Video Transcript: Islam Lecture 1

We now begin our brief survey of Islam as the last of the five religions that we  will be considering in the course. And we start, of course, with the life of  Mohammed, where else would you start? Mohammed was born in as near as  we can figure in 571, about 570 years after Jesus. And we do know that he died  in 632. He was born into an Arab tribe, and had a rough childhood. His father  died before he was born, his mother died when he was six. He was raised by  grandparents. They did not come from money they were they were not wealthy.  And neither neither were they starving, but it's not a background, from which he  was well off, or anything like that. During his younger years, he apparently had  some contact with Jews and Christians. It's controversial how much there are  traditions that say that he bumped into Jews and Jewish and Christian caravans  and talked with them. And then other people say that those traditions aren't  reliable. We do know though, that somewhere along the line, he acquired a  great respect for scripture for the Hebrew and Old Testament and the Greek  New Testament. And the Quran itself refers to Torah and Gospel. As he got  older, he he married and was leading a perfectly normal life when it was  suddenly interrupted by revelation from God. This is his reports of it. He was  spoken to by the angel Gabriel. And the Quran defends the authenticity of this,  in these words, by the star when it plunges your comrade his knee is not astray,  neither errors, nor speaks he out of Caprice. This is nothing but a revelation  revealed, taught him by one terrible Empowered very strong. He stood poised  being on the higher horizon then drew near and suspended, hung, or nearer  then revealed it to His servant, what he revealed, his heart lies not of what he  saw. What will you dispute with him? When he tells you what he saw? The  course Muhammad himself was terribly shaken up by this sudden approach of  divine revelation. He went after the first one, he went home and said to his wife,  Khadija, I'm worried about myself. Then I told her the whole story. She said,  Rejoice for by Allah, Allah will never put you to shame. By Allah, you're mindful  of your kinsfolk, you speak truthfully. And you render what is given you in trust,  you bear burdens, and you are hospitable to guests. And you always do the right against any wrong. Then she took me to Urraca. And she said, listen to him. So  he questioned me and I told him the whole story. This is the law, which was set  down upon Moses. Another early tradition has Mohammed say about this event.  Now it so happened that no creature of Allah was more loathsome to me than a  poet, the sight of whom I could neither stand or bear. So I said, that one  meaning himself has become either a poet or a man possessed by jinn. This is a kind of spirit. We often say Genie, but the Arab word is j i n n. Jinn. I will go  down to some high mountain cliff and cast myself off, that I might kill myself and  be at rest. And I went off for this in my mind, but when I was in the midst of the  mountains, I heard a voice from heaven saying, oh, Muhammad, you are indeed Allah's Apostle, and I am Gabriel. And at that I raised my head to the skies, and  there was Gabriel in clear human form, with his feet on the edges of the skies. 

And I began to turn my face to the whole expanse of the skies. But no matter in  what direction I looked, I saw him. So this is the beginnings of his call as  Prophet. He receives this revelation from the angel Gabriel. And he becomes  convinced that he's not crazy, but that it's genuine revelation. There was, of  course, pagan religion, already rampant among the tribes in Arabia. And some  of them some of that worship centered around a great rock called Ka'ba. It was  a black meteorite, that had crashed into the desert, a long time before and had  been regarded by the tribes as sacred spot. They used to sacrifice animals there and make prayers there. Nearby was a well called Zamzam that was also  considered sacred, and Mohammed approach appropriates these things. He  includes them in the genuine worship of God, he goes to the rock, and  eliminates all of the idols to pagan gods, and once only the true Creator God, to  be worshiped there. This is a message that he brings to all the the Arabs and to  understand this, you must understand the way in which he looks upon the  Jewish and Christian traditions. For Mohammed, the covenant that God made  with Abraham, that went then, to Isaac and Jacob, and so on, was the covenant  He made with the Jews. He made that covenant with Abraham. But there's an  incident in the Abraham story in which Abraham's wife becomes envious of her  maid servant, Hagar, and she sends Hagar away in the wilderness to die. And  an angel rescues Hagar. In Muslim teaching, this angel mediates a New  Covenant to people who are not Jews, to Gentiles. Hagar and her son Ishmael,  are not Jews because the first Jew is Isaac, the first child of promise covenant  promised to Abraham. But there's a separate covenant with Hagar and Ishmael  for non Jews. And it is that covenant that Muhammad claims to speak for and so in Muslim doctrine, Jesus is the Messiah for the Jews, and they were wrong to  reject Him. But for non Jews, the prophet that mediates that covenant is  Mohammed and all Gentiles are wrong to reject Muhammad. This message is  taken by Mohammed to the leaders in Mecca, which is the nearest city where he lives and and they laugh with scorn, dismiss him. So, he leaves Mecca, and  goes to a nearby city that becomes later renamed Medina, which means that the city of the prophet and he preaches this same message to the men of Medina  and they are converted, they believe this, they believe him to be them, the  messenger, the Prophet, speaking for God, receiving messages from Gabriel,  and they accept this, this new religion and Mohammed then puts together an  army from Medina and goes back to Mecca and conquers Mecca and forces the people of Mecca to conform to the One religion, this one true religion. It's the  only major world religion to have spread in that way that is, by the threat of  force. By being conquered and then you're told, either you convert or you're  beheaded. Muhammad only gave that choice that terrible choice to to pagans,  however, Jews and Christians he regarded as what he called People of the  Book. Jews are accepting the older covenants. Christians have a newer one.  And mine is to be added to the Christian one, just as the Christian one was 

added to the older one. But he respected that they were believers in the true  transcendent Creator God and not in pagan deities. So Jews and Christians  were to be treated in an exceptional way, they were not beheaded for not  becoming Muslims. They were, however, considered second class citizens, and  forced to pay what's called the infidel tax, a tax for being unbelievers and not  following followers of Muhammad and they were forbidden from holding offices  in public office. Muhammad is a very persuasive fellow, he's able to bring this  message to these people in Medina and then in Mecca, and consolidate his hold there and his his rule. There's but one God, he says, not one among three.  That's a misunderstanding of the Trinity. But Trinity doesn't say there are three  gods three persons. In one God God replicated, but he missed, Miss that Miss  Muhammad is his messenger, a prophet, but they're so are Abraham, and  Moses and Jesus, they were prophets as well, according to Muhammad. And  we've already talked about the parts of the New Testament say that the canon is closed, and that God has finished speaking in Jesus Christ. But Mohammed  dismisses those parts of the New Testament, as later editions. They must have  been sneaked back in there by Christians wanting to have a way to rule out  Islam rule out him, Mohammed, of course, that's a wildly implausible reply,  because there are 1000s of Greek manuscripts of the New Testament that  include that part of the book of Hebrews, that are, that are date from way before  Mohammed was born. He continues to get the revelations and consolidate them have them written down. And that is what the Qur'an is, it is the record of these  revelations from the angel Gabriel Of course, they're also collections of sayings  of Mohammed, and comments on the Quran, known as the Hadith.  And these also are held in great esteem, and regarded by most Muslims as  inspired by God. These doctrines include not only the doctrines about the God  having revealed himself to the past and the covenants with Abraham, and so on. But then also, there are a great emphasis on the the late Jewish prophets and  the New Testament teachings of a last judgment that there will be an end of time when God calls everyone before His throne and judges all people according to  their works, whether they be good or evil and they're Very great emphasis for  Mohammed in the, on the Last Judgment. Here's what the Quran says. God has cursed the unbelievers, and prepared for them a blaze there into dwell forever.  They shall find neither protector nor helper. Upon the day when their faces are  turned about in the fire, they will say, If only we had obeyed God and His  messenger the companions of the left mid burning winds in boiling waters in the  shadow of smoky Blaze, neither cool, neither godly. Then you erring ones, you  that cried out lies, you shall eat of a tree called Zaqqum it's a tree that comes  forth in the root of hell. It's spades are the heads of Satan's and they eat of it  and fill their bellies, and on top of it, they have a brew of boiling water. The tree  of Zaqqum is the food of the guilty, like molten copper bubbling in the belly, as  boiling water bubbles, take him thrust him into the midst of hell, then pour over 

his head, the chastisement of boiling water. Like by contrast, it says Surely the  God fearing shall be in a station secure among gardens and fountains, Robed in silk and brocade set face to face upon close rot couches, Reclining upon them,  set face to face immortal youths, going round them with goblets and Ewers and  a cup from a spring, no brows, no intoxication, such fruits as they shall choose,  in such flesh as foul as they desire and wide eyed Houri, as this young lady's as  the likeness for that they labored recompense for which they worked, and we  made them spotless, virgins chaste amorous like of age, for the companions of  the right, so here we have the stark contrast between the fate that awaits those  who reject the Prophet and his message, and those who believe it and are, and  live right conduct of life. That right conduct is also important. It's not just belief.  Here's what the Quran has to say about that. It's not piety that you turn your  faces to the east of the West. True piety is this, believe in God and the Last Day, the angels the book of the prophets, to give one substance give money,  however, cherished to kinsmen and orphans, the needy, the traveler, beggars, to give ransom to the slave, to perform prayer and pay alms has been given gifts  giving to the poor, and they have fulfilled our covenant when they have engaged in the covenant, and endure with fortitude, misfortune, hardship and peril. These are the ones who are true in their faith, and the truly God fearing they are good  parents, whether one or both of them attains old age. Do not chide them or  speak words that are not respectful and lower to them the wing of humbleness  out of mercy and say, My Lord, have mercy on them, as they raised me up when I was little respect for parents, and giving to the poor, and so on all this is  practical advice. This is what Allah expects of his followers. Slay not your  children for fear of poverty, we will provide for you in them. Surely, killing them  would be a grievous sin and approach not fornication. It's indecency and evil as  a way, give to the orphans, their property, and don't exchange the corrupt, the  good, and so on. It goes on. Say it sounds, of course, very like is the kind of  advice you get in the proverbs of the Old Testament. There are five pillars of  religious duty that are crucial to Islam. And these five central teachings are first  of all the Creed, in the Creed is to say, there is no God but Allah, and  Muhammad is his prophet, or disciple. And then there's the keeping of the  prayers. That's the second thing. The prayers are to be offered five times a day.  So Muslims keep a little prayer rug with them as they put can put down so they  can kneel toward and pray toward Mecca. And then, the third thing is to give  alms, we heard that already giving money to support the poor, and the needy.  And the fourth and fifth things have to do with ceremonies. The month of  Ramadan, is a month of fasting. You don't eat from sunrise to sundown you can  eat after sundown, but you don't eat all during the day, to remind you of your,  your sin, and to be repentant for your sin, and to pray for forgiveness. And then  there is the pilgrimage, or hajj sometimes spelled with a D. And this is the once  in a lifetime trip, to the Ka'ba, to the Sacred Stone, to worship there, since 

Mohammed made it a special sacred place, himself. And so every Muslim is to  travel there at least once in a lifetime. And to circle the hajj of the Ka'ba and to  offer prayers. Those are the five main things if you if you acknowledge God, the  transcendent creator, that Mohammed is his disciple. If you then offer the  prayers five times a day, the keep almsgiving as a way of life. And then you  record you practice observing Ramadan, and in addition, you make the  pilgrimage, you've done the five central things required by Islam. So we've  gotten to the central the core of this already, it's, it's in fact, relatively simple.  There is nothing like the elaborate system of rites and rituals and holy days and  laws that came out of the Jewish kosher law, for example. It's just relatively  straightforward. And it in that respect, it's more streamlined compared to  Judaism, and, in some ways, is closer, more organized more like Christianity,  than it is Judaism. The five pillars are relatively simple to observe, and easy to  do. And that's all one has to do to be a Muslim. So it has, it had great appeal  among the Arab tribes, and it spreads great. My Mohammed did spread it by  conquest. Having conquered Mecca, he puts together the armies of Medina and  Mecca and goes to the next city and conquers that then puts that army together  and goes to conquers the next, and it's spread by power of the sword. And by  threat, it's the only major religion to have done that. Not saying that members of  other religions have been at times given into something like that. But it was not a policy of the religion. And and was not the very means by which it initially  spread. When we come back next time, we'll talk about some of the  controversies and different schools of thought that have risen in Islam. And with  respect to both doctrine and practice, and we'll be able to, to cover that in I think, two more lectures, will be able to give you this survey, again, I admonish you to  do the reading because there's a great deal more in the reading that I'm  covering. I'm covering some things not in the reading, but you can put the two  together to get the entire picture and prepare yourself for the exam.