Islam…

1. Islam… Some additional information…

2. The 5 pillars… The 'Five Pillars' of Islam are the foundation of Muslim life: • DECLARATION OF FAITH: there is no god except Allah and Muhammad is His messenger. This declaration of faith is called the Shahadaand is the first pillar of Islam. • PRAYER - Salatis the name for the obligatory prayers which are performed five times a day (facing the direction of Mecca & the Kaaba), and are a direct link between the worshipper and God. • CHARITY – “ZAKAT” One of the most important principles of Islam is that all things belong to God, and that wealth is therefore held by human beings in trust. The word zakat means both 'purification' and 'growth'.

3. 5 Pillars continued… • FASTING - Sawm - Every year in the month of Ramadan, all Muslims fast from first light until sundown, abstaining from food/ drink. • PILGRIMAGE (HAJJ) The annual pilgrimage to Mecca - the Hajj - is an obligation only for those who are physically and financially able to perform it. • http://www.islamicity.com/mosque/pillars.shtml

4. Muslim Sects… • At Muhammad's death in 632, Abu Bakr, a close companion of the Prophet, became his successor, or caliph. Most Muslims agreed that the most able and pious of the Prophet's followers should be his caliphs. Their followers would come to be known as the orthodox branch of Islam, or Sunnis. • A few Muslims disagreed, arguing for a line of succession based on bloodlines. To those dissenters, the succession should have immediately gone to Ali, the fourth caliph -- who was Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law. Followers of Ali would eventually form ShiiteIslam.

5. Other sect differences… • Sunnis accept that the first four Caliphs, including Ali, were the rightful followers of Muhammad. However--they don't grant the kind of divinely inspired status to their clerics that Shiites do with their imams. Shiites believe imams are descendants of the Prophet. • Islam has no codified laws per se. It has various schools of law. While Sunni doctrine is more rigidly aligned in accordance with those various schools, its hierarchical structure is looser and often falls under state, rather than clerical, control. The opposite is true in Shiitism: The doctrine is somewhat more open to interpretation but the clerical hierarchy is more defined and, as in Iran, the ultimate authority is the imam, not the state.

6. Sect demographics… • http://middleeast.about.com/od/religionsectarianism/a/me070907sunnis.htm

7. Islamic Fundamentalism… • Defining Islamic fundamentalism is tough to do…see your text glossary – p. 640. • Additionally – it is a movement that has gained momentum in recent decades within several Muslim nations. Islamic fundamentalists oppose the infiltration of secular and Westernizing influences and seek to institute Islamic law, including strict codes of behavior (esp. for women).

8. Islamic law… What is “Sharia?” • Literally, it means "path". In its religious sense, it means “God's law” or the body of commands that, if followed, will provide the path to salvation. According to Islamic teaching, shariais revealed in divine signs that must be interpreted by humans. The law is derived from four main sources: • 1- the Quran, Islam's holy book, considered the literal word of God; • 2- the hadith, or record of the actions and sayings of the Prophet Mohammed, whose life is to be emulated; • 3- ijma, the consensus of Islamic scholars; and • 4-qiyas, a kind of reasoning that uses analogies to apply precedents established by the holy texts to problems not covered by them..