BLOG #11: THE WORLDS OF ISLAM

Chapter 9 was a lot easier to keep up with and read than the earlier Chapters that we read throughout the beginning of the semester. I say this because it focused primarily on the worlds of islam and I just felt like it was more direct and did not jump around as much, and that's the kind of readings I primarily understand more. What I found interesting in this reading was learning about Muhammad, I knew that he believed that he was Allah's messenger but I did not quite realize the impact he had on the Islamic world until I read this chapter. I also learned that he lost his parents at a young age and aroudn his mid-twenties he had a religious experience where he was convinced he was Alahhs messenger, so I learned he had this experience in his mid-twenties. This chapter was very different from the other Chapters because it spoke very little compared to the other chapters about Christianity. It did meantion it here and there but in the world of Islam it seemed to be a little of the population due to a lot of people convertining for reasons like taxes. 

> THE BIRTH OF A NEW RELIGION:

- THE HOMELAND OF ISLAM:

--BESOUINA: LIVED IN FIERCEL INDEPENDENT CLANS AND TRIBLES, OFTEN ENGAGED IN BITTE RBLOOD FEUDS WITH ONE ANOTHER

--RECOGNIZED A VARIETY OF GODS, ANCESTORS, AND NATURAL SPIRITS

--VALUED PERSONAL BRAVERY, LOYYALTY, AND HOSPITALITY

--GREATLY TREASURED EXPRESSIVE ORAL POETRY

--ARABIA WAS LOCATED ON THE PERIPHERY OF TWO ESTABLISHED AND RIVAL CIVILIZATIONS: THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE AND THE SASSANID EMPIRE

--JEWS AND CHRISTIANS

-THE MESSENGER AND THE MESSAGE

--MUHAMMAD IBN ABDULLAH (570-632 B.C.E)

--BORN IN MECCA

--QURAYSH FAMILY

--LOST HIS PARENTS

--HAD A POWERFUL, OVERWHELMING RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE THAT LEFT HIM CONVINCED THAT HE WAS ALLAH'S MESSENGER TO THE ARABS

--BROUGHT TO THEM SCRIPTURE IN THEIR OWN LANGUAGE

--MONOTHEISTIC: ALLAH AS THE ONLY GOD, ALL POWEFUL CREATOR, LORD SUSTAINER OF WORLDS

--QURAN: PILLARS OF ISLAM = FIVE REQUIREMENTS

--FIRST PILLER = "THERE IS NO GOD BUT GOD, AND MUHAMMAD THE MESSENGER OF GOD"

--SECOND PILLER = RITUAL PRAYER, FIVE TIMES A DAY

--THIRD PILLER= ALMSGIVING, REFLECTED THE QURAN'S REPREATED DEMANDS FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE BY REQUIRING BELIEVERS TO GIVE GENEROUSLY TO SUPPORT THE POOR AND NEEDY OF THE COMMUNITY

--FOURTH PILLER = MONTH OF FASTING DURING RAMADAN

--FIFTH PILLER = ENCOURAED A PILGRIMAGE TO MECCA

>THE MAKING OF AN ARAB EMPIRE

-WAR, CONQUEST, AND TOLERANCE

--BYZANTINE AND SASSANID ENGAGED

--STRETCHED FROM SPAIN TO INDIA = ARAB EMPIRE

--TRIBAL RAIDS

--SUFFERED PERIOD EPIDEMICS OF THE PLAGUE THAT DECIMATED THEIR URBAN POPULATIONS

-CONVERSION

--SOCIAL CONVERION = MOTIVATED MORE BY CONVENIENCE THAN CONVICTION

--CONVERTS COULD AVOID TAX, JIZYA

--IN PERSIA: CONVERSION ABANDONED NATIVE LANGUAGE, ADOPTED ARABIC, CAME TO SEE THEMSELVES AS ARAB

-DIVISIONS AND CONROVERSIES

-WOMEN AND MEN IN EARLY ISLAM

>ISLAM AND CULTURAL ENCOUNTER: A FOUR-WAY COMPARISON

-THE CASE OF INDIA, ANATOLIA, WEST AFRICA, SPAIN

>THE WORLD OF ISLAM AS A NEW CIVILIZATION:

-NETWORKS OF FAITH, EXCHANGE