God is Most Great: Introducing Islam

It was a fine, bright Autumn afternoon and I was sitting in my teaching room marking some work when a pupil burst into the room to tell me that New York had been wiped off the face of the planet. Being used to the over exaggerations of pupils, I didn’t take it seriously at first. To my dawning horror I realised that the pupil was being serious, and I turned on the TV to find the news and watched, dumbfounded and numbed, as the reporters continued to comment on the devastation that was 9/11.

Having grown up in Northern Ireland, I was somewhat familiar with terrorist atrocities, but this was a level of atrocity beyond even the worst of those, and we are still dealing with its effects.

Unfortunately, it has confused the issues when thinking about Islam and created a tendency to demonise that religion. As a result, this has left people unable to see, beyond the “Islamists”, the vast majority of ordinary practitioners of that religion.

The Prophet Mohammed*

Mohammed lived in the 6th Century AD, and the first Surah (soor-ah, or chapter) of the Qur’an (coor-an) is said to have been revealed to him whilst he was meditating in a Cave called Hirah (Here-rah) by the angel Jibril (Je-breel, called Gabriel in the Judaeo-Christian tradition).

Initially Mohammed doubted what had happened, and kept it to himself and a few others. After much encouragement he began to preach publicly.

The Qur’an and the Sunnah (soon-nah, sayings and stories from and about Mohammed) were gathered together fairly soon after his death, and an authorative Qur’an was issued by the Caliph (cal-eeph, ruler, but more accurately a steward of God’s resources) Uthman, the fourth ‘rightly guided Caliph’ (i.e. he knew Mohamed personally). Caliph Uthman’s act was born out of concern that there were variant ways of saying the Qur’an, and because some Qur’anic traditions were in danger of being lost because those who knew them from memory were being killed in wars before those traditions were being written down, or passed on to others.

There is only One God

If there is an undoubted core teaching in Islam, then it is Tawid (taw-heed): God’s complete and utter unity.

Although Islam does not have a set of Commandments (such as the Ten in the Judaeo-Christian Tradition), this is a teaching shared with Christianity and Judaism. There is and can only ever be one God. Nothing and no-one else may share in God’s glory. He is alone.

The Five Pillars

The daily practice of Islam is guided by five core principles, the Five Pillars, and these are:

1. Shahadah (Sha-had-dah) – The Declaration of Faith. Simply, this is: “There is no God but Allah, and Mohammed is his prophet (or messenger)”. To become a Muslim one simply has to say this statement 3 times in front of other Muslims and one has become a Muslim.

2. Salat (Sal-lah) – Prayer. In much the same way as the standard practice of Christianity during Mohammed’s life, Muslim’s pray 5 formal sets of prayers, or Rakahs (Rak-ahs), during set periods of the day. However, Muslims may also offer up prayers at any time and these are called du’a (doo-ah).

3. Zakat (Zak-ah) – Money Given to the Poor. Traditionally this is defined as 2.5% of the money that a Muslim has had sitting in his/her account untouched for a year. However, Muslim countries tend to have it as a tax on the wages, and, in theory, the amount rises with the greater amount of wealth which you have. Therefore, the extremely wealthy (e.g. the Oil Sheikhs) would be giving 50% of their monies.

4. Sawm (Saw-mmm) – Fasting During Ramadam. As Islam follows a Lunar calendar, Ramadam tends to float around, instead of being a fixed date. However, the basic point is that all who are old enough, and not ill or pregnant, should fast during daylight hours, only eating at night. This teaches solidarity with those who do not have sufficient to survive each day, and must struggle on in life.

5. Hajj – The Pilgrimage to Mecca. Once during his/her life each Muslim is expected to make the journey to Mecca and visit the Kaba (the shrine at the heart of Mecca, said to have been built by Ibrahim (Abraham).

Where does Jihad fit in to all this?

Unfortunately, this is a term with which almost anyone is now familiar. Surprisingly, it is not primarily about warfare as the Islamists would have us believe.

For ordinary Muslims the world over, jihad (jee-had, struggle) is the daily fight against the sin and evil within the person, so that one may succeed in the test (which is life) that God has provided.

The Qur’an

Outside of Islam, the Qur’an is misunderstood. The easiest way to view it is to realize that, in Islam, the Qur’an should be seen as similar to Jesus in Christianity.

The Qur’an is not simply a book. For Muslims, the Qur’an provides the guidance for everyday life, it watches over you, and it will intercede for you on the Day of Judgement. However, it does not reveal God’s character, only God’s will.

To give you some idea as to why I am not myself a Muslim, it’s worth mentioning that this latter point is something I personally struggle to understand. For Christians, Jesus very definitely reveals God’s character and will, and the two are seen as interlinked. To know God’s character is to begin to understand God’s will, and vice versa.

For a Muslim, there is no certainty of Paradise (Heaven) – unless one believes the Islamist doctrine that to die as a martyr for jihad guarantees Paradise. In Islam, the concept of sin and how it is dealt with is very different to the Christian claim, being that Jesus dealt with sin for us. Allah (God) does not do the forgiving. The one who is wronged does the forgiving, and Allah then decides whether or not this counts in your favour.

Want to know more?

Try reading J. L. Esposito’s “Islam: The Straight Path“, and “The Qur’an” in the Oxford World Classics edition.

* It is usual in Islam to put pbuh after any prophet’s name, and it means “peace be upon him”.

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