Islamic Politics and Culture: The Main Premises of the Islamic Faith - Coursework Example

The Islamic Faith Islam is a monotheistic as well as an Abrahamic religion articulated by the Holy Qur’an, a book taken byits adherents as the verbatim word of God (Allah). The adherent also stand by the normative examples, known as Sunnah, as well as the teachings of Muhammad, considered by the Muslims to being the last and seal of God’s prophets. Muslim is an adherent of Islam. Muslims do believe that there is one incomparable God and that the purpose of human existence is to worship God. They are also of the belief that Islam is the total universal version of a primordial faith revealed several times before, through the prophets that include; Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses as well as Jesus. This study, therefore, seeks to analyze the main premises of the Islamic Faith. Muslims maintains that the initial revelations and messages are altered or interpreted over time, though they consider the Arabic Qur’an version to being both unaltered and also the final revelation of God. The religious practices and concepts include the five pillars of Islam, which constitutes the both obligatory acts and concepts of worship, and adherence to the Islamic laws. These Islamic laws touch virtually on every life aspect as well as the society, giving guidance on topics that are multifarious, ranging from banking and welfare to environment and family life. A majority of Muslims falls within two denominations: Shia, 10-20%, or Sunni, 75-90%. Approximately 13% of Muslims dwells in Indonesia, the biggest Muslim-majority country, 20% in the Middle East, 25% in South Asia and about 15% in the Sub-Saharan Africa. Little minorities also exist in within Europe, Russia, China and the Americas. Immigrants and converts exist in nearly every part of planet earth. With approximately 23% of the earth’s population or significantly 1.6 billion followers, Islam remains the second largest religion, after Christianity, and considered as one of the fastest growing religion (Hasan 281). History of Islam Islam commenced in Mecca, attributed to be the revelation of Allah (God) through angel Gabriel to the Man named Muhammad. The birth of Muhammad was in about AD 570-571. His birth was from the powerful Quraish tribe in Mecca. The name to Muhammad father was Abdullah, while that of his mother being Aminah. Based on the available information, it is true that Abdullah was a merchant who involved in caravan trips. He passed while on a trading trip, shortly after his marriage to Aminah, thus Muhammad became fatherless at birth. Muhammad’s mother, Aminah, passed on when he was six years old, forcing him to go and live with his grandfather who, then, cordially accepted him. However, his grandfather also passed on barely two years after taking him. And at this time, Abu Talib, his uncle and one of the leaders in the Quraish tribe, took him and raised him. While staying with his uncle, Muhammad learned the family business and was quite successful. A rich widow known as Khadijah organized Muhammad to be in charge of her trading business, and she was very happy with his skills and appearance, thus, proposed marriage to him. Khadijah was forty while Muhammad was twenty-five when they married. They had a total of six kids together that is four girls and two boys. Unfortunately, both sons died early in their lives. As for the daughters, they lived long enough to witness Muhammad become the founder of Islam (Casanova 1052). Having married Khadijah, who was wealthy, Muhammad became a leisure gentleman and somewhat of a philosopher. He often retreated from the society, took trips onto the mountains and deserts. He occasionally spent the better part of his time meditating, and greatly concerned about the civilization conditions that he saw around himself. He was on a personal quest to seek truth. One of his seclusion places that he frequented was a cave on Mount Nur. It was while within this cave, in the month of Ramadan, a festival of the pagans, that he got his first visitation by Gabriel and recited the various verses got in Qur’an 96:1-5. In the beginning, Muhammad shared his new encounters with only his family members and close friends. Within the next three years, Muhammad’s message spread quietly among the occupants of Makah, particularly to the youths. Then there is the belief that Mohammad got instructions from Allah to open up to the public with his message and openly rebuke or condemn idolatry and paganism of Makah. The open idolatry condemnation became a threat to the economy and prosperity of Makah, and as a result, well-structured opposition to Muhammad and Islam as a whole commenced. At the above juncture, Islam was weak politically, and a number of Muslims died supporting their faith (Kahf 33). Prosecutions became the order of the day forcing many Muslims to flee to Abyssinia, the then Ethiopia, for refuge. When the delegates from Mekkah attempted to extradite them, after learning the Muslim’s defense, the ruler declined their extradition on grounds that his faith and theirs were similar, thus could not permit their harming. Muhammad, however, continued proclaiming his message, and his following grew systematically. At one stage, in 621, a section of delegates from Medina heed to his call and a binding covenant with Muhammad, declaring themselves to be Muslims. A year later, some seventy more people from Medina followed in the footsteps of their predecessors pledging and declaring to stand with Mohammad against all odds. The above pledge and covenant from for some popular faces within Medina’s leadership was the turning point for Islam. The move provided Muslims with a more secure base in terms of their operations thus allowing them to explore and expand from it. It was until then that Muhammad ordered the all the Muslims to relocate to Medina. After establishing the Muslim Faith, Muhammad established himself more of as a political, religious as well as a military leader. With Makah’s subjugation, Islam became the strength of the Arabian Peninsula Tribe after tribe. Islam commenced spreading through force and intimidation. Muhammad becomes ruthless to those who opposed him in order to convert them from idol worshiping into the right worship of Allah. With Muhammad’s death, Islam continued to progress in the leadership of Muhammad’s companions (Dun 301). The main premises of Islamic Faith. God Islam’s key fundamental context is a widely rigorous monotheism referred to as tawhid. In chapter, 112 of the Holy Qur’an identifies God as the One and Only. Jews and Muslims repudiate the Christians Trinity doctrine as well as the divinity of Jesus and comparing it to polytheism. In the Islamic faith, God is beyond all understanding thus Muslims should not visualize God. Some of the Muslim names used to refer to God includes Al-Rahman meaning The Compassionate as well as Al-Rahim, meaning The Merciful. Muslims do believe that the creation of everything was through the Sheer command of God and that the key reason for human existence is to worship God. Also in their beliefs is that there exist no intermediaries, for instance, the clergy, to contact God (Landman 422). Angels Belief in angels is core to the Islamic faith. Angels in Arabic means messenger, just like its Hebrew counterpart. According to the Qur’an, angels possess not free will thus worship and obey God with total obedience. The duty of Angels includes, glorifying God, communicating his revelations, recording people’s exchange and taking the souls of people during instances of death. The Muslim believes that angels are elements of light and are messengers with wings. Believe in the Books of God The Muslims believe that God gave out holy books or scriptures to a number of his messengers. The above include the Torah, the Psalms, the Qur’an, and the Scrolls. Muslims believe that the scriptures in their original form were divinely and that it’s only the Qur’an that remained as it was first shown to Prophet Muhammad. Believe in prophets or Messengers of God Muslims believe that the revelation of God to mankind was through specifically appointed prophets or messengers, throughout history, starting with the first man, Adam, who was the first prophet. Twenty-five of the early prophets are in the Qur’an mentioned by names, including; Abraham, Noah, Moses and Jesus. Muslims also believe that of all the prophets; Muhammad was the last in the above prophet lines, sent to all humans with the message of Islam. Belief in the Judgment Day All Muslims do believe that on the Judgment day, individuals’ judgment will base on their actions in the current life. Those who follow God’s guidance will receive their rewards with paradise; those who reject the guidance of God, heir punishment will be hell. Belief in the Divine Decree The article of faith answers the question of God’s will. Its expresses the belief that the control of all things is through the define decree, for instance, anything that happens in an individual’s life is possible to influence. Believers should, therefore, responds to either a good or bad that befalls them with patience and thankfulness. Muslims, therefore, should put their beliefs into practice through the performances of certain worship acts. As with all faiths, since the religious adherence obligation as well as practices is a question of individual’s choice, some individuals tend to be strict in undertaking these duties, while others may be lenient (Uddin 28). Reference Hasan, Zulkifli. "Corporate governance: Western and Islamic perspectives." International Review of Business Research Papers 5.1 (2009): 277-293. Casanova, José. "Civil society and religion: retrospective reflections on Catholicism and prospective reflections on Islam." Social Research (2001): 1041-1080. Kahf, Monzer. "Islamic economics: notes on definition and methodology." Review of Islamic Economics (2003): 23-48. Dunn, Kevin M. "Representations of Islam in the politics of mosque development in Sydney." Tijdschrift voor economische en sociale geografie 92.3 (2001): 291-308. Landman, Nico. "Muslims and Islamic institutions in the Netherlands." Journal Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs 12.2 (1991): 410-432. Uddin, Syed Jamal. "Understanding the framework of business in Islam in an era of globalization: a review." Business Ethics: A European Review 12.1 (2003): 23-32. Read More