hi everybody welcome to this week's presentation today I'm going to give you an introduction to Islam in early world literature texts you need to know something about religion to understand the cultures being portrayed in the stories the purpose of this video is to give you a basic introduction to Islam that will give you some background for understanding the cultural and social world that we are exploring and the story of Sinbad the Sailor and later the Epic of sunjata here are some basic facts Islam is the world's second largest religion after Christianity a follower a follower of Islam is called a Muslim in Arabic the word the word Islam translates in two ways it means both surrender and peace the idea of it is that surrender to the way of God brings peace let's take a look at the demographic concentration of Muslims on the world map even though most of the coverage on Islam seems to center around the Middle East that is actually not the region where you find the largest population of Muslims the country with the largest population of Muslims is actually Indonesia those are the islands in dark red right above Australia and the country with the second largest population of Muslims happens to be India followed by Pakistan as we we move forward an important point that I want to make is that the difference between Islam as in the noun referring to the religion as based on the scripture of the Quran and islami Kate the adjective that describes the diversity of Muslims cultural practices denominations communities and histories across the globe and in historical time should be noted so once again there's a difference between Islam as a religion and Islamic haate the cultural practices interpretations Den denominations communities historical um periods and expressions and and more the reason that I do so is that in our contemporary uh World du due to the due to the influence of misunderstandings about Islam and our media culture every action or statement or belief by any Muslim in any country or any culture or of any language group or from any historical period gets taken as representative of Islam itself just as with Christianity or Judaism or Hinduism there's a difference between belief and Creed as grounded in scripture and Faith practices AKA Islam and interpretations of that belief and Creed as expressed in cultures and throughout histories by individuals and groups AKA Islamic haate and so for instance the cultural practices and denominations followed by a South Asian Muslim can often be different from that followed by a Syrian Muslim or an Iraqi Muslim or an African Muslim in other words when studying anything as massive and large scale as a world religion we need to bring this attention to complexity and nuance and context when we read the stories as Islam as is an abrahamic religion the easiest way to explain it is through its similarities with other abrahamic religions like Christianity and Judaism there are many similarities and also many differences for the sake of time I'm going to focus on some of the key similarities and differences between Islam and Christianity on this Slide the font and black text denotes beliefs that Islam and Christianity have in common however the font and green marks the beliefs that are specific to Islam both Islam and Christianity believe in God as a supremely good and powerful creator bibl names for God can include Jehovah Yahweh Elohim and while in Arabic there are many names for God as well the main one is Allah which means the god or the one God like Christianity Islam believes in Angelic beings who worship God like Christianity Islam believes in Satan as an evil being that plotted the the fall of mankind in Arabic Satan is called shaan however unlike Christians Muslims believe beli that Satan was a Jin a word that gets translated in English as a genie a Jin is a being of smokeless fire with special powers and Satan is seen as of the species while Satan was allowed to worship god with the angels due to his great piety in Muslim belief it is his Envy of Adam and Eve that causes his fall and his transformation into Satan as man's great Mankind's greatest to deceiver and tempt her because there are many genin and subass classes of Jin such as EP that we encounter in the thousand one nights I'll give some additional context about them Jin are not all believed to be evil there are good and benevolent Jin however on the whole they tend towards being mischievous and inclining to evil they also have powers not possessed by humans such as the ability to fly great distances in hardly any time to shape shift and to possess people so not necessarily every gin that we come across in the thousand one nights is satanic nevertheless Satan and his followers from the Jin are are considered to be absolute evil to return to our list both Christianity and Islam believe in God's creation of the universe and the world and his creation of Adam and Eve like Christianity Islam has a story of Adam and Eve fall from the Garden of Eden or jna as the Garden of Eden is called in Arabic due to Satan's Temptation however in Islam Eve is not blamed for the fall and rather Adam and Eve are both treated as bearing equal share of the guilt both Islam and Christianity believe in God's Redemption of mankind by sending prophets Messengers and leaders such as Abraham Moses David Solomon Zechariah Etc however while Islam believes in the miraculous birth of Jesus from the Virgin Mary as detailed in the Surah or chapter of the Quran called maray which means Mary in Arabic Islam does not believe in Jesus as a Son of God rather Islam believes Jesus is a great messenger and prophet of God Islam also believes that in this line of prophethood Muhammad is God's final prophet and messenger many world religions have the stamp of a charismatic person associated with their founding the relationship say between Jesus and Christianity or the Buddha and Buddhism the same goes for the com the relationship between Muhammad and Islam as comparative religion scholar Ken Armstrong has observed many world religions have at their core a personality or figure who expresses the ideas of the faith in human form in contemplating the serenity of Buddha for instance Buddhists see the Supreme reality of Nirvana to which each of them aspires in Jesus Christians Glimpse the divine presence as a Force for good goodness and compassion in the world in Moses Jewish people can see the power of faith and law similarly it's really not possible to understand Islam without understanding something of Muhammad's personality and background Muhammad is incredibly important in Islam because he is the sole transmitter of the muslim's Holy Scripture the Quran Muhammad was born in 570 CE in the city of Mecca in Arabia and lived until 632 CE he was orphaned at the age of six and brought up by his grandfather as a young man he worked as a merchant and gained a repetition for honesty and trustworthiness he was called by his contemporaries Assad and Alin Al Amin which means the truthful and the trustworthy his first wife was a wealthy businesswoman in Arabia called Khadijah who proposed marriage to him after he worked in her business she was 40 and he was 25 uh when they married and while she lived he never married another woman he had four children with her gradually he began to get uncomfortable by the commercialization materialism and social inequality that was growing in mecah at that time and he began to go meditate in a cave in a mountain outside of Mecca it was at the age of 40 in the cave that according to Muslim belief he received a visitation by Angel Gabriel who announced to him that he was God's final messenger over the next 22 23 years of his remaining life he would preach a message devoted to social justice I'm going to give you some context from the book on Islam by Kieran Armstrong a scholar of comparative religions to understand Islam as a world religion the context in which Islam uh developed and grew is incredibly important the Arabian world at the time of Muhammad was divided in factionalism and tribalism due to the value of marua or tribal chivalry which started out as a noble ideal but degenerated over the centuries until the time of Muhammad pre-islamic n nomadic Arabians had evolved the chalc code of marua which gave meaning to their lives and helped them adapt to the harsh desert environment of Arabia marua as it evolved to be uh meant tribal chivalry courage patience and endurance it consisted of a dedication determination to avenge any wrong done to the tribal group to protect the tribe's weaker members and to defy its enemies to preserve the honor of each tribe each member had to be ready to LEAP to the defense of his tribal Kinsman at a moment's notice and obey his chief without question as Professor Armstrong notes while marua was an inspiring ideal by the 6th Century CE its weakness wies were becoming tragically apparent tribal solidarity encouraged bravery and selflessness but only within the context of the tribe there was no concept of universal human rights to continue quoting from this section from Professor Armstrong's book Professor Armstrong notes that quote in Muhammad's time the old communal Spirit of marua or tribal chivalry had been torn apart by the growing Market economy of Mecca which depended upon ruthless competition greed and individual Enterprise families in sixth Century Arabia now VI with one another for wealth and Prestige the less successful Clans felt that they were being pushed to the wall instead of sharing their wealth generously people were hoarding their money and building private fortunes they not only ignored the plight of the poor members of the tribe but they exploited the rights of Orphans and widows absorbing their inheritance into their own Estates the prosperous were naturally delighted with their new security but those who had fallen behind in the Stampede for financial success felt lost and disoriented the principles of Maroa seemed incompatible with Market forces in 6th Century Arabia and many Arabians felt thrusted into a spiritual limbo the old ideals had not been replaced by anything of equal value and the ingrained communal ethos told them that this rampant individualism would damage the tribe which could only survive if its members pulled all their resources in quote Professor Armstrong goes on to observe Muhammad realized that Arabia was at a turning point and that the old way of thinking would no longer suffice so he wore himself out in the creative effort to evolve an entirely new solution that would challenge this rise in greed and Justice and arrogance end quote in any case at the age of 40 in the cave of H Muhammad received the following verse from the Quran which I have screenshotted towards the left of the slide which began with the word read or ik in Arabic Muhammad preached his message for 23 years encountering Fierce opposition and persecution from Mecca's Pagan Arabian Elite as a comparative religions parallel to early Biblical history the first followers of Muhammad were his immediate family members the Youth of the city slaves and the economic underclass persec persecution towards him and his followers caused immigration that is his and his commun community's immigration to abisinia in Africa and Medina another city in the Arabian Peninsula over the next 10 years he United United Arabia's tribes through preaching political embassies diplomacy Alliance building military Expeditions he conquers Mecca without Bloodshed in 600 CE and delivers a final sermon during the hjj the hjj pilgrimage and 632 CE dying that year it's also worth going over some quotes said by Muhammad and that were collected in the Hadith literature the Hadith literature just basically means the collection of Muhammad's sayings that were gathered um by scholars in uh one or two generations after Muhammad's death and I and I do this because a lot of the misconceptions of Islam Center upon gender and race Muhammad said in his last sermon before passing away quote all mankind is from Adam and Eve an Arab has no superiority over a non-arab nor a non-arab has any superiority over an Arab also a white person has no superiority over a black person nor a black person has any superiority over a white person except by piety and good action learn that every Muslim is a brother to every Muslim and that Muslims constitute one Brotherhood nothing shall be legitimate to a Muslim which belongs to a fellow Muslim unless it was given freely and willingly he also said quote Oh people it is true that you have certain rights with regard to your women but they also have rights over you remember that you have taken them as your wives only under God's trust and with his permission do treat your women and well and be kind to them for they are your partners and committed helpers end quote also given that in our contemporary recent times there is in our contemporary media culture a skewed and unfair correlation between Islam and terrorism it's Al also helpful I think to go over some other quotes said by Muhammad that are collected in the Hadith literature Muhammad also went on to say quot God is gentle and loves gentleness end quote he also said God is merciful to those who show Mercy to others end quote additionally he saide the best among you is the one who doesn't harm others with his tongue or hands end quot furthermore he said quote help your brother whether he is an oppressor or he is an oppressed one his companions around him asked him to clarify that statement questioning it is all right to help him if he is oppress but how should we help him if he is an oppressor Muhammad replied quote by preventing him from oppressing others end quote again because of our the Contemporary um misunderstandings about Islam in our in our media culture I'm going to go over from the sources what Islam actually says about different Faith communities and how Muslims interrelate with members of other Faith communities or should inter inter inter relate I ought to say the Quran commands respect and tolerance for followers of other religions calling them quote peoples of the book which means followers of prophets sent to God by to which means followers of prophets un to God to different nations in Islam prophets are seen as part of a spiritually Elite community and it is forbidden for a Muslim to discriminate or harm the member of another religion the term peoples of the book is mentioned 31 times in the Quran and it is most often held to reference Jews and Christians but it is also applied to other Faith communities like Hindus Buddhists and zarrian the Quran in his chapter 2 verse 256 says quite emphatically quote there is no compulsion in religion end quote also in chapter 44 the Quran mentions that God created human diversity so that mankind can know one another quote Oh men behold we have created you all out of a pair and have made you into Nations and tribes so that you may come to know one another verily the noblest of you in the sight of God is the one who is most deeply conscious of him behold God is all knowing all aware end quote so once again in the Muslim scripture the Quran you can find this value this this uh affirmation of the natural diversity of humankind I'll also go on to to recognize that in our contemporary media culture Islam is often equated with Jihad which is often depicted as the mandate to wage to wage violence against those who have different beliefs from Muslims that is in uh this particular perspective on Jihad is completely uh incorrect this view actually departs from what the Quran says on the subject the Quran legitimates Jihad or fighting only as a defensive action When people's lives property and divinely endowed human rights are being threatened this includes the rights of other Faith communities to live and worship according to their Creed in chapter 22:39 the Quran says quote permission to fight is given to them given to them against whom war is being wrongfully waged and no doubt Allah is necessarily powerful to help them those who were driven out from their homes without right only on this pretext that they said our Lord is Allah and if Allah had not removed men one by the means of other then necessarily The Cloister and churches and synagogues and mosques were in the name of Allah is mentioned much would have been pulled down and undoubtedly Allah will necessarily help him who help his religion verely Allah is necessarily powerful and dominant end quote so once again with this particular quote from the Quran we can note that it mentions and includes cloer Church churches and synagogues along with mosques and its depiction and its commandment of houses of God that must be protected from offensive violence so other verses of the Quran emphasize Jihad only a self-defense and also commands that during fighting aggression against civilians to be prohibited and that places of devotion should be protected so um other verses also command that Muslims stop fighting ing when the other party ends or desists from aggression these verses were revealed when Muhammad's early Community were being attacked and tortured by pre-islamic Arabians who did not want to see their Privileges and profits sink so the relevant verse about Jihad that often gets misquoted and misinterpreted um in our media culture is from chapter 2 of the Quran and it's worth just reading it aloud and going over it understand the proper context quote and fight in God's cause against those who wage war against you but do not commit aggression for verily God does not love aggressors and slay them wherever you may come upon them and drive them away from wherever they drove you away for oppression is even worse than killing and fight not against them near the inviable house of worship against they fight against you there first but if they fight against you slay them such shall be the recompense of those who deny the truth end quot but emphatically and most importantly the verse also goes on to say quote but to desist behold God is much forgiving at dispenser of Grace so in other words war in Islam should only be used for defensive purposes should never be used against civilians and houses of worship and unfortunately because these particular verses get taken out of context a lot of the misconceptions that we have in our contemporary culture about Islam come from the way uh these words read out of context and misunderstood I will also say that many Muslims also Mis can misunderstand these words and misn misinterpret them um in in very harmful ways as well I'll end by saying that at its root world literature is about understanding the complexity and beauty of the world and the differences that make it up and by doing so understanding ourselves if we had lived in a different world I wouldn't have dispensed so much of my presentation talking about misconceptions which unimportantly are contributing to the instability unrest and violence in our world today but my aim was to give you the background to help you to get to the frequency of listening to the stories and the culture without the without the static that comes from our contemporary media World stories are about connection with other people's cultures ways of seeing and perceiving that can only enrich our own selves and help us to grow to connect and learn I look forward to continuing our Voyage Through the thousand one nights with you see you next time