Muslim Stereotypes: Study Islam, not Muslims.

Stereotypes are “ideas held by a particular group about members of other particular groups, based primarily on membership in that group. They may be positive or negative prejudicial, and may be used to justify certain discriminatory behaviors.” (Wikipedia). Negative stereotypes are usually misleading, because they depict the whole group for actions of only few members of the group. They aid in creating a hateful atmosphere and misunderstanding in the society. Hanif Kureishi’s film My Son the Fanatic presents some examples of stereotypical Muslims. This movie excels in misguiding viewers who are not familiar with the true teachings of the Islam.

Islam is the second largest religion in the World, yet it still remains an undiscovered mystery in many societies. Muslims with the certain elements of so-called “religious” practices are on the top of the most popular stereotypical image list today. Yet the majority of the time, stereotypical “ religious” practices are not religious at all, but instead are cultural practices or even artificially created social problems that the media claims to be “Islamic”. The film My Son the Fanatic not only failed to present the teachings of Islam in a clear manner, but it contained several strong “Islamic” stereotypes that could have given a negative impression of the religion to the audience. For example, the first stereotype that caught my eye was the general “Muslim” treatment of women. In the movie, Minno looked inferior to her husband Parvez. When Parvez came home, his wife would meet him with such depressing expression on her face as if she were being morally abused by her husband. Minno would bring Parvez food and massage his tired feet, but he would not give her any affection or even respect. In any other movie this would be taken as an ordinary family issue, or maybe an Indian cultural practice. Yet, in My Son the Fanatic, the film title emphasizes Islam, and such scenes seem to work as stereotypes of Muslim standards on treating women. In a true Islamic practice, women are always treated with a great respect. In the last sermon Prophet Mohammed said "Treat your women well and be kind to them, for they are your partners and committed helpers".Also, another popular Hadith states, "The best believers are the best in conduct, and the best of you are those who are best to their wives." In the holy Qur’an, God says, "And of His signs is this: He created for you spouses from yourselves that you might find tranquillity in them, and He ordained between you love and mercy. Lo, herein indeed are signs for folk who reflect." (The noble Qur'an, Al-Room(30):21). From the personal experience – my husband treats me like a princess and thanks to God I am a very happy woman. Another stereotypical images occurs when Minno is banished from the dinner table into the kitchen. This behavior goes unexplained to the movie audience. Islam does ask for modesty in both female and the male, and a part of that practice is a limitation of the mixing of different sexes together. One of the popular Hadith states,“ whenever a [stranger] man and a [stranger] woman are alone, ash-Shaitan [the Satan] is bound to be there.” Yet, if a woman’s relative, or another female is present, then there is nothing wrong in such socializing. So, Minno’s eating her dinner away from the men was rather a personal choice for the purpose of precaution but not a religious must in the particular situation.

The next stereotype in the movie was the Muslim violence against women and a taboo on a sexual freedom in particular. In Shaheen’s article he calls it “an image maker’s focus on a violent and extreme minority” ( 2). In the movie, Muslim brothers got together to clear out the corrupted neighborhood from the prostitutes: they threw some explosives in the prostitute’s house window and once the women started coming out of the house, a few of them got slapped. The scene looked disturbing, because it brought out a stereotype of how bad Muslims treat the women. At the same time, in the “western culture,” domestic abuse is a common event that does not bring such public attention and disturbance. Accodring to the American Institute on Domestic Violence, 5.3 million women are abused, and 1,232 women are killed each year by an intimate partner (American Institute). The CIA reports that only 1% of the United States general populations represents Muslims( CIA world Fact Book). So, the majority of the abusers got to be non-Muslim. This example shows that violence is not a religious issue; it can happen anywhere with anybody.

While adultery and prostitution are strictly forbidden in Islam, it is not merely a Muslim issue either. In fact, such anti- corruption practices can be seen right here in Shelby County, where Muslims are a minority. For example, a current news report showed the neighbors’ protest against opening a night strip bar right in the heart of Cordova, Tennessee. Numerous petitions to the local government and active public demonstrations prevented such occurrence ( CW30). People did not want to see a strip club with promiscuous women in their neighborhood. These are only few of the examples to show that most of the stereotypical issues in the movie are in fact social issues.

So, why does the stereotypical image of bad Muslims stick in people’s head when the majority of the issues have nothing to do with the religion? I agree with Saheen’s article that the media “spoon feeds” the audience with whatever they want, and majority of the public buys it, because they just do not know any better. My Son the Fanatic does not give any valuable lesson on Islam whatsoever, it rather brings out the nasty stereotypes. Then why do so few Muslims speak up against those stereotypes and tell the world the truth about Islam? Shaheen gives plenty of good examples of how Muslims are blamed for random social issues happening in the world. Shaheen also answers this question perfectly in his essay: “ One of the reasons why America’s Arabs are not yet able to define themselves may be because none belongs to America’s “media elite”. There are no Muslim communication giants comparable to Disney’s Michael Eisner, Fox’s Rupert Murdoch, or Time-Warner’s Ted Turner…..Until Arabs and Muslims achieve some influence, their voices will not be heard.” (9).

My Son the Fanatic does support Saheen’s views about Muslim-Arab stereotypes in his article. The movie gives a bad impression of Islam and Muslims because it depicts the following for the common social, rather than religious issues. But an audience that is not familiar with Islam might not know that; thus the bad stereotype will be embedded in their memory. Maybe the society is just looking for a scapegoat for world’s social issues, and the Muslim minority is a wonderful target. Maybe people just want something to talk about. Or maybe it is simply entertaining. Perhaps there is some super secret government plan to suppress Muslims and take over their countries. The media’s true reason for such stereotypical depiction might still remain an open question. However, I always advise people to use accredited sources and to study Islam, not Muslims.

References.

American Institute on Domestic Violence. 2001. Sep.2, 2007. <http://www.aidv-

usa.com/Statistics.htm>.

Central Intelligence Agency. World Fact Book. Aug. 16, 2007. Sep. 2, 2007

<https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/us.html#Intro>.

CW30. Eye Witness News. Aug. 2007.

Major Religions of the World. Aug.9, 2007. Sep.2, 2007.

<http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html>.

Medina, Rebecca. “New Ordinance Could Make it Easier to Shut Down Strip Clubs”.

Aug.29, 2007. Sep. 2, 2007.

<http://www.myeyewitnessnews.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=12f6b9a3-

a181-403f-9573-a1c0da463a22>.

Noble Qur’an. Sep. 2, 2007. .

Shaheen, Jack G. The Muslim World. Hollywood’s Muslim Arabs. Hartford: Spring

2000.Vol.90, Iss.1/2

Wikipedia. Sep. 2, 2007. <>.

Muslim Jesus’ advices on piety in Islam.

Piety is the central virtue in the religion of Islam, because it emphasizes the significance of religious devotion, focusing on doing good things for the sake of God. Piety is in a position of high importance, because it is an essential element that branches out to all of the other key virtues of Islam. All Muslim prophets would base their teachings on piety, because without religious devotion, the following of the other virtues loses its point, since it excludes God.

In Islamic tradition, prophets are used by God as media tools for delivering messages to common people. People learn about their religion and God’s expectations from divine revelations, and prophets’ saying and actions. Muslims believe that God kept sending many prophets to different groups of people, because they would not follow or preserve the divine commandments, or divine virtues. Therefore, the same religious virtues were revealed over and over through different prophets, ending with the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

Prophets’ actions and sayings create a certain image, an image of a Muslim role model. To the surprise to some Christians, Jesus has a status as one of the most respected prophets in Islam. However, Muslims do not refer to Jesus as a Christian prophet, because they believe in all prophets being messengers of one and only God, with the same message, respectively.

Tarif Khalidi’s book The Muslim Jesus contains a variety of Islamic traditions that aid in creating an image of Jesus, from a Muslim point of view. The sayings include Jesus’ personal experience, opinion on the issues and some exemplary stories to reinforce Muslim piety. Those sayings show the reader that Jesus was a very pious character, which goes hand in hand with the virtues of Muslim religion.

The virtues that are repeated most often in Jesus’ sayings are tied very close together. Those virtues are the following: the humility through declining worldly things, mercy, and complete dependence on God. The most popular virtues from Khalidi’s collection of Jesus’ sayings work well together to get an overall picture of what Jesus would be like, as a Muslim role model.

First of all, humility is a compound virtue that may be interpreted in more than one way. The most common way to explain the virtue of humility is an example of a down to earth person, who is humble and modest, who does not think he or she is better, or more important than anybody else. In saying number 32, Jesus stresses the importance of humility being the best way of worshiping God. Then, Jesus presents himself as a humble person, because of the absence of pride in him (45, 53) – he thinks of himself as a worst person, not the best person. Jesus also teaches other people to think the worst of themselves (91). Even though that might sound pessimistic, but in reality, this way of thinking increases one’s desire to improve. Jesus presents himself as a being with low self esteem (45) for the purpose of motivating people to become more religious. His sayings and behavior trigger the conscience and makes people feel guilty for their pride. When a prophet, who is a chosen messenger of God, calls himself so insignificant, then an ordinary person would immediately think that he or she must be worth nothing at all. So, how do people dare to think big of themselves, when even a prophet declares that in fact he is just worthless comparing to God. So, the Jesus’ actual message rather suggests that one should focus on worshiping something greater than themselves, and stop being so proud, because they are not that important in comparing to the Creator.

Jesus also encourages giving up worldly things for the greater reward at the day of Judgment (55). He feels sorry for people who are attached to this world (51), and strongly believes that wealth leads to avoiding the virtue of humility through developing pride and high self esteem (62).Jesus warns that rich people will not earn the reward of heaven, because they tend to focus on their luxuries rather than worship (63). Therefore, Jesus recommends to be happy with what you have (110), without having excesses. Jesus was poor (77), and through his sayings he encourages people to be poor. If a person is poor, he or she has no material things to be proud of, nothing to lose or worry about – the only thing that person has is a belief in God, and that is what one should focus on. This way Jesus shows people an example of religious devotion through humility and dismissal of worldly things. In Qur’an, God does not exactly command people to be poor, but excess of possessions and obsessions with worldly affairs are indeed discouraged.

The next most common virtue was the virtue of mercy and kindness. The saying number 37, focuses on God telling Jesus about the virtues he loves the most. Therefore, people who practice such virtues, may expect a reward from God, if God is willing to give it to them. In the Holy Qur’an, every chapter starts with the “ in the name of God, … the most merciful…”; this way God shows people that mercy is one of His attributes, therefore it is a very good virtue for humans to practice. Jesus also teaches piety through mercy, by treating others with kindness, the way one would like to be treated himself (48). This way a person would benefit himself and the community, through establishing a friendly environment, and, at the same time, that person would strengthen his virtue of piety, through pleasing God.

Next most commonly occurring virtue in Jesus’ sayings is complete trust and dependence on God. Saying number 15 is very interesting, because it resembles some verses from Qur’an about God taking care and feeding the birds and animals. Jesus’ saying also points out that all animals depend on God for their food, and God takes care of them. Therefore, God has the power to take care of the humans, too. It does not mean that a creature does not have to participate in their survival. For example, a bird, or an animal, has to look or hunt for food, and it will find it. The same with humans, it does not mean that one can just stay at home and the food will come to them – one has to work for it. The meaning of such saying is rather that people do not have to be obsessed with money, or unnecessary excesses and luxuries, because God will be able to provide everybody with just what they need for survival, if they take an action in achieving this goal. Then, Jesus explains that piety is a priority that is done for the sake of God, not for the sake of people (20,57). It requires a sincere intention to earn a good afterlife (20). This virtue of total devotion to God is closely related to the virtue of humility and leaving the worldly things behind, for the reward of God’s mercy and entrance to paradise.

From a Muslim perspective, Jesus’ role in Islam rather helps than hinders relations between Muslims and Christians. Information about Jesus from good sources, like Qur’an, might help Christians to view Jesus in a new way. While Muslims believe the Qur’an to be a final, most complete and perfect word of God, Christian might not accept Jesus’ identity described in there. However, it might give some food for thought, because similar biblical stories are mentioned in the Qur’an, so there must be some common source for that. Therefore, Christians may feel some sort of a connection to Muslims, rather than seeing them as “the other”. As of Arabic traditions about Jesus collected in Khalidi’s book – those, in my opinion, would not hinder relations between Muslims and Christian either. While reading those sayings, there may be some differences of how Christians and Muslims view Jesus as a character. However, those differences are simply evidences of oral traditions of Arabian Peninsula. The collection of Jesus’ saying is a preserved way of how Arabic people “knew” Jesus back then in a particular area, which makes it an interesting document to study. Jesus’ sayings in Khalidi’s collection seem to work with Muslim concepts of virtues, that are not foreign to Christian virtues either: devotion to God, mercy, kindness, selflessness… So, while reading the sayings of Muslim Jesus, Christians may notice many similarities with their own religious concepts of virtues. Generally, when different people realize similarities between them, those similarities make them bond and become basis for friendship and a common understanding. Noticing some similarities between Muslim and Christian Jesus might create that bond between two religious groups.

Hadith: Muslim manual of life.

Hadith is a collection of Prophet Muhammad’s (PBUH) saying and actions. The way of the Prophet is usually referred as the “Sunnah”. Hadith is an important source for practicing Muslims, because it describes Sunnah for various situations. It is an obligation for every Muslim to follow the Prophet’s actions, because it is mentioned many times in the holy Qur’an. For example : “O you who believe! Obey Allah and obey the Messenger...” [4:59], or “He who obeys the Messenger has indeed obeyed Allah...” [4:80]. Thus, the Hadith plays a vital role in shaping the Muslim community’s behavior to this day.

Salih Bukhari preserved a large collection of Hadith, that was organized into volumes according to the topic. Book 31 has a collection of Prophet Muhammad’s (PBUH) sayings regarding fasting during Ramadan and book 32 has sayings about praying at night in Ramadan, the “taraweeh”. In each separate Hadith, Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) uses different techniques to teach people the Muslim way of life.

Hadeeth 118 ( book 31 ) teaches about a number of things that should be avoided

while a person is fasting. It teaches patience and tolerance, even if one is being treated

unjustly by another individual. This might seem very difficult for an average person,

because it requires many sacrifices. A person that is weak in his faith might even get discouraged from practicing the fast. However, the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) concludes the Hadith with comforting information, that “ the smell coming out from the mouth of a fasting person is better in the sight of Allah than the smell of musk”. So, a fasting person would feel good about himself, because he is doing it to please God, and then God will be happy because of his action. In return for person’s sacrifice of himself for the sake of God, a person is promised to have a reward: all his good deeds will be multiplied times ten. Also, Hadith 128 shows that a person can draw a pleasure from the fast in this life and in the afterlife. In this life, after complete abstinence from food and drink for a long period of time, one’s bodily senses are extremely alert, so more pleasure can be experienced. It is the same concept as in the saying “ you don’t miss your water till the well runs dry”, and you get extremely happy when you get it back. In the afterlife, a fasting Muslims would be pleased when he or she meets God, because God would be pleased with them. The promise of reward, especially the reward in the afterlife, encourages Muslims to fast the right way, even though it is not that easy.

Then, Hadeeth 120 and 121 (book 31) promise even more reward to fasting Muslims. These Hadith put fasting Muslims in a very special position in the eyes of God in the afterlife. Fasting Muslims are so exceptional, that they will even have a separate

door to enter the Paradise, a door for those who fasted. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) also adds that it is important not to pick and choose what you want to do in your religion. He points out that if a person fulfills his duties such as praying, giving charity and more, then he may even choose any door to enter Paradise. Moreover, in Hadith 127 (book 31), Prophet warns Muslims that fasting has to be done in the right way with the right intention, otherwise it would not be accepted by God. So, one can not pick and choose how he or she wants to fast either. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) is the role model of how the fast is done, and if Muslims want a reward, then they should follow the Prophet.

Book number 32 is a relatively short volume that contains Hadith about praying at night during the month of Ramadan. The main technique for persuasion is the message that the Prophet used to do it ( n. 128 ). Praying at night, or the taraweeh, usually consists of 8 or 20 rakats. During the taraweeh, the holy Qur’an is recited in order as it is. Ideally, the goal is to finish the whole Qur’an by the end of the Ramadan. People can pray the taraweeh at the Mosque or at home. Sometimes it takes several hours of praying in order to finish the Qur’an on time. Praying at night is not an easy task, so it takes a very special effort. So, in Hadith 226, 231, Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) promises that if a person is praying at night with the right intention, then God will forgive his sins. That sounds like a very good deal so many Muslims get encourages despite the difficulties.

Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) is an authority figure in Islam. He is the one who received holy revelations from God so he knows best what kind of actions does God expect from humans. He is the teacher and the role model for the Muslim community. Sometimes the holy Qur’an does not go deep into details for everyday earthly issues. That is when the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) comes in and makes “the rules of life” clear to people through his actions and sayings (Sunnah). Hadith contains explanations for any possible question or concern one may have about how humans should act in a Muslim way, the way God wants to see humans act. It also contains the consequences for people’s actions, such as specific rewards and punishments. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) encourages people to act like proper Muslims and he warns people from making common mistakes. The Hadith suggest that Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) is a well respected figure in a Muslim society, because without his Sunnah many issues would not have an answer. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) is a favor from God to all Muslims, because his words and actions show people the right path in pleasing the Creator.

Christian Medieval literature vs. Islam (Middle Ages Literature: Development and Confirmation of a Specific Issue.)

Before studying the literature of the Middle Ages, I had several questions and issues regarding some of the Christian beliefs. First, I was interested in an explanation for the idea of original sin, then, the reason behind monastic anti-marriage propaganda in early writings, and last, the status of love as seemingly the ultimate aim of society. I understood that all those things were part of the Christian culture, but I did not know how it all started, blended in, got changed around and became what it is today. Beside those individual issues, I was keeping in mind a general question as the class went on. Overall, while reading and discussing the variety of Middle Age literature, I was comparing everything to Islam, and by doing so I noted interesting similarities and differences.

Augustinus Aurelius (354-430 CE), a bishop with Algerian roots, was highly influenced by Paul. I became concerned with his emphasis on original sin - that this idea got passed on to a later church and was embraced in society. As discussed in Search class, Augustan was struggling with lust in his early years, and was very confused both morally and mentally. That lead him to the crisis of faith, that encouraged Augustinus to study all sorts of writings to come up with a decent conclusion and explanation for his high sexual desire and bad behavior. Augustinus saw himself as a sinful individual from the very beginning, and he wanted to find the root of all evil. So, after studying different literatures, he figured out that everybody has an original sin, and it’s all because of Eve’s disobedience. Augustinus even had a quite unusual example of original sin. For example, the fact that newborn babies cry when they want something, means they struggle to make their will known because they are born into original sin (Streete).

To me, personally, the idea seems more like irresponsibility and an excuse to justify Augustinus’ misbehavior. I found it interesting, that the Augustan version of Paul influenced the Protestant reformation through Luther; and Luther influenced other Protestants. Also, Augustinus influenced Thomas Aquinas, who lead to Roman Catholicism (Streete). So, basically, Augustinus’ own explanation and excuse became almost a fundamental belief of today’s many churches. I find it somewhat ironic. Islam, on the other hand, does not allow to blame anyone else for sins: every person is responsible for his own actions and therefore, sins. A person is believed to be born clear of sins, and only his further deeds and intentions done in a conscious state would be a substance for judging. Such idea is straight forward, it is mentioned throughout the Qur’an, and it can be seen in everyday earthly practice. For example, if my mom did not turn in an essay for her college English class, I, obviously, would not be judged now in my English class and given a grade of zero for her fault that happened a long time ago, before I was even born. Next, I was concerned with the idea of life-long celibacy that comes with the anti-marriage monastic idea as a devotion to God. Perpetua was the first of the Medieval Characters (that we have studied) to introduce that concept. Perpetua wanted to be like her teacher Paul, who taught “radical Christianity” and that “new family is Christ”, forcing to reject the actual blood-related family. Perpetua said that to be a Christian, she does not need to get married and does not need to have a family (Streete). Augustinus Aurelius joins in on that idea, in order to “straighten up” from being bad. He also adds that to avoid sexual desire (which is a part of marriage life), he ought to stop being in love with something lower than himself, and he ought to be in love with something higher – that is with God. Augustinus considers relying on Manichaean myths that explain his own problems as fleshly problems; meaning that flesh is bad, and thus contributing to the idea of celibacy and anti-marriage (Streete). In comparison to Perpetua and Augustinus, Islam mandates celibacy too, but in a different way. Islam asks one to be celibate before marriage only. However, in contrast with Perpetua and Augustinus, Islam, puts a high value on blood-related families, as well as the formations of the new families. Family is an important block of the Muslim community. Prophet Mohammad is reported to have said: "A good wife is a gift from God and fulfils half of a man's religious obligations. Let him see to the other half himself." (Hadith) A marriage, in fact, is considered a second part of the faith, because it fulfills God’s requirement – to produce more God-worshiping, God-fearing offspring. By using the word “produce”, I not only mean to give birth, but that includes educating and raising children in a strong Islamic faith. Marriage is considered a religious duty in Islam. The Quran also praised those who: “Say, 'Lord, give us joy in our wives and our children.!” (AI-Furqan: 74) God instructed the Muslim community to ensure that single women should find suitable husbands easily. The Quran says: "See to the marriage of those among you who are single and those of your male and female slaves who are pious. If they are poor, God will enrich them out of His bounty. God is munificent and all-knowing."(Al-Noor: 32).

Then, I was interested to know why people in mainly Christian society value love so much, that they place it before anything else. Thank to Search class, I think I found an answer to the question of love, which helped me to somewhat imagine other people’s way of thinking. So, it seems like the Medieval Troubadours from the courtly elites were the ones to start the idea that love must be one’s aim in life. They composed mainly love poems and sang them around for the public. The idea of courtly love for the noble lady came from the troubadours, as well. So, as I concluded, today’s Christian society has been highly influenced by those individuals by adopting their values of love.

I even have a personal example of that issue, which took place on Rhodes College campus. I and a girl from one of my classes started talking about marriage, and she stated that marriage is all about love. I rationally explained and proved to her that it is actually not all about love, but she got very mad at me for that and now avoids me. Even if you put Islam aside, and think about a situation with marriage rationally– love is not everything. Marriage would not last if it was all about love. Marriage is built on mutual respect, interests, strong friendship, understanding, having the same values and aims in life. Love may be just an addition to all the other essential elements that compose a successful marriage. However, love is a dangerous feeling, because it comes and goes. One person might love another person for a specific trait, and when that trait is gone- love will be gone too. So, if the relationship is built on love alone – when love disappears, so will the relationship. And that is exactly why Islam does not encourage love, especially before marriage, in order to protect people’s feelings from disappointments of the failed relationships, and from unsuccessful relationships in the first place and from risks of lust. In the marriage, perhaps love may be applied as an addition to mutual respect and mercy. The English editions of the Qur’an include in the translation the word love in the following ayat, but in an Arabic version, the verb “ h’b” (to love) is found nowhere. That is why only the Arabic version of the Qur’an is considered Holy, original and unchangeable. But anyways, the interpretation of the ayat goes like this: “And of His signs is that he created for you spouses of your own ilk, that you might seek comfort with them, and He created love and kindness between you and them." ( Al-Room: 20). In conclusion, the readings from Medieval literature cleared up certain confusions and questions that I had in my mind. It helped to see the “other side of the story”, and thus understand the roots of some behaviors. Moreover, the reading, discussion and personal brainstorming on the theme of Medieval literature confirmed my strong faith that Islam is the only religion that has a rationally derived answer for every question and always has a right solution for any situation, in my opinion.

References

Ali, Yusuf A., et al. An English translation of the Holy Quran. Chicago: Lushena Books,

2006

Streete, Gail et al. Search 102 Class Notes. Memphis, TN: Rhodes College, Spring

2007

Abd al-Rahman’s view on ultimate goal of live, aspects of an afterlife and an importance of God.

Abd al-Rahman, was a Muslim ruler of Andalucia from the Middle Ages. He was not a religious teacher, but had the same opinion on the ultimate aim in life as any other Muslim at his time and to the modern day. A primary goal in life for every Muslim is ibadah, or a worship of one and only God without any associations. "Submit to Allah That you have no God except Him" (Qur’an 7:59). Worship of God includes following his rules and conditions. God’s rules include a total surrender, submission, obedience, purity of heart and peace; and that is called Islam. A follower of Islam is called a Muslim. The answers on how to live a life the right way, a way that would please the creator can be found in the Holy Qur’an and in hadith. Muslims believe a Holy Qur’an to be a word of God, that was sent through Angel Gabriel to Prophet Muhammad. The word Qur’an itself means “recitation”, and was memorized by masses during Prophet Muhammad’s time. The Qur’an teaches about accepting God’s will over one’s own will, because that will lead to a pleasant afterlife. Hadith are the stories about Prophet Muhammad and his actions in common situations. Actions of the Prophet are in conjunction with the rules of God in the Holy Qur’an, but in addition are made more clear and show an applied example to a certain situation.

The belief in the afterlife is a major component of Islam and thus of an every day life of a Muslim. Islam teaches that this life is only a test or trial for the individual. This way God shows a person that it is only natural that one would accept death as not so much an ending to everything but more as a beginning of the final and lasting life in the Hereafter. So, material life does not matter; in fact, Islam encourages one to share the materialistic possessions with less fortunate people, because that would increase good deeds. Muslims believe that before the Afterlife, there will be the Day of Judgment, where God will make his decision about individuals’ further destination: Heaven or Hell. On the Day of Judgment, all of the dead bodies would be raised and united with the souls, to answer for their actions on Earth. Every person will be rewarded or punished according to their deeds, that include attitude, appreciation and efforts during this stay on earth. “And those who believe and do good deeds, they are dwellers of Paradise, they dwell therein forever” (Qur’an 2:82). A Heaven is believed to be a lovely place with "The parable of the Garden which the righteous are promised! Beneath it flow rivers. Perpetual is the fruits thereof and the shade therein. Such is the End of the Righteous; and the end of the unbelievers is the Fire, wherein a person dwells forever" (Qur’an13:35). The path to heaven includes confessing faith in one God, Allah, and that Muhammad is His Messenger; recitation of five prayers daily; giving alms; fasting throughout Ramadan, pilgrimage to Mecca and obeying God’s rules. Not doing so will result in an eternal damnation in Hell. Not doing all but believing in one Almighty God will also result in the Hell damnation, however, after sins are punished redemption will follow.

Belief in only one Almighty, Perfect God is important to Muslims, because it is the major focus of this life. A Muslim belief in God is not only based on faith, but it is also rationally reasoned. This world and the universe are astonishingly complex and everything fits in together perfectly, like the pieces of one grand puzzle. The human body, especially the brain alone is so amazing! Studying biology and other sciences just reminds one that there definitely had to be a superior designer for all that intricacy. Besides, the Holy Qur’an itself is a miracle, because it describes in such details some of the discoveries that have been made and observed not a long time ago, like the development of the human embryo or the formations of the mountains. The world itself is a beautiful wonder. “Do you not see that God has subjected for you all that is in the Heavens and all that is on the Earth, and has completed and perfected His Bounties upon you, apparent and hidden?” (Qur’an 31:20). The belief in God is important to the world view, because Muslims see God in everything, everywhere.

Contributions of Muslims and Islam to Civilization

This spring semester, Dr. Bashar Shala presented a lecture at Rhodes College on how Islam and Muslims have contributed to the civilization of the world as it is today. First of all, Dr. Shala defined a civilization as a collective sum of different contributions through ages, led by dominant cultures at any certain point in history. Culture, as defined by American Heritage Dictionary, includes language, religion, social customs, agriculture, science, transportation and industry. Dr. Shala noted an interesting fact, that in order for a culture to develop, it had to exchange information with other cultures. The idea that not one culture has “monopoly” in civilization is supported in the Holy Qur’an.

First, Dr. Shala introduced the concept that the ongoing seeking of education is highly encouraged in Islam, and is emphasized many times in the Holy Qur’an. Dr. Shala presented important scientific developments that were discovered by Muslim scholars and are still in use today in the original or innovated form. For example, Arabic numerals were developed by Muslim scholars from India. They became widely used in Europe, and are used to this day as a standard numerological system. Then, the Muslim scholars developed the concept of “zero”. Without that concept, we would not have computers, digital development or complex mathematics like Algebra.

Muslims have definitely contributed in Astronomical and Physical Sciences. For example, the Astrolabe was a tool used to chart the precise time of the sunrise and sunset, ( that was especially used in the time of Ramadan for prayer time) which aided in the development of the modern clock. Navigational tools such as a compass and the astrolabe enable long journey navigation, which lead to the discovery of the New World. According to sources, the Columbus took Moore (Muslim) navigators from Spain during his journeys. Also, it was Muslim navigators who helped the Portuguese find a way to India for trade. By the way, Al-Biruni, a Muslim scientist, was one of the first to discuss the possibility of the Earth rotation on only 1 axis.

Muslims with their passion for learning, that is encouraged by Islam, made great discoveries in the world of medicine. The first anesthesia and cauterization of wounds were performed by Muslim physicians in the Middle Ages. The discovery of disease transmission through air was made at that time as well. Dr. Al-Razi was the first one to diagnose smallpox and measles, which lead to the association with human contamination. Ibn Sina contributed to the European Renaissance by writing a fundamental medicine encyclopedia. Az-Zahrawi created surgical instruments that were used in 17^th century Europe.

With education being emphasized, the Arabian Penninsula region was the first one to begin building universities for higher education opportunities. Muslim scholars have influenced the modern way of thinking. Ibn Khaldun wrote “Al-Muqaddamah”, a book of modern sociology still in use today. Ibn al-Haytham suggested the damming of the Nile River, which was not performed until the 20^th century. He explained the formation of a rainbow and the science behind the formation of light.

Muslims were the ones cultivating a variety of fruits and other plants that are widely used in today’s world. The examples of such are: peaches, apricots, lemons, oranges, olives, coffee and cotton. They were all brought to Southern Europe from the Persian region. Spices and crops like rice, sesame, pepper, and ginger were all brought from Palestine. The melons, dates and figs were discovered by Europeans from their trips to a Middle East, as well.

The modern world of cosmetics owes to its first Muslim founders, as well. Things like perfumes, body oils, hair dyes (first from henna) all originated in the Middle East. Kohl was the initial material used for eye shadow, eye liner and mascara. A variety of musical instruments were made by the Muslims, too. For example, what we know as the piano today, is just a pair of kanuns put together. A modern guitar was first used as an Amorisco by the Spanish Moores. The percussion was an especially important Muslim musical instrument, since melodic music generally is discouraged by Islam because of its romantic flow, but the drum beat is commonly semi-tolerated. Muslim architects highly influenced the cathedrals in Spain. Since Islam prohibits images of living creatures, the styles are always very abstract. That gave rise to various modern art movements. Muslims gave rise to calligraphy and mosaics. Crafts such as silk, rugs and glass were taken from Muslims and introduced to Europe during the Crusades.

Arabic language, which is the language of the Holy Qur’an, has influenced the development of new words in English and other languages. Words like coffe, soda, candy,cotton, sofa, syrup, magazine, alkali, algebra, alcohol and more were all borrowed from the Arabic language.

Most importantly, Islam influenced the principles that are followed in many civilized countries today. Islam encourages continuous seeking of knowledge, sincerity in performing work, achieving the best, justice and equality. Islam teaches religious tolerance, freedom of religion, human rights, absence of discrimination and no superiority of one being over another. Interestingly, Napoleon Bonaparte tried to implement Shari’ah (Islamic law) into his Empire. Some of the Shari’ah is still present in the French Constitution. Dr. Shala had wonderful slides with verses from the Holy Qur’an and the translation supporting those claims. Unfortunately, we got to this most interesting part of the lecture toward the end. Many students started looking at their watches, so Dr. Shala felt rush. He tried to finish his presentation sooner, because it was getting late. The presentation was very long, and it would have been much longer if Dr. Shala had not rushed through the last part. Unfortunately the last part was the most interesting, and in my opinion, the most important Islamic contribution to civilization. I wish that sometime Dr. Shala would come back to the Rhodes campus and take time discussing Islamic contributions again without time pressure.

Jesus in Qur'an and Bible

The person of Jesus is of great significance in both Christianities and Islam. However, there are differences in terms of beliefs about the nature and life occurrences of this noble Messenger. The viewpoints of which work or works represents the true, and most historically correct character of Jesus? Christians take their information about Jesus from the Bible, particularly from the New Testament and from other works of early Christianities not included in the Bible. Most of the Islamic information about Jesus can be found in the Quran. The New Testament contains four biblical narratives, orthodox, or “right-believing” accepted, that cover the life and death of Jesus (peace be upon him). They have been written years after the death of Jesus according to oral traditions, respectively by Mark, Matthew, Luke and John. They are placed at the beginning of the New Testament and comprise close to half of it. Among other works of early Christianity, that are “heterox”, or “other-believing”, are the Gospels of Thomas and Judas. They are not part of the New Testament, but are used as sources in some Christian practices. Unfortunately, none of the sources of Jesus’ life and teachings can be traced to Jesus himself; he did not leave a single written word as of today. Moreover, according to Bible scholars themselves, the complete versions of majority of Gospel scriptures are no longer extant either. What can be established about the historical Jesus depends almost without exception on Christian traditions, especially on the material used in the composition of the Gospels of Mark, Matthew, and Luke, as well as the Gospels of Thomas and Judas, which reflect on the outlook of the later church and its faith in Jesus. This raises the question of who Jesus really was and what was h is true message? The Quran, on the other hand, was revealed by God to Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), and completely memorized, as well as written down in his lifetime. Three copies of the original Quran are still in extant and preserved in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Today, anyone who calls him or herself a Muslim believes in the complete authenticity of the Quran as the original revealed guidance from God. Muslims join in with the Christians by believing in Jesus as the "Messiah" and "Miraculous Conception". Also, Muslims believe in the same Omnipotent, All-powerful, Unseen God that the Jews have believed in since Adam. Muslims also believe that God is merciful and just to His creatures. It is very important to understand the way that the Bible presents Jesus and the way the Quran presents Jesus through his miracles, teaching, punishment, and community. The Gospel of Mark ( ~ 85-100 AC ) is an apocalyptic narrative of a “suffering Messiah”, that contains Jesus’ life story and sayings. The idea of the “suffering Messiah” suggests that the salvation will be granted to people through suffering as well. Also, the baptism is viewed as a “re-birth” and is important. This Gospel tries to persuade a reader that Jesus was the “Son of God” (Mark 1:1) and describes several miracles to support that claim. Even though Mark is believed to be a disciple of Peter, who was the disciple of Jesus himself, the Gospel of Mark creates a concern of its sincerity, relevance to the true history and identity of Jesus. Gospel of Mark has several contrasting endings that suggest quite possible interpolations within the text. The Gospel of Matthew and Luke has a similar basic structure and content as the Gospel of Mark. In addition, the Gospel of Matthew contains a birth narrative and other saying of Jesus. Especially, this Gospel includes Jesus’ sermon on the mountain, which completes the teachings of the preceding prophet Moses. Unlike the Gospel of Mark, Gospel of Matthew emphasizes on living the righteous life in accordance to the laws. It “demonstrates that the followers of Jesus are included in Israel’s special relationship with God”, like the Jews who are observant of the law (MANUAL88). The Gospel of John (~ 100 AC) is somewhat an outlier from the Gospel of Mark, Matthew and Luke. It does not have a story of Jesus’ birth or temptations, but has a few signs, also known as miracles (MANUAL 95). In the chapter 21, that was added at the later times, Gospel of John focuses on having the sprit at the given time rather than waiting for the future return of Christ: “ no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and spirit”. Such “high Christology” suggests a belief that Jesus is a Messiah. Interestingly, the Gospel of John attacks the Gospel of Thomas by interpreting it a non-spiritual writing not worth of following. This suggests that there have been some tensions in the religious community, which possibly contributed to the divergence of Christian communities. The Gospel of Thomas is different from the Synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark or Gospel of John. It was not accepted in the orthodox Christianity, the one that was accepted and adopted by Roman emperors. The Gospel of Thomas is considered Gnostic, from the Greek verb “gignosco”, that means to “come to know”. “Gnosis”, which is a final state of knowledge, suggests that having the special “knowledge” is the true faith (Streete 91). Gnostic believe in the “acquaintance with the God”, or a pure spirit, like the soul. Thus, one would have a salvation through knowing, or understanding the “secret” messages that are contained in the Gnostic Gospels. The secret message, and a goal of gnosis is to liberate the soul from the limits of the material world and become a spiritual entity like God. Gnostic Christians also believe that the Savior, or “the Spirit” appeared in a visible and tangible body of Jesus ( Streete 92). So, because of a believe in a free spirit, many Gnostics rejected the rules and laws from the orthodox standards. To Gnostic Christians, Jesus’ spirit never died, and those who really understand his sayings “will not experience death” and thus gain the salvation through immortality (GThom1; 8:51). The Gospel of Judas is also a Gnostic Gospel. It contains many secret spiritual messages about the true spirit, creation and existence. It blames orthodoxy for suppressing the true knowledge that would lead to salvation. While orthodoxy encourages people to die as Jesus died, Gnostics believe in the freeing the spirit from the captivity of the body. Moreover, the Gospel of Judas is a new, quite rare provocative text. While all orthodox Gospels view Judas as an evil traitor of Jesus, this Gospel creates a new image of this disciple. It explains that the Jesus’ crucifixion was predestined by God, and Judas only betrayed the body but not the spirit of Jesus. So, this Gospel concludes that in fact Judas was the most loyal disciple. It teaches the wisdom of knowledge, and insight that will assist people to discover who they really are and help to achieve immortality. Finally, Islam views Jesus differently than any of the Christian writings. Jesus in the Quran holds one of the highest statures amongst the Prophets. Unlike other Prophets who performed miracles, Jesus himself was a miracle, as he was born of a virgin mother. However, he was never viewed as the “Son of God” or the “Savior”. In the Quran, Jesus is viewed as a great prophet, a messenger of God and nothing else. For example, Quaran says 4:171 “O People of the Book! Commit no excesses in your religion: nor say of Allah anything but the truth. Christ Jesus, the son of Mary was (no more than) a Messenger of Allah, and His Word, which He bestowed on Mary, and a Spirit proceeding from Him: so believe in Allah and His Messengers. Say not “Trinity”: desist: It will be better for you: For Allah is One God: Glory be to Him: (Far exalted is He) above having a son. To Him belong all things in the heavens and on earth. And enough is Allah as a Disposer of affairs.”(Quran 4:171) Now this is conflict with the Bible where it says that Jesus is the son of God. The end of the life of Jesus on Earth is as much involved in mystery as his birth, and indeed the greater part of his private life, except the three main years of his ministry. It is not profitable to discuss the many doubts and conjectures among the early Christians sects and among Muslims theologians. The Orthodox-Christian Churches make it a cardinal point of their doctrine that his life was taken on the Cross, that he died and was buried, that on the third day he rose in the body with his wounds intact, and walked about and conversed, and ate with his disciples, and was afterwards taken up bodily to heaven. This is necessary for the theological doctrine of blood sacrifice and vicarious atonement for sins, which is rejected by Islam. But some of the early Christian sects did not believe that Christ was killed on the cross. The Quran teaches that Christ was not crucified nor killed by the Jews, not with standing certain apparent circumstances which produced that illusion in the minds of some of his enemies; that disputations, doubts, and conjectures on such matters are vain; and that he was taken up to God Almighty. Islam says about this incident that “(the unbelievers) plotted and planned, and God too planned, and the best of planners is God : “ Behold! God said: “O Jesus! I will take thee and raise thee to Myself and clear thee (of the falsehoods) of those who blaspheme; I will make those who follow thee superior to those who reject faith, to the Day of Resurrection: Then shall ye all return unto me, and I will judge between you of the matters wherein ye dispute”” (Quran 4:54-55). Then, “they said (in boast), "We killed Christ Jesus the son of Mary, the Apostle of God";- but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but so it was made to appear to them, and those who differ therein are full of doubts, with no (certain) know ledge, but only conjecture to follow, for of a surety they killed him not:-Nay, God raised him up unto Himself; and God is Exalted in Power, Wise” (Quran 4: 157-158). In conclusion, every written work presents a different view of the true Jesus and the true religion. The Synoptic Gospels all agree that Jesus died on the cross and rose back to life after three days. Therefore, those Christians will gain the salvation through baptism, following Jesus’ teachings, and suffering. The Gospel of John contains high Christology and suggests that the faith in Jesus will help to gain immortality. The Gnostic Gospels of Thomas and Judas offer a salvation through higher knowledge, particularly through freeing the spirit from the body, like in their interpretation of Jesus death. All Biblical writings provide Jesus with divine attributes and hint on his spirit’s equivalence with God. Muslims, on the other hand, see Jesus as the son of a woman, Mary, and therefore a man. In Quran, Jesus is a messenger, a man with a mission from God, and therefore entitled to be honored. His life and his mission were more limited than in the case of some other Messengers, through we must pay equal honor to him as a prophet from God. So, there is no unifying true Christianity, as well as there in no universal representation of Jesus’ character and his purpose. The claims for the “true” Christianity and the true identity of Jesus remain arguments based on faith and on scholarly facts of the written document record.