The "new religion" of Islam

Islam (arguably) began with a prophet, Muhammad, and has one major prophet (Muhammad). It holds that he (Muhammad) was favoured by the one true God (called Allah meaning simply 'the God'), who created the world and who was also preached about by and 'spoke to' Moses and Jesus (among others), with the words (and other signs such as 'mystical letters') that became known as the Qur’an (or Koran, especially in the old days). These words and signs are seen as the unaltered and unalterable works of God. As a result, while Islam respects other Holy Books, it sees the Qur’an as the most Holy Book. It also holds that Muhammad’s own words and actions (and omissions) are inspired by this God (as he was so honoured by the one true God as a sufficiently worthy and serious man) and therefore deserve to be taken especially seriously by Muslims. As a result, early Muslims collected examples from his life for the purpose of providing examples for good Muslims. The accepted versions are now called the true Hadith. The validity of many Hadith are widely and hotly disputed.

Islam was a reform of worship but also of social relations. It was a religion that taught a new respect for the rights of women and children as well as new concern for the poor. It taught that all Muslims were equal which also meant that clan allegiance was relatively subordinated to allegiance to the entire Muslim community.

And it taught that justice should no longer be a question of “might makes right” and random clan revenge and it provided a model state with powers of law enforcement directed personally against the actual perpetrator of crimes.

Islam now also has traditions of theological speculation and of mystical, spiritual exercises in order to in some way commune with Allah (Sufi traditions).

The Sufi emphasis on the relationship between one man (or woman) and God is clearly only part of the story of a religion. Islamic theological thinkers thus began to think about a man’s (or woman’s) relationship with the material world and other people. This is a political question. They started by developing two things: a new calendar (used in devotions) and a new legal philosophy (or jurisprudence).

Out of legal philosophy and theology sprung religious requirements, a legal system (or legal systems) of thought and ultimately legal requirements. These ideas about ways of behaving (and ways of requiring behaviour) came to solidify into a material culture or cultures that were therefore inspired by Islam.

Thus Islam has a reach that we can see today is religious, spiritual, intellectual, political, legal, social, environmental, economic, artistic and cultural but it is a religion.

Islamic daily practice from early on thus basically required three things: five prayers properly performed; some sex-based segregation and roles; and Islamic belief (all as determined by the thinkers of Islam).

The main beliefs were that there was one God only (called Allah), that he had sent prophets (including Moses and Jesus), that the Bible was also to be admired (as two Holy Books) and that He made humanity in order to have a relationship with it.

Islamic belief thus determined, required toleration of other ways of thinking and being. However, although quite democratic in spirit, Islam could also be used to justify things like toleration of dictatorship and despotism (provided it permitted Islam to be practiced).

Toleration of non-Muslims and adoption of scientific and technological thought-paradigms were perhaps naturally Islamic because early Islamic thinkers valued two things in particular: toleration and knowledge. This assessment of early Islam may surprise many in the West today and perhaps many modern Muslims. However, toleration was a specific feature of the early centuries of Islam actually not experienced as completely in the ‘Christian’ West at the time. This was not absolute, however.

There were also requirements to (if possible) complete one hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca), to give to the less advantaged according to one's earnings and to perform the Ramadan fast and abstention from sex during the day time for the entire (lunar) month of Ramadan.

Belief was thus the foundation stone for the community which would meet together in prayer, in providing for the poor and needy, strangers, debtors and travellers (by means of a kind of voluntary flat income tax of around 2.5%), in fasting together (and then eating together) and in congregating together on pilgrimage.

Many of these kinds of habits will be recognised by Christians to have Christian equivalents. For instance, for some Christians Lent may still represent a period of fasting similar to the Ramadan fast. The requirement to tithe is similar to the zakat ‘voluntary tax’. Prayer is, of course, a common Christian practice and pilgrimages have also been a significant part of Christian history. So I will consider in later posts where the differences lie but also the similarities.