the guise of objective history, but with the actual intent (often openly stated) of refuting muslim understanding of truth. Now I am sure that everyone here feels that they are completely devoid of bias or prejudice, and that is just fine, because if you are to understand Islam you will need to see it from a muslim point of view, and that's what I'm here for tonight, but whatever comes out is my own personal view, and I represent no-one but myself.
People put themselves through incredible feats of poetic licence and mental gymnastics when trying to make the muslim view of Islam conform with their own understanding of truth. Unfortunately this makes the whole thing seem quite unintelligible, with the inevitable corollary that a sixth of the world's population over the last 1400 years must just have been a bunch of ignorant heathens. You are not going to get anywhere in understanding Islam if like Dante you believe that Muhammad was the Antichrist.
Of course all the bias is not on one side - as Dr. Sprenger says in his Life of Muhammad; "The bias of the Musalmans is to gloss over the aberration of mind.... of their prophet.... Most of his biographers pass over [it] in silence.... We may, therefore, be justified in stretching the scanty information which we can glean from them to the utmost extent, and in supposing that he was for some time a complete maniac; and that the fit after which he assumed his office was a paroxysm of cataleptic insanity."
Hughes says in his Notes on Muhammadanism; "in the case of Muhammad, his professed inspiration sanctioned and encouraged his own vices. That which ought to have been the fountain of purity was, in fact, the cover of the Prophet's depravity"
And our own dear Sir William Muir in his Life of Mahomet says; "there was nurtured by the Prophet in his own heart, a licentious self-indulgence, till in the end.... he justified himself by `revelations' from God in the most flagrant breaches of morality......he could take pleasure in cruel and perfidious assassination, could gloat over the massacre of an entire tribe, and savagely consign the innocent babe to the fires of hell"
Not quite how I see the Prophet; Muhammad was patient, honest, just and chaste. He was the most generous of men, never asked for anything but that he gave it to the asker. He would prefer the seeker to himself and his family, and often went hungry because of it. He patched his own sandals and clothing, and did household chores. He was shy and would not stare into peoples faces. He attended feasts and funerals, visited the sick, and walked among enemies without a guard. He was the humblest of men. He sat and ate with the poor. He tyrannized nobody and accepted the excuse of anyone who begged his pardon. He was always joyful and never awed by the affairs of this world. He joked, but only spoke the truth. He did not eat better food than his servants. He refused to curse his enemies, saying "I was sent to forgive, not to curse". When asked to wish evil on anyone he blessed them instead. If there was a bed he slept on it, if not he reclined on the earth. One did not argue in his presence. He spoke only the truth. He was the most smiling and laughing of men.
His companion Ali said "Of all men he was the most generous, the most open-hearted, the most truthful, the most fulfilling of promise, the gentlest of temper, and the noblest towards his family. Whoever saw him unexpectedly was awed by him, and whoever knew him intimately loved him." His answer to his name was "At your service".
Of course these biographers were mostly Victorians, and we really shouldn't use them as examples of historical objectivity, as we go about things a completely different way nowadays, don't we? I would like to show you a textbook on the history of science. +++++++++++ It goes from the Ancient Greeks direct to Copernicus - for 1500 years it seems that there was no science. What happened to it?
A friend in America who studied history described his shock when halfway through University he discovered a time and place that he had never heard mentioned before - a little thing called the Ottoman Empire.
Where do you get your understanding of what is Islam - from the news (all terrorism and book-burning bigots) - or on a subtler level from movies and drama (how often the muslim is the villain, but can any of you remember having seen a muslim hero?)
But whether History is the means of transmitting our cultural heritage to new generations, or whether history is bunk, it's time to get on with a muslim view of Islamic history, though we can't really do it justice in 20 minutes, even if I do my Ben Elton impersonation. Especially as I don't know who you all are and what you are really interested in, and I won't find out until question time. So I'll try to do a quick skim over a very big subject, and we'll see how the time works out.
Let us begin with what may come as a surprise for some. The History of Islam starts long long before Muhammad. It starts with Adam.
Abraham, Ismael, Isaac, Hagaar, & Ka'abah
The Ibrahimic lineage to Jesus
Before Muhammad - The World Situation, Arabia, The Seerah, Makkah, Madina.
The First four Caliphs, The Ummayads, The Shi'a of Ali.
The Abbasids, Spain & North Africa, Egypt Syria & Iraq, Iran.
Turkey & the Seljuqs, Northern India, The Crusades, The Loss of Andalusia, The Mongols & Ghengis Khan, Tamerlaine & Samarkand, The spread of Sufi Orders, Al Ghazali.
West of Sudan, Mali & Timbuktu, Gujurat Bengal & Burma, The Malays Sumatra & Java, Muslim China, The travels of Ibn Battuta, The Ottoman Turks, The Taking of Constantinople.
The Safavids, The Mughals, The Ottoman Empire, South East Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, Bukhara, The Decline of Muslim Power.
Reform & Revival, The Wahhabis, The Naqshbandiya, The Khalwatiya & Tijaniya, The Sammaniya & the Mahdi, Subjugation by Europe, Decolonisation, Secular Nationalism, Recent History, Islam in the West.
The muslim quest for knowledge and the Islamic education system
ISLAMIC SCIENCES - the qualitative study of the Universe
Cosmology, Cosmography, and Geography,
Natural History: Geology, Mineralogy, Botany, Zoology
The Cosmos and its Mathematical study
Mathematics, Astronomy and Astrology, Physics
The Applied Sciences
Medicine and Pharmacology, Alchemy & Occult sciences, Agriculture and Irrigation
Man in the Universe
Man and the Natural Environment
Man in the Cosmic Order
ISLAMIC ART
Aniconism in sacred art & represention in non-sacred art.
Islamic art - Calligraphy, Pattern and Arabesque, Architecture and the sphere and the cube - The use of light
Art and liturgy - The Mihrab, the Minbar, Tombs, Clothing
Sedentaries and Nomads - Ethnic variety, Carpets, Knightly art
Synthesis - Variety and Unity, Great Architecture, Town planning
So - all this history, all this geography, all this art, all this culture, what binds the whole thing together? Islam.
But here we have a problem -double meaning of Islam - specific and umbrella
Umbrella meaning embraces three great concepts - Islam, Iman, Ihsan
Prophet defined in 29 words + 29 words - me at greater length - opposite direction to born muslims.
IHSAN
Man seems to need certain things for society that make no real logical sense when we demand them of ourselves, things we tend to class under right action, or good behaviour. Good behaviour is not confined to the overtly religious amongst us, but can be seen in all human beings who display its various guises - mercy, compassion, justice, honesty, tolerance, forgiveness, humility, generosity, courage, and such like.
Ihsan, "Goodness", good behaviour, right action, is one of the easiest of principles for a man to understand, and is accepted by the most irreligious of men. We've all heard of honour among thieves, and even the most atheistic of philosophies needs to formulate concepts of good and bad, or there is no basis for any kind of social law. Atheists can understand generosity and self sacrifice, even dying for the sake of family and friends, and on a day to day level, what really matters when you do business with someone is not whether a man claims to believe in God, but whether he will give you the right measure and charge you a fair price. By now I have learned that when a shopkeeper waxes lyrical about our brotherhood in Islam, I need to double check my change.
So how can we make society have more of this quality of goodness that makes life so much better for us. We can't. We can't force people to be good - there is no compulsion in religion - we can only try to make ourselves more good and hope that they get the idea from watching our example. But what do we need for our own goodness. To see what might be involved in a specifically Islamic approach, let me select some of the chapter headings of one authors survey of what is required for goodness. This is from the work of Shaykh Uthman dan Fodio, written about 200 years ago in Northern Nigeria.
For our own goodness we mostly require the purification of the heart.
The purification of the heart from the whisperings of Shaytan.
(Shaytan, or Satan, is the thing which directs you towards the fire, pain and torment, the thing which divides man and sets him in opposition to himself.)
The purification of the heart from conceit, vanity, and ingratitude.
from pride, arrogance and self-exaltation.
from false hope.
(putting off right action or repentance until later, saying "Oh there's plenty of time, I'll do it tomorrow.")
The purification of the heart from groundless anger, envy, and showing-off.
Turning away with regret from all acts of rebellion.
Doing without in this world.
(this doesn't mean doing without your needs, but what is superfluous and excessive. The goal is strength and vigour, not just food, drink, and pleasure.)
Safeguarding oneself out of fear of God.
Trust and reliance in God, and Entrusting the affair to God.
Contentment with the decree of God.
Fear and hope
But why would anyone want to do these illogical things? Why would anyone risk pain and death going into a burning building to save someone else? Illogical - does not compute! When Uthman dan Fodio said what we needed for goodness he used some strange illogical terms, however, like the word "God", for instance. What on earth is this word supposed to mean? Can you show me what it is? Can you touch it, hear it, smell it, taste it? In fact, if I can't see it, why should I believe that this thing exists? Can you prove it to me? Well, no, you can't. For that you need faith.
Now I hope you'll forgive me if I don't get too engrossed in a refutation of Rational Atheism, Secular Modernism, Scientific Humanism, and all the otherisms, but they do tend to have one thing in common which I will say something about, as it is a false premise on which their arguments are mostly based. They tend to share an arrogant assumption that man is capable of thought not based on faith.
It's all very well saying there's a God, they say, but I am a Rationalist, a Scientist, so prove it. Now even Billy Connolly can see through that one. "If you want to believe there's a God, of course there's a God." he says "Who can prove otherwise?".
IMAN
Faith - (The science of tawhid)
Basic truths about creation which cannot be proved
Truth requires 6 things
GOD
Unity
99 Names
Before time & outside time
I am Time
No direction & no place
Has power, will, knowledge, life, hearing, sight, & speech.
We can call God "You"
Eyes attain not
Wherever you turn
Jugular vein
ANGELS
Preserved from wrong action
Cannot disobey
Made of light
Neither male nor female
Do not eat or drink
BOOKS
Creation
Revealed
MESSENGERS
Ibrahimic line
Quran
Message of Truth
Good tidings & warning
AFTER LIFE
Death guaranteed
Justice
Punishment and ease of the grave
Day of Rising
Awakening of the Dead
Gathering of the People
Giving of Books
Weighing of Actions
The Reckoning
The Narrow Bridge
Drinking from Kauthar
The Endless Fire & Garden
The vision of God for the believers
DIVINE DESTINY
Good or evil
No compulsion
Choose good or evil
Choose belief or not
So there we have half a dozen unprovable things that we need to believe in if we are to understand the truth. That's not so many - the White Queen could believe in as many impossible things before breakfast. The trouble is that when you bundle them up with all that intangible stuff about "goodness", it all starts to seem overwhelmingly vague. What we need is to bring all that airy fairy intellectual talk down to earth with something a bit more practical. I mean, not everyone at the Old Firm match is interested in the outer reaches of philosophy. What you need to counteract all this theory, is something you can practice. And what you can practise is that part of the religion known as Islam.
As Sheikh Uthman said;
These are the roots of the life transaction
They give true meaning to life
The belief of the common people in all these roots becomes, in the case of the elite, knowledge. This is because most people are not interested in theoretical proofs. For that reason the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, did not make those who became Muslims delve into these things. Instead he would make them firm [in their Islam] since it was known that they would be separated from him.
ISLAM
What is this Islam that the Prophet considered so important.
Easy to learn
5 pillars
SHAHADA
Have to admit it
Perfect form to say it
La ilaha illa Allah
SALAAT
Not Du'a
More like eating
5 times
Actions
Qur'an
Repository
When sent down?
Ramadan
SAUM
Not excessive
No soul save to its capacity
ZAKAT
Social security
Man <-> Group
HAJJ
Means travel
The Ancient House
Abraham
Muhammad
This then is Islam, the science of which is Fiqh, which codifies for us the Shariah, jurisprudence, and the manifest laws by which to live our lives. Iman gives us the science of Tawhid, Unity, codifying our philosophy and the languages of understanding, and from Ihsan we have the science of Tassawuf, which is - Tassawuf. The science of the heart.
The Messenger of Allah said: "Islam is to testify that there is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, to perform the Salaat, to pay the zakat, to fast in Ramadan, and to make the pilgrimage to the House if you are able to do so." When asked about Iman, he said: "It is to believe in Allah, His angels, His books, His messengers, and the Last Day, and to believe in divine destiny, both the good and evil thereof." When asked about Ihsan, he said; "It is to worship Allah as though you are seeing Him, and while you see Him not yet truly He sees you."
Ya Allah, forgive me if I have strayed from the Truth, or stained the memory of your Messenger Muhammad. Astaghfirallah.