No god but God

The Origins and Evolution of Islam

Reza Aslan 2005/2011Beaverton 297 ASL

• 001 prophets reformers of existing religions, not creators
• 001 Muhammed brought Christian/Jewish religion to Arabs
• 002 Jahiliyyah, Time of Ignorance 6th century C.E.
• 002 Ka'ba (cube) housed 360 idols for every Arabian Peninsula god
• 003 stories say built by Adam, rebuilt by Noah, rediscovered by Abraham
• 004 pilgrim's 7 turnings may mimic planets and stars
• 005 nomadic Bedouin vs urban sedentary tribes

• 005 creator god Allah (al-ilah "the god")

• 006 minor gods: daughters Allat, Uzza, Manat

• 006 no priests or scriptures, Kahin poet soothsayers

• 007 henotheism single high god with subordinate gods

• 007 Jews from Babylonian Exile, 009 Christian proselytizers (Yemen, Najran, Sana', Ghassanid tribes).
• 010 Zoroastrians (prophet Zarathustra) in Sasanian empire (later Iran)
  • was monotheist, evolved to Ohrmazd God of Light and Ahriman God of Darkness

• 011 Hanfism monotheists, return to Abraham, from Arabic hnf, to turn away from

  • 012 flourished in western Arabia, Hijaz

• 013 Bedouin tribalism - egalitarian with Sayyid or Shaykh mature tribal figurehead embodying conduct

• 014 Qa'id war leader, Kahin cultic official, Hakam settled disputes

• 015 Law of Retribution (an eye for an eye and nothing more), Crimes defined only within tribe

• 016 accumulated arbitrations became Sunna tribe's legal code

• 016 The Quraysh most powerful tribe in Mecca controlled Ka'ba since 4th century Qusayy gained control

• 017 Muhammad's clan Banu (sons of) Hashim
• 020 Muhammad birth traditionally 570 CE, but pre-Islamic birthdays were not recorded
  • 021 traditional first prophetic experience, angels removed/cleaned/replaced his heart
• 022 age 6 orphaned, age 8 uncle Abu Talib employs him for caravan
• 022 age 9 passing Basra, Christian monk Bahira calls Muhammed the Messenger of the Lord of the Worlds

• 023 these are prophetic topos literary themes

• 025 usually orphans and widows borrowed; debt, poverty, slavery

• 025 Muhammed as merchant considered upright and pious, al-Amin "the trustworthy one", occasionally served as Hakam

• 025 age 25 married widow Khadija

• 026 M. went on tahnnuth self-justification solitary retreats

• 027 610 CE (age 40 or 43?) meditating on Mount Hira, crushing embrace, "Recite" iqra (96:1-5)

• 029 an-nabi al-ummi, "Prophet for the unlettered" (successful merchant Muhammad must have been literate)

• 031 M. at first rejected messages, considered Kahins reprehensible charlatans

• 034 God al-Rahman the most merciful, al-Akram the most generous

• 036 Abu Talib's son Ali (M's young cousin and closest ally) and Quarayshi merchant friend Abu Bakr become followers
• 037 for a few years, 30-40 followers "Munammad's Companions"

• 037 613 CE sha-hadah There is no god but God, and Muhammad is God's Messenger ... monotheism

• 042 Quraysh impose boycott on Muhammad, Companions, Banu Hashim, removed after a few months
• 043 deaths of Abu Talib and of Khadija, new Banu Hashim Shaykh Abu Lahab withdrew M.'s clan protection

• 044 invited by Khazraj clan of Yathrib 400 km north. Hijra emigration a few at a time

• 046 622 CE becomes Year 1 AH, Yathrib becomes Medinat an-Naby City of the Prophet or Medina

• 051 Constitution of Medina, traditionally 1 A., probably after 624 CE or 626 CE after majority of Aws tribe converted

• 052 Ummah followers, becomes qawm "tribe" in Quran after 625 CE

• 055 equalized blood worth, outlawed usury

• 056 zakat ("purification") tithe, collected and redistributed to poor

• 057 women given right to dowries and inheritance
• 058 marries nine women during 10 years in Yathrib, political unions.
  • Aisha (9 yo, consummated much later) daughter of Abu Bakr, Hafsay daughter of Umar. Jewish Rayhana, Coptic Christian Mariyah

• 059 veil and seclusion (hijab) not enjoined anywhere in Quran, was a sign of social status

  • 627 CE verse of hijab was specifically for Muhammad's house becase it was also the community mosque

• 061 no other women in Ummah observed hijab

  • enforced generations later by male scriptural and legal scholars reasserting dominance lost to Prophet's egalitarian reforms.

• 063 M. declares Yathrib haram sanctuary city for pilgrimage and trading, send followers to raid Meccan caravans

• 064 624 CE Badr raid becomes battle against 1000 Qurayshi warriors

• 065 jihad new constraints for warfare: killing women, children, monks, rabbis, elderly, or other noncombatants strictly forbidden

  • forbidden: mutilation of the dead, rape, molestation, sexual violence, killing diplomats, destruction of property, religious or medical institutions
  • 066 Fight in the way of God those who fight you, but do not begin hostilities; God does not like the agressor" (2:190)
• 067 after Badr, M. lost a dozen men, while the Quraysh were routed
• 067 628 CE M. announced pilgrimage to Mecca, instead signs Treaty of Hudaybiyyah and returns tne next year 629 CE
• 069 630 CE M. returns with army of 10,000 , Mecca's inhabitants welcomes him, M. declares general amnesty
  • enters Ka'ba, carries idols out one by one, and smashes them, except protecting Jesus/Mary statue

• 071 dhimmi: Chrstians, Jews, and other non-Muslims protected by Muslim community

• 072 632 CE Muhammad dies, without written Quran or clearly designated successor
• 075 many Muslims believe M. designated Ali (cousin married to M.s daughter Fatmima as successor

• 075 shura (tribal consulation) appoints Abu Bakr Khalifat Rasul Allah "Successor to the Messenger of God"

  • Ali and many others not present, Umar threatened violence against those who did not accept this
• 076 Caliph: community leadership without prophetic authority, first 4 Caliphs traditionally considered Rightly Guided Ones
• 077 in reality, religious discord and bloody conflict

• 079 Riddah Wars 632-634 CE to maintain unity and establis control

• 080 in 7th century CE, apostasy and treason nearly identical
  • today, some assert both deserve death (no Quranic support for this)
• 082 634 CE: Abu Bakr dies, Umar ibn al-Khattab becomes second Caliph, captures Damascus, Iran, Egypt, Libya, Jerusalem
• 084 644 CE: Uthman ibn Affan appointed third Caliph. Umayyad clan of Quraysh tribe
  • 086 nepotism, corruption, self-aggrandizement. Fiercely hated.

• 087 650 CE: collected and canonized Quran, previously memorized by scholars called Qurra or Quran readers

• 088 destroyed other variant versions, revolts broke out in 655 CE
• 089 power hungry cousin Marwan incites dissidents to kill Uthman
• 090 656 CE: Ali ibn Abi Talib becomes fourth Caliph

• 092 Aisha (Muhammad's sister) leads Meccans to attack Ali in Medina, Battle of the Camel, first fitnah civil war

• 094 Shi'atu Uthman the Party of Uthman, maintain secular Caliphate.

• 095 Shi'atu Ali (later Shi'ite) preserving Muhammad's original Ummah regardless of social or political consequences.

• 095 Kharijites small Shi'ah faction claiming Ummah must be lead by the most pious person regardless of lineage.

  • some claim they were the first Muslim theocrats, but they were small and rejected by other factions

  • those who disagreed considered kafir unbeliever and expelled from the Ummah

• 099 661 CE Ali murdered by Kharijite

  • 100 Shi'ah claimed Ali was M.s sole successor, the first Imam, Proof of God on Earth

• 100 661 CE to 750 CE Mu'awayah establishes Umayyad Dynasty in Damascus
• 100 750 CE to 10xx CE Abassid (Muhammed's uncle al-Abass) Dynasty in Damascus
• 101 Fatimids in Egypt 990-1171 CE, Turkish Ghaznavid (977-1186 CE) Iran to Northern India, Saljud (1038-1194 CE) east of that

Author's observations about "jihad"

• 106 stereotype of Islam as warrior religion from papal propaganda of the Crusades
• 107 ... "religion of the sword", as though there were in that era a means of territorial expansion other than war.
• 106 Muslims joined the existing fracas, neither created nor defined it, though they quickly dominated it
• 108 all religions were defined by ethnicity, culture, and social identity, defining politics, economics, ethics, citizenship.

• 108 every religion was a "religion of the sword"

• 109 There are a host of words in Arabic that can be definitively translated as "war"; jihad is not one of them.
• 109 jihad is best defined as a primitive "just-war theory"
• ... et cetera ...
• 111 Chiragh Ali (1844-95) pushed Quranic shcolarship towards rational contextualization:
  • Muhammad's Ummah developed when world was in permanent conflict, not a legitimate example for a more peaceful world
• 112 Osama Bin Ladin's teacher Abdullah Yusuf Azzam (1941-89) promoted beligerent interpretation of jihad
• 113 jihad is defensive response outlining ethical conduct in battle
• 116 S.D. Goiten - "nothing repugnant to the Jewish religion in Muhammad's preaching"
• 117 conflict was political and economic, not theological
• 117 ... written when Jewish minority was Islam's only remaining theological rival ... (authors) planted their words in Muhammad's mouth

  • KL: what wasn't planted in Muhammed's (or Jesus' or Moses') mouth? Without direct autheticated writing, what constitutes proof?

• 117 Quran "confirmation of previous scriptures" derived from Umm al-Kitah Mother of Books concealed in heaven (13:39)

• 117 Muslims believe Muhammad "the Seal of the Prophets"
• 125 men and women created simultaneously together from a single cell (4:1l 7:189)

• 128 marry those women who are lawful for you, up to two, three, or four, but only if you can treat them all equally (4:3)

• 129 no matter how you try, you will never be able to treat your wives equally. (4:29)

  • for most Muslims, this combination is interpreted as a rejection of polygamy

• 129 hadith oral anecdotes supposedly about the words and deeds of Muhammad

• 130 two centuries later, 700,000 hadith, many borrowed from all over
  • some Muslim legal scholars divided them into two categories: lies told for material gain and lies told for ideological advantage.
• 131 many invented by the powerful to regain power taken away by Prophet's reforms

Three developments