Islam

Because my research will include some notion of the Islamic religion, I thought that it could be a good idea to make a little historic, and to add few definitions related to Islam which is often, unfortunately, related to violence, oppression, extremism and which is the aim of several prejudices.

Historic:

In 610, Muhammad (peace be upon him), the prophet of Islam and the last of the three monotheist religions, received the first revelations from God through the angel Gabriel, which is the same angel that appeared to Mary. It was on the Mount Hira just above Mecca. One of the most important date to remember is 622. This is the year when Muhammad (pbuh) fled with his followers (Al mouhadjiroune) from Mecca, where they were persecuted, to Medina. We call this migration Hijra or the year of Hijra. This year corresponds to the beginning of the Islamic era and the beginning of the Islamic calendar. The reason of the persecution was that Mecca was a commercial city which earns money from pilgrims who paid to pray idols (stone statues which represented several Gods). With the new religion brought by Muhammad (pbuh), that there is only one God, the leaders of the city feared to lost money from pilgrims. Boycott and persecution began then against the prophet (pbuh) and his followers. In 630, Muhammad (pbuh) and his followers (the number had really increased) came back to Mecca. This is the bloodless conquest of Mecca. No one was killed. This same year the prophet (pbuh) past away.

Divisions:

Like in Christianism, there are division in the islamic religion. The 2 mains are: Sunni and Shi'a. Mostly, 85% of Muslims are Sunni. The division came mainly from the fact that when Muhammad (pbuh) died; according to Sunni there was no sucessor apointed. According to Shia, the prophet (pbuh) apointed Ali, his cousin, to be the sucessor. Finally, Abu Bakr became the Caliph, which means the leader. There are differences in rituals, in fiqh (islamic law), in beliefs, in historic aspects.

Islam: the religion

Islamic: this is an adjective of something which is related to Islam: Islamic history, Islamic religion, Islamic Law.

Muslim: a person who is an adherant to Islam. Be carefull to do not mix with islamist.

Islamist: a person who use the religion with political goals.

Islamism: the ideology that Islam should be a political systems; taking the religion as an instrument to reach some poilitcal goals and often in an extremist way.

Jihad: It means literally effort. In Islam, the effort can be personnal (for exemple, honesty) and can be common, like defending the religion and dignity. This term is unfortunately translated as "holywar" compared with the Christiant Crusades, which does not exist in this from in Islam.

Extremist: a person who has a radical ideas or opinions.



Source: http://www.claybennett.com/images/archivetoons/islam.jpg

If anyone has a question on Islam, even if it is not related to my topic, feel free to ask me by e-mail. (kavasoglu15@hotmail.com)