The Arabic term, Islam, which means “submission (to the will of God)”, and the term, Muslim, which means “he who has surrendered (to the will of God),” emphasize a shared belief in one Supreme Being (Held, 2006, pp. 99-100).
Among all Muslims, this is known as tawhid (oneness). This concept is stated in the shahadah, or the testimony of faith: the saying, in Arabic, that “there is no other god but God and Muhammad is His Prophet. ” The shahadah is repeated from every mosque five times a day to notify the Islamic ommunity when it is time to pray, and it reinforces the most important belief in Islamic dogma, tawhid.Further, perceptions and interpretations of the Prophet Muhammad’s revelations (the Qur’an), customs (the Sunna), his written and uttered traditions (hadith), and his family and companions form the basis for Shar’iah, which can be described as a universalistic system to guide Muslims through rules on law, ethics, and etiquette at home and in the marketplace (Hodgson, 1974, p. 516). Shar’iah does not guide all aspects of life for Muslims.
However, it does give the Islamic community a basis for universal solidarity and religious orthopraxy, even if there are many cultural, political, economic, and ethnic differences among Muslims over time and space. Westerners understand the basic beliefs and practices of Muslims as the “five pillars of Islam,” which are briefly summarized as follows: shahada, prayer, charity, fasting, and pilgrimage (Held, 2006, p. 102). Although there are other universal beliefs and practices that are common among all Muslims, the five pillars are a good summary of the basic aspects of Shari’ah.These orthodox beliefs and practices have given the Islamic community, Sunni and Shi’a alike, a sense of international solidarity throughout history, even during times of political duress.
There are important differences that distinguish various Shi’ite forms of piety and historical interpretation from those of the Sunni; these are over the question of succession to the Prophet Muhammad after his death 632 and the dispute over the nature of the caliphate (Akhtar, p. xix).These differences came into being during the formative years of Islam as reactions to historical events, many of which involved the martyrdom of important spiritual and political figures of the family of the Prophet. The two most important Shi’ite figures were ‘Ali ibn Abu-Talib, the Prophet’s cousin and son-in-law, and ‘Ali’s son Husayn, the latter of whom is the third imam in Twelver Shi’ite dogma (Halm, pp. 3-16). After ‘Ali’s death, there were many interpretations of his life, inspiring debates over the nature of the Prophet’s family.
His status as a close companion of the Prophet, a pious leader, and as a martyr made him a popular symbol for many pious Muslims, including ulama, mystics, and the politically discontented (Hodgson, 1974, pp. 216-217). His legacy was used to justify future rebellions, doctrinal interpretations, theological speculations, and different forms of pious expression. Muslims adhere to a basic Shari’ah ethic, and so an understanding of the origins of Islam leads to the Prophet Muhammad, Qur’anic revelation, and the expansion of Islam into what became, so rapidly, a geography reaching from the Indus to Iberia.Muhammad had searched for years for answers to solve the ills of his community, taking religious advice from anyone in the region.
In 610, Muhammad reportedly claimed to have received his first revelation from the “one true God,” which he later reported as being told to him through the angel Gabriel. The message was simple: that there was one God, and he was to communicate this message to the rest of Meccan society. The Qur’an, or the “recitation,” is the collection of all of Muhammad’s revelations, which Muslims believe he received from 610 to the time of his death in 632.The most famous of these evelations was the so-called night journey, in which Muhammad claimed that his spirit traveled first to al-Aqsa (the “farthest point,” later interpreted by Muslims as Jerusalem) and then to heaven from the spot of the Dome of Rock while he was asleep (The Qur’an, 2005, pp. 175-83).
Later Muslims would help organize these revelations into 114 suras (chapters) (Ayoub, 2004, p. 97). They did not organize these chapters in chronological order but into different sections on basic beliefs, social laws, prophetic stories, eschatological history, and descriptions of the afterlife.Generally, there is no correct way of organizing the sura, although there are several accepted structures which were developed by later Muslims. The early revelations were based generally on statements of faith, visions of the afterlife, and descriptions of the apocalypse.
All those who submitted to God were expected to lead a pious way of life and were to be judged by God at the end of time. As more Arabs converted to Islam from 610 to 632, the revelations shifted from a focus on basic beliefs to social laws (Lapidus, 2002, pp. 23-7).Muhammad’s vision offered reform for women, who were ensured a percentage of their husband and father’s wealth when they died. All men were also restricted to four wives, and each wife had to be treated equally. Further, infanticide - the killing of female infants - was outlawed.
His vision did not offer equality for women but it offered a significant improvement from their earlier status in Arabia. The Qur’an also emphasized charity and piety. Wine, gambling, and charging interest on loans were forbidden, and all Muslims were required to donate a percentage of their wealth to the community; otherwise known as zakat (alms).Every Muslim was expected to help those who were less affluent.
More importantly, the Qur’an offered a mode of solidarity that transcended petty tribal disputes. A person’s identity as a Muslim was supposed to supersede family relations (Hodgson, 1974, pp. 180-1). According to Ayoub (2004, pp. 31-40), the Qur’anic revelations brought not only economic, political, spiritual, and social reforms to Meccan society, but they also connected Arabians with the larger world of Judeo-Christian traditions.
