Class presentation on Islam

1. Islam
Through
The Eyes
of
Muslims
By
Seher Dongel
Dijana Mujkanovic

2. Prophet Mohammed
 Born in Mecca 570 a. d. and died in Medina 632 a. d.
 His father died before he was born and mother at the age of 6; he went
to live with his paternal grandfather who sent him to live with a
nomadic tribe; he begun accompanying his uncle Abu Talib on trading
expeditions in Syria.
 There he met a wealthy widow and tradeswoman, Khadijah, who was
“allegedly” impressed by his honesty and negotiating skills so she
hired him to manage her caravan business.
 Eventually she proposed marriage and he accepted; they were married
for 24 years and their marriage was monogamous; they had seven
children, only 4 surviving, all girls.

3. Prophet Mohammed
 Early messages were focused on social justice and monotheism;
care of orphans and widows, critiqued the culture of
competition and high value placed on money and material goods.
 The merchant society of Mecca was not happy about his
preaching and even tried to bribe him into silence; he refused to
take the bribe and share the income that Meccan‟s charged the
pilgrims to Kaaba (“The House of God); Meccans begun to
persecute him and his followers.
 Hijra occurred and he and his followers were forced to flee to
Medina; he drafted a mutual respect and religious freedom
agreement that he signed with Medina‟s leaders.

4. Prophet Mohammed
 His following grew in Medina, and although he originally preached
the religion as part of the same stream as Judaism and Christianity,
upon rejection of powerful tribal leaders in Medina, he allegedly
received revelation from Allah to break away and Islam became a
separate religion; Quranic order remained chronological.
 Meccan‟s continued to persecute him and his followers by attacking
them and confiscating their property until in 630 a. d. Muslims took
over and the city surrendered; he destroyed the idols at Kaaba and
other shrines and performed the rights of pilgrimage.
 Married several wives after Khadijah‟s death, and died in the house
of his favorite and youngest wife Aisha, in 632 a. d.; became first
leader to unite the Arabian Peninsula; belonged to the tribe Quraysh.

5. Origins
 Different theologians mark different beginnings for Islam;
some with creation of universe, others with Prophet Abraham,
while others by different stages of Prophet Mohammed's life.
 Islam received its name from Prophet Mohammed the night he
was recruited by Allah; this took place in 610 a. d. (when he
was 40 yrs old) and it continued until his death in 632 a. d.
 Islam is an Arabic word meaning: acceptance, surrender,
submission, and commitment. It comes from the same 3-letter
root (s-l-m), like salaam, which means peace.
 Therefore, Muslims are literally those who surrender to will
of Allah or those who make peace.

6. Origins
 Initially the relationship with Jews and Christians was very
good; then many begun converting to Islam and communities
were not happy about it; still religious debate was open and
there was an effort for religious reform for monotheists and
perhaps to gain converts;
 Christians were invited into mosques to pray with them;
Christianity was considered to have distorted Allah‟s message
to the fullest by violating the core principal of monotheism –
belief in only one God.
 Muslims once followed the Jewish Arabs by turning to
Jerusalem to pray but that changed upon move to Medina
when Prophet Mohammed received instructions to begin
turning to Mecca.

8. Five Pillars of Islam
 Shahada: There is no god but God; and Mohammed is his
messenger.
 Salat: five daily prayers; each prayer is preceded by absolution.
 Zakat: alms-giving, 2.5% of income on poor, needy, slaves, debtors
and travelers; if unable, then give in kind; must be distributed in
community it is taken from. It is different from sadhaka, voluntary
giving of money or aid.
 Ramadan: everyone must not eat or drink from sunrise to sundown; it
is forbidden to menstruating and pregnant woman, and other sick
individuals with difficult conditions, elderly and travelers; missing
days must be made-up.
 Hajj: pilgrimage to Mecca; both men and women must do if able to do
so at least once in their life; pilgrimage made other times than the
designated time is called umrah.

9. Sentient Beings in Islam
1) Malik – created to serve Allah; equivalent to angels; have no
free will; created from light; have designated tasks and
assigned jobs; Jibraaiyl; neither good nor bad.
2) Jjin – live in parallel world to that of humans; have some
free will but hard to change; created from fire; just like
humans they can be good, bad or neutral; could exist
independently or tied to objects; can be both male and female;
they can coexist with humans although humans are usually
invisible to the as they are to humans; Prophet Mohammed
was also sent to them and they will also be Judged on
Final Day.
3) Human – made out of clay; have complete free will.

10. Main Scriptures
Tawrat (Moses) - Torah
Zabur (David) – Book of Psalms
Injil (Jesus) – Maybe New Testament or
only Gospel
Quran – direct word from Allah to Prophet
Mohammed; previous prophets were given the
same message but books have been corrupted.
Hadith – “act of approval”, Islamic
jurisprudence; contentious.

11. Islam‟s Schisms

12. Prophet Mohammed‟s Family Tree
Hz. Abu Hz.
Talib Abdullah
Hz.Bin
Hz. Amine
Esed
Hz.
Muhammed Hz Aise Hz. Hatice
(Prophet)
Hz. Jafar Hz. Ali
Hz. Ummu Hz.
Hz. Fatima Hz. Kasim Hz. Zeynep Hz.Rukiye Hz.Ibrahim
Gulsum Abdullah
Hz. Hz. Umm
Hz. Hasan Hz. Zainab
Hüseyin Kultum

13. Sunni Shi‟a Sufi
Largest denomination circa 80% Second-largest denomination Mystical form of Islam
circa 20%
Comes from the word sunnah – Prophet Mohammed and his Strive to achieve direct
teachings and examples of family members, known as experience of Allah; focus on
Prophet Mohamed imams, Ahl al-Bayt (“People spirituality of religion;
of the House”), have a special
spiritual and political rule over
the ummah
Prophet Mohammed did not Prophet Mohammed did not Sufi‟s can be independent or can
leave a successor for the ummah leave a successor for the ummah identify with Sunni or Shi‟a
so his best friend/ father-in-law, so his cousin/ son-in-law, Ali denomination, and can even
Abu-Bakr Siddique, became the ibn Abu Talib, became known identify with different sects
successor and the first caliph as the first of the 12 imams and within each
elected democratically, though his was claimed to be the rightful
opposition was eliminated; only successor; he was murdered in a
the first four Caliphs regarded mosque after serving as the
as “Rightly Guided Caliphs” fourth Caliph; the first three
caliphs are rejected
Mohammed‟s first wife Ali bin Abu Talib was the Varies
Khadijah was the first convert first convert to Islam
to Islam
Majority of world, Arabian Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Iran, Global
Peninsula Iraq, Yemen, Lebanon, India,
Kuwait

14. Ali bin Abu Talib
 Accepted as the first believer
of Islam.
 Respected for his knowledge ,
deep loyalty to Muhammad,
forgiving his defeated enemies
and is central to mystical
tradition in Islam such as
Sufism and Alevi.
 Became 4th Caliph in 656 and
was killed in 661 in the
MOSQUE.
 Muhammad qualify Ali as
the gate of knowledge.

15. Jaf‟ari : Shi‟a
 He is the 6th out of 12 imams in Shi‟a religion.
 He identified himself as a follower of Ali and
accepted him as the face of God.
 After Kerbela Massacre - 680 a. d.
(assassination of Hasan and Huseyin) -
grandchildren of Muhammad), Islam was divided
into two denominations: Shi‟a and Sunni.
 Jaf ‟ari „s Shi‟a sect are those who live in Iran.

16. Alevi
 Alevi: The house of Ali = Ahl-al Bayt = The family of
Muhammad.
 One of the sect of Islam which emerged with the
assassination of Ali in 661 a. d.
 Alevis live in Turkey do not accept that Alevi is the
jurisprudence of Shi‟a.
 Migrated from Central Asia to Anatolia.

17. Alevi
 According to Alevi belief , the love of God is the
essence of life.
 Alevis believe in that Sufism was inspired by Alevi
doctrines and Rumi was one of the most famous sufis
who followed Alevi beliefs.
 Yet , it is possible to say that Alevis have been affected
by the Sufism way of life after 10th century in terms of
Sufi Dance, eating habits.

18. Where is God?
 Alevi thought differ from both Sunni and Shiat
jurisprudence in defining the existence of God .
 In general, Alevi people witness the uniqueness of God
and 5 pillar of Islam.
 The separation started with the interpretation of the place
of God.
 God is unique and omnipresent.

19. Differences between Shi‟a and Alevi
ALEVI SHIAT
There are almost 20 sort of different Shiat based on Ja’fari jurisprudence.
jurisprudence within Alevi
Community: Nusayri, Tahtaci , Bektasi, Ja’fari thought define Ali as the face of
Mevlevi, etc. God.( God is Ali.)
God is not Ali . Ali showed the They have different sacred books except
humanity divinity power of inside Qur’an .
people.
They go to mosque to practice.
They do not go to mosque.
They believe in that after Mohammad,
They believe in Muhammad is the last new prophet (mehdi ) will come and
prophet and Islam is the last save the world.
Abrahamic religion.

20. How to Practice?
 It is the most complicated issue for foreign and Alevi
scholars and researcher.
 Even though everything depend on Qur‟an and shura with
regard to praying, since there is not any order in Qur‟an
concerning how to practice, Alevi people do not practice like
Sunni or Shiat People.
 They do not interpret the sunna of Muhammad and Qur‟an
with only zahiri (visible and readable) interpretation but
rather using batini (esoteric and invisible) meaning of
Qur‟an.

21. Love is God, God is love.
 The concept of love in Islam based on the doctrines of
Ali.
 According to his doctrines, people do carry the energy of
God in their body. Since people are the creation of God
(Qur‟an – Kull i Nafs), it is impossible to think people
apart from divine power. Where? In the heart.
 To reach the love God , people must find out the energy of
God in their life.

22. Allah – Mohammed – Ali
 Muhammad and Ali are representation to find divine energy, by this
energy you can reach God.
 Allah, Muhammad and Ali also refer to three meaning of Islam.
People call those meaning as gates. Each gate interlinked with each
other.
 Allah„s love is the ultimate aim of people. Muhammad is a prophet
who was most loved by God.
 Ali refers to the gate of science . In order to discover the energy of
God, people must understand the energy and basic elements ( fire,
water , sand, air).
 “ If I am the city of science , Ali is the door of science.”(
Muhammad –Hadith)

23. Cemevi - Dergas

24. Sufism –Alevi and Ali
 Alevi regard Ali as the perfect human being (Insan-
iKamil) except prophets.
 Since he is the most closest person to Muhammad,
Ali is accepted as the person who knows all inward
and outward meaning of Qur‟an.
 Almost al orders trace their lineage to Muhammad
through Ali.
 Sufis believe that Ali inherited from Muhammad the
saintly power wilayah that makes the spiritual journey
to God possible.

25. Islam in Bosnia and Herzegovina
 Emerged with Ottoman conquest 15th-16th century; Sunni Hanafi.
 Most are secularists with religion serving as a community
identification; most only have association with being a Muslim in
birth, marriage and death ceremony.
 Allegedly regarded as the most secular Muslims in the world.
 Ethnic cleansing and genocide increased religiosity and religious attire
became much more common in cities.
 New religious education albeit decentralized.
 Today, Bosnian Muslims are known as Bosniaks.

26. Bosniaks and Other Communities
 Tumultuous relationship with
area Catholics, but mainly
Eastern Orthodox dating back
prior to the Ottoman period.
 Good relationship with
Jewish community after
Jewish migration to the
country and major city centers;
Bosnians emigrate to Israel.
 Good relationship with other
minority communities, including
Roma community.

27. Questions
 ???