Estimated to have about 1.6 billion followers, Islam is the second largest
and probably the fastest growing ethical system in the world.
Quran, when understood as a scientifically interpreted whole, and not part by part in isolation, is an encoding of everything which is worth considerable ethical attention for Muslims. The word "Islam" means peace and submission. Peace means to be at peace with yourself and your surroundings and submission means submission to the will of God. A broader meaning of the word is to achieve peace by submitting to the will of God. Muslims derive their identity from the message of Islam, rather than the person of the prophet Muhammad, thus should not be called "Muhammadans" [1]. According to Quran, the holy book of Muslims, the religion has been Islam since the time of Adam, appearing in different forms (suitable for the situation), such as the true Judaism and Christianity and finally in its modern form.
Muhammad is known by many (including non-Muslims) as the most influencive man in the history. In brief, he was born in Mecca in Arabia in the year 570 AD. His ancestry goes back to prophet Ishmael, son of prophet Abraham. His father died before his birth and his mother died when he was six. As it was common for most of the people of his region at that time, he did not attend a formal school. As a young man, he was known as a righteous person who used to meditate in a cave. At age 40, he was given the prophethood when the angel, Gabriel, appeared in the cave. Subsequently, the revelations came over 23 years and were compiled in the form of a book called the Quran which Muslims consider as the final, unchanged and the last word of God. The Quran confirms the truth in the Gospel, Torah and the Psalms [1]. Muhammad was able to spread Islam and gain the support of Arabs (and non-Arabs) in an astonishingly fast pace, which made an apparently simple man the respected and popular ruler of a huge land in 23 years (now the land is mainly known as Saudi Arabia). Muhammad was a firm believer in spreading Islam by teaching and debate, specially by making non-Muslims familiar to the bing-revealed Quran and its interpretation. He used to send teachers and messengers to tribes and even other countries. His speech, teachings and beliefs assumed as "threatening" for the powerful leaders of his time as it was successfully claiming their influence on people. Many wars and threats against him, who was considered to be an ordinary person at the beginning (in the politics of his time), was initiated. Despite the common beliefs in Christian dominated countries, his inherently defensive wars, triggered by threats according to historical facts, could not be the main cause for his success, as the history also confirms that wars do not bring lasting love and respect for rulers (and 1.5 billion followers after 14 centuries). Mohammad has been astonishingly famous among his (huge number of) followers for his calm and kind personality, his divine power of speech (shown in God's Quran), his spirituality, his astonishing tolerance for friends, non-enemies and even non-armed enemies and his strong defensive military based on faith. He did not fully initiate any war, but responded to the already initiated military threats (either immediately or after some time) in several ten wars during the 23 years of his Islamic political activities to save Islam and Muslims from threats. According to him:
"the basis of this religion [Islam] is reason" (whether the outcomes are easy to understand/adhere to or not).
He abolished much inequalities and injustice that was being imposed to the poor and women. This, together with his speeches, Quran and his astonishingly calm and kind personality brought much respect and followers for him. This was supported during troubles by the "sword and wealth of [his firm followers, including] Ali ibn Abitaleb [his cousin] and Khadija [his wife]".
Ali is known as Muhammad's immediate true successor by Shia Muslims, while Sunni Muslims know Abubakir, then Omar, then Usman then Ali as true successors of the prophet (in the exact political successor-ship order). The Shia believe that a group of powerful people pretending to believe firmly in Islam deviated the political route of Islam after prophet (including first three mentioned Caliphs and some of their military men and some 'hadis' historians who, from time to time, would invent narrations from prophet to the benefit of the group). First caliphs had banned writing hadis of the prophet by the justification that it could help with preserving Quran!
As a result of this differentiation, Shia Muslims are under criticisms and even have been declared as 'heretic' by some of the Sunni Muslim extremist groups such as Salafi extremists (including Osama bin Laden). Some Shia Muslim scholars have also declared Vahhabis as heretics.
Islam, Very Briefly According to Quran
Surah (Chapter) Fatiha which is the first Chapter of Quran is known as a concise representative of the whole Quran. Here's a translation of this Chapter:
In the name of God, the source of whole the compassion/grace/clemency, the source of whole mercy (1)
All praise is due to God, "bring up"er/master/maturizer of the worlds (2)
The source of whole the compassion/grace/clemency, the source of whole mercy (3)
The lord of the Day of Judgment/Requital (4)
Only you we worship/serve, and only from you [genuinly] we seek/beseech for help (5)
Guide us on/to the straight/right path (6)
The path of those upon whom you bestowed favors, not (the path) of those upon whom wrath is brought down, nor of those who go astray (7)
As mentioned, in Islam, there are two major
schools of thought, the minority Shia and the majority Sunni (divided itself
into four major sub-sects). Both Shia and Sunni ethical systems have much in common.
Their followers follow the same book - Quran, follow the same prophet, offer their prayers
five times a day, fast in the month of Ramadan, go for Hajj, a spiritual and
social advancement program in form of a symbolic pilgrimage to Kaba (built
initially by prophet Abraham) in Mecca. Those who
follow Prophet Muhammad, in accordance with his sayings and actions (Sunnah), are called
Sunni and those who in addition follow Ali (as the true successor and true
interpreter of Quran and Sunnah) are called Shia [2]. Shias are estimated
according to some famous Shia scholars to have a share of about 20%
of Muslim population (including those Sunni Muslim converts who need to conceal
their faith because of the threats), while the percentage share that Muslims
have in the world's population is about 24% (this makes the estimated number of
Shias about 400'000'000). Some Sunni sources have mentioned less than half of
this number as the population of Shia Muslims. Four main Sunni sub-sects (Hanafi,
Hanbali, Shafe-e and Maleki) are majority in most Muslim countries, while about
90% of Iranians and the majority of Iraqis are Shias Muslims (mostly twelver
Shias who believe in 12 successors of prophet who are interpreters and revivers
of Quran and Sunnah).
The Twelve Successors of Muhammad (Infallible Imams) according to the Shia Muslims
The family relations among prophet's household, including Imams and prophet's daughter Fatima, is considered a divinely determined destiny with reasons behind. In Islam, being a member of family of prophet (or other noble people) inherently means nothing in terms of spiritual rank. It is only considered to be a great opportunity with which comes great responsibility (the spiritual rank depends on the degree of honest effort towards God, not the starting point situation, i.e. place, wealth, IQ, family, race, religion born in, etc.). The last twelve Imams are spiritually considered to be infallible like all prophets, have God-given knowledge and have a higher rank compared to the most of the Prophets, while they have a lower rank compared to their mother, daughter of Prophet, Fatima, who is considered best of women in history (followed by Mary mother of Jesus, Khadija wife of Muhammad (and mother of Fatima) and Asie wife of Pharoah). Ali, the first Imam is considered to have a higher spiritual rank compared to his wife Fatima, and a lower rank compared to his master and teacher, the Prophet of Islam.
Shia Muslim Imams who are considered to be 12 (as the successors of Moses) are not being sent prophetic revelations but are divinely determined and enforced successors to the prophet of Islam and divine interpreters of Quran and Sunnah. They are also considered as very respectable and pious Muslims by most of the Sunni scholars (specially the first three, the sixth and the twelfth Imams).
The Muslim Imams according to the Shia sect of Islam [5]:
| Number | Name | Title (Arabic)[3] |
Birth–Death (CE)[4] |
Importance | Birthplace (present day country) | Place of death and burial |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
‘Alī ibn Abu
Talib علي بن أبي طالب
|
Amir al-Mu'minin (Commander of the Faithful)[5]
|
600–661[5] | The first Imam and the rightful successor of the Prophet; however, the Sunnis acknowledge him as the fourth Caliph as well. He holds a high position in almost all Sufi Muslim orders (Turuq).[5] | Mecca, Saudi Arabia[5] | Assassinated by Abd-al-Rahman ibn Muljam, a Kharijite in Kufa, who slashed him with a poisoned sword. Buried at the Imam Ali Mosque in Najaf, Iraq. |
| 2 |
Hassan ibn ‘Alī الحسن بن علي |
al-Mujtaba | 624–680[9] | He was the eldest surviving grandson of Muhammad through Muhammad's daughter, Fatimah. Hasan succeeded his father as the caliph in Kufa, and on the basis of an imposed peace treaty by Muawiya I (which Muawiya did not respect eventually), he relinquished control of Iraq following a reign of seven months.[11] | Medina, Saudi Arabia[9] | Poisoned by his hugely bribed wife (by Muawiya) in Medina, Saudi Arabia. Buried in Jannat al-Baqi. |
| 3 |
Husayn ibn ‘Alī الحسین بن علي |
Sayyed al-Shuhada | 626–680[13] | He was a grandson of Muhammad. Husayn opposed the validity of the corrupt Caliph Yazid I. As a result, he and his family were later brutally killed in the imbalanced Battle of Karbala by Yazid's forces. After this incident, the commemoration of Husayn ibn Ali has become a central ritual in Shia identity [13][15] which symbolizes and teaches oppression fighting. | Medina, Saudi Arabia[13] | Killed and beheaded at the Battle of Karbala. Buried at the Imam Husayn Shrine in Karbala, Iraq. |
| 4 |
‘Alī ibn al-Hussein علي بن الحسین |
al-Sajjad, Zain al-Abedin [16] | 658-9[16] – 712[17] | Author of prayers in Sahifa al-Sajjadiyya, which is known as "The Psalm of the Household of the Prophet." [17] | Medina, Saudi Arabia[16] | Poisoned on the order of Caliph al-Walid I in Medina, Saudi Arabia. Buried in Jannat al-Baqi. |
| 5 |
Muhammad ibn ‘Alī محمد بن علي |
al-Baqir al-Ulum (splitting open knowledge) [18] |
677–732[18] | Sunni and Shia sources both describe him as one of the early and most eminent legal scholars, teaching many students during his tenure.[18][19] | Medina, Saudi Arabia[18] | Poisoned in Medina, Saudi Arabia on the order of Caliph Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik. Buried in Jannat al-Baqi. |
| 6 |
Ja'far ibn Muhammad جعفر بن محمد
|
al-Sadiq[21]
(the Trustworthy)
|
702–765[21] | Established the Ja'fari jurisprudence and developed the Theology of Shia by massively interpreting and teaching Quran and Sunnah. He instructed thousands of scholars in different fields, including Imams of major Sunni sub-sects (Hanafi and Maleki) Abu Hanifah and Malik ibn Anas. He also taught Geber in science and alchemy.[21][22][23] Geber is considered to be the father of Chemistry (who lived in 8th century). | Medina, Saudi Arabia[21] | Poisoned in Medina, Saudi Arabia on the order of Caliph Al-Mansur.. Buried in Jannat al-Baqi. |
| 7 |
Musa ibn Ja'far موسی بن جعفر |
al-Kazim[25] | 744–799[25] | Leader of the Shia community during the schism of Ismaili sub-sect of Shias after the death of the former Imam, Jafar al-Sadiq.[26] He established the network of agents who collected khums in the Shia community of the Middle East and the Greater Khorasan.[27] | Medina, Saudi Arabia[25] | Imprisoned and poisoned in Baghdad, Iraq on the order of Caliph Harun al-Rashid. Buried in the Kazimayn shrine in Baghdad. |
| 8 |
‘Alī ibn Musa علي بن موسی |
al-Rida, Reza[28] | 765–817[28] | Made crown-prince by Caliph Al-Ma'mun, and famous for his discussions with both Muslim and non-Muslim religious scholars.[28] | Medina, Saudi Arabia[28] | He was poisoned near Sanabad village near Tous town (in modern Mashhad-al-Reza city of Iran which was established because of his burial there). His poisoning was on the order of Caliph Al-Ma'mun. He was buried in the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad. |
| 9 |
Muhammad ibn ‘Alī محمد بن علي |
al-Taqi, al-Jawad[29] | 810–835[29] | Famous for his generosity and piety in the face of persecution by the Abbasid caliphate. | Medina, Saudi Arabia[29] | Poisoned in Baghdad, Iraq on the order of Caliph Al-Mu'tasim. Buried in the Kazmain shrine in Baghdad. |
| 10 |
‘Alī ibn Muhammad علي بن محمد |
al-Hadi, al-Naqi[30] | 827–868[30] | Strengthened the network of deputies in the Shia community. He sent them instructions, and received in turn financial contributions of the faithful from the khums and religious vows.[30] | Surayya, a village near Medina, Saudi Arabia[30] | Poisoned in Samarra, Iraq on the order of Caliph Al-Mu'tazz. Buried in the Al Askari Mosque in Samarra. |
| 11 |
Hassan ibn ‘Alī الحسن بن علي |
al-Askari[32] | 846–874[32] | For most of his life, the Abbasid Caliph, Al-Mu'tamid, placed restrictions on him after the death of his father. Repression of the Shi'ite population was particularly high at the time due to their large size and growing power.[33] | Medina, Saudi Arabia[32] | Poisoned on the order of Caliph Al-Mu'tamid in Samarra, Iraq. Buried in Al Askari Mosque in Samarra. |
| 12 |
Muhammad ibn al-Hassan محمد بن الحسن |
al-Mahdi, Hidden Imam, al-Hujjah [35] | 868–unknown[36] | He is the current Imam and the promised Mahdi, a messianic figure who will return with Jesus. Together with Jesus, he will reestablish the rightful governance of Islam and replete the earth with justice and peace.[37] | Samarra, Iraq[36] | According to Shia doctrine, he has been living (and saved by God) in the Occultation since 872, and will continue as long as God wills. |
A Translation of Sayings by Fatemeh, Best of Women According to Islam
Fatemeh is daughter of Muhammad, wife of Ali and mother (and divinely appointed teacher) of the other 11 Shia Muslim Imams. She is considered to have a higher rank than infallible Moses, Jesus and Mary. She has said [3,4]:
1. God made all the beings without previous matter & samples & shapes & pattern. And made them wear the dress of life by His main & might & created them according to His divine will & Intention, short of it that He might have needed their creation, or have wished any benefit for Himself from their shaping & sketching, except this that he wanted to give a proof of His wisdom & make the people (creation) aware about His obedience & submission, & invited them to his servitude & worship & make His invitation grand & ostentatious.
2. God fixed the reward for His obedience & torment for His insubordination & disobedience, so that He may restrain His servants from His wrath & fury & lead them to His paradise.
3. I testify that there is no Deity (LORD) except the sole & matchless God. And the testification of the singleness of God is a word that God has declared sincerity (as) it's reality, & made the hearts the centre of it's contact & union. And has made the specifications & research of the oneness of God's station obvious & evident in the light of meditation. The God who can not be seen by the eyes & tongues are unable & baffled to describe His virtues & attributes. And the intelligence & apprehension of man is helpless & destitute from the imagination of his howness.
4. God saw nations & groups had various different sects in their religion & scattered & staying on on the verge of the fires of differences, busy with their idol worshipping. They denied God with all the signs & symbols of HIM. So God illuminated the darkness through my father Mohammad (SAW) and removed the darkness from their hearts, removed (cured) the blindness of the eyes.
5. The Prophet (P.B.U.H) said to Fatima (SA), "what is the thing which is a blessing for a women [in her sex-related 'woman' aspect, not her dominating and general human aspect shared with men]?"
She said that, "she must not see a (stranger & not intimate) man & (such) a man must not see her" [i.e. preserving sexual health of the society via not revealing her body's beauties to stranger men].
6. God made the faith for you as a purity from polytheism (note: according to Islam, even things such as 'money' can become like a 'deity' (in practice) for the faithless or weak in faith who devote themselves to gaining it).
7. And (made) service the cause of your getting distant (purification) from pride (egoism).
8. And rendered fasting for the maintenance & firmness of your sincerity.
9. And God set Hajj for the consolidation & reinforcement of the religion.
10. God executed & rendered justice for the sake of putting together & harmonization of the hearts.
11. And God set the subordination & obedience of us (the household of the Prophet (P.B.U.H) for the security of society's system & our Imamate as a safety from segregation & disunity.
12. And (God made) Jihad (holy war), the honor & glory for Islam & abjectness & humbleness for the infidels & hypocrites.
13. And (God rendered) patience as a help for getting reward.
14. And (God caused) commanding goodness & forbidding to do evil for the amendment & correction of
society & the common folks (public).
15. And (God made) the kindness to parents as a protection (shield) to His wrath & displeasure.
16. And God made joining & connecting with the kinship & cognation, the cause of lengthening of life.
17. And God made law of retaliation (revenge for homicide) as the security of blood (from being shed).
18. And God executed the vow performing as a medium for forgiveness.
19. And (God rendered) prohibition from drinking wine the cause of taking distance from contaminations
(evils).
20. And God prohibited polytheism for the sake of (bringing about) sincerity in (His) adoration & worship.
Being a Practicing Muslim
God is the most optimal being possible, not only alive, but the source of life (as well as every other goodness). God is beyond imaginations and descriptions (Allahu Akbar), however our knowledge about him can advance. God has created human giving them great potential to be similar to himself, to advance in the path of similarity to God for ever, which is gaining and enjoying all of the good and passing behind all of the bad, gradually decreasing incompleteness. Human is free to choose whether to pursue this path of advancement or not, maybe because if human is not choosing the good freely, it will miss a precious part of completeness for ever: to choose the good. As it was impossible for God to create such an astonishing ever advancing being who misses no achievable goodness, without giving it freedom of choice, this freedom has been given to human, but at the expense of punishing those who abuse it and harm others. In the case of the oppressed, "their complain of what has been done to them and God's love of them does not allow God's mercy to immediately relax evil-doer from justice (in rare cases of very evil people, never!)" [4].
The purpose of practicing Islamic rules (when you manage to know and understand the true ones, from under the dusts of history) is said to be to obey and worship God, in the direction of being gradually more and more similar to him, as he wants and which you'll extremely enjoy and appreciate [4]. Here's a better image of God than many may have, his 99 names in Quran:
http://www.jannah.org/articles/names.html
http://www.faizani.com/articles/names.html
According to prophet Mohammad, "the basis of this religion [Islam] is reason". Not only Islam is based on perfect reason by God, but you cannot truly believe without reason and without enough research and thinking (proportionate to your abilities). It is famous in Islam that "a minute of thinking can be better than seventy years of worship" and that "worship God with thinking and be ahead of other worshipers". Thinking alone is not enough, 'doing' is needed, but it is the base of accountable deep faith and belief from which the good deeds and advancements flourish [4].
At first, a Muslim should know why s/he believes in God (albeit including the famous questions of "Who/what is called God? Is there a God?"). Secondly, the topic of research and thinking will be Mohammad's character and his big claim (including among the questions: "Who is called a prophet? Has there been a prophet ever? Was he a prophet?"). The third issue is to discover Mohammad's real teachings and behavior from truths and lies of the historians and narrators (including his competitors and enemies). It's a real rational challenge praised by Quran: "Those who listen to the word, then follow the best of it; those are they whom Allah has guided, and those it is who are the men of understanding." [3]
Islam on some Harsh/Debated Issues
1. War: Starting a war from scratch is forbidden, starting a defensive war (for example against those who break contracts or help enemy with arms) in absence of a peaceful and infallible leader like prophet Muhammad is not allowed, but defending against an already started war is necessary.
2. Terrorism: strictly forbidden (an attacking of enemy that results in unintentional demise of innocents as an unavoidable side effect is not regarded terrorism, the logic may be the fact that in a just war the life of innocent Muslim defenders themselves is in danger which is itself a tragedy alone)
3. Execution: a punishment usually not just aimed towards the evil-doer being executed, but mainly towards alive evil-doers who may threat security of the innocent. According to Quran: "in killing the killer is life" (and: there are some exceptions, not every killer is executed)
4. Suffering because of Natural Disasters, Birth in a Special Place or ... : It is a kind of test (human is being tested repeatedly in this world, the whole world is a university where people can learn good, do good, and will be tested about it) or a kind of punishment which can be a result of mass evil-doing, depending the situation and person. Innocent people will be greatly compensated by God for what is beyond their control and everybody will be tested for what is in their control.
5. Physical Offence: A matter normally addressed in courts, even a beating that makes skin red is forbidden, or maybe even less harsh beatings (although less harsh ones may be allowed in rare cases triggered by a bad act). There are also animal rights described centuries ago.
6. Emotional and Spiritual Hurts (betraying, insulting and ...): They can be punished, in many cases physically and via a court, sometimes for example in case of husband betraying wife or vice versa, the betrayer may be executed.
7. Discrimination: In many cases Islam put an end to the illogical historical discriminations, such as recognizing the right of unlimited education, trade and possession for women (centuries before Europe). In the other hand but in the same line of pursuing the truth, Muslims understand that not always justice appears in form of point-to-point equality (it is right that this is one of the most abused truths in history). The total rights can be equal in an asymmetric way. Men can have more right and less responsibility in case A and women can have more right and less responsibility in case B. Men and women have enough differences that result in difference in a fraction of (sex-related) responsibilities and rights, however ethnicity or color does not cause such "enough difference". In the media, usually men's rights and women's responsibilities in Islam is emphasized which gives a non-balanced and unreal image of this ethical system, while many Islamic rules favor women (obeying mother, respecting her even more than father, paying living expenses of wife as a duty even if she is rich/working, women being exempt from paying compensation for close relative's unintentional crimes (while men have to pay a share for example to the family of the person killed unintentionally an by mistake by one of the close relatives), men have more social responsibilities in form of obligatory religious duty, most wars are only necessary for men to attend, ... ).
Soul, the only field of human's genuine advancement and superiority, is sexless. According to Quran: "surely the most honorable of you with Allah is the one among you most careful (of her/his duty)". Women's main sex-related social contribution may be to become teachers of human being and men's main sex-related social contribution may be to become teachers of non-human beings (the point of view is: teaching material how to be a plane and the plane how to fly better, etc.). This is a support for the women's important contribution. Most earthly duties, and all ultimate duties (goals), are non-sexual and common between sexes (The 99 names of God in Quran suggest a brief idea of where the sexless soul of human should advance towards).
Human's (women and men) potential and power is unlimited, subject to taking the hassle of achievements. Through love of God and the associated sacrifice, human (women and men) can become successor to God, which results in purified love of God and results in accessing unlimited power and knowledge through God, like prophets and like many women who had the same rank as prophets (but less direct social duties and reputation) [4].
"He is Allah, the Creator, the Originator, The Fashioner, to Him belong the most beautiful names: whatever is in the heavens and on earth, do declare His praises and glory. And He is the Exalted in Might, The Wise. (Quran 59:24)
"The most beautiful names belong to God: so call on Him by them;..." (7:180)
It is not possible to perfectly translate the names and attributes of Allah from their original Arabic into English. However, here are some fairly close explanations.
Pronunciation/reading note: In the following text:
^= is letter ain of arabic
'= is letter hamza of arabic
"...There is nothing whatever like unto Him, and He is the One that hears
and sees (all things). Qur'an [42:11]
(Arabic transliteration: Laysa Kamithlihi Shayun Wa Huwa As-Sami' ul-Basir)
References
[1] http://www.simplyislam.org/
[2] http://www.islam-usa.com/25ques.html
[4] Being a Muslim, Practicing Islam: A Muslim's Quranic View