Islam
monotheism taken to an extreme
A simple faith isn’t always an easy one.
For more than 300 years
the early Christians were persecuted
by the Roman Empire.
The Jews had an exemption from that persecution.
If they would promise to pray for the Emperor,
they were not required
to burn incense before his image
and speak the Roman Pledge of Allegiance,
"Caesar is Lord."
Since the earliest creed of the Christians was,
"Christ is Lord,"
the Roman Pledge of Allegiance
was very difficult for them to say.
Many Christians gave their lives
rather than offer an act of worship
to the Roman Emperor.
If the Christians had remained a sect of Judaism,
the exemption might have continued to apply.
That was not to be.
Near the turn of the First Century C.E.
Christianity split from Judaism.
One of the sources of the split
was the worship of Jesus
as the Son of God, God Himself in flesh.
The Emperor Constantine found
in the Christian sign of the Cross of Christ
the symbol which he believed
would enable him to unite the empire.
His Edict of Milan in 313 C.E. ended
the official persecution of Christians.
In 325 C.E. he convened
a Council of Christian Bishops
at Nicaea (now Iznik in Turkey).
There the doctrine was clearly defined
that Jesus Christ was God, eternally begotten
of the Father, not made.
A leading Christian preacher and teacher of the time,
Arius, disagreed, teaching that,
"There was a time when He was not,"
meaning that Jesus was not co-eternal
with God the Father.
The decision was made against Arius
and his teachings
by majority vote at the Council of Nicaea.
While reading Dan Brown's famous book,
The DaVinci Code,
my son called me because he was shocked,
shocked, I tell you,
that a majority vote had decided a doctrine
that by then he was quite sure
he no longer believed
in any literal sense,
the doctrine
of the divinity of Christ.
Throughout Christian history,
there have been many Christians
who have not believed
in the literal divinity of Christ.
In parts of the Eastern Roman Empire,
there were many Christians who likewise believed
that Jesus was a created being,
and that worshiping Him
was wrong.
They lost out at Nicaea and later councils,
but Constantine had the unifying principle
he wanted and needed
to hold the Empire together,
or so he thought.
For 300 years those Christians
who did not agree with the divinity of Christ
were suppressed in their faith.
Then in or around the year 570 C.E.
a prophet was born in Arabia (in Mecca)
by the name of Muhammad son of Abdullah.
He sought to know the truth about God.
He received revelations in the desert,
words from God that he was told to recite.
The Arabic word for recite is Qura'a
and a recitation is Qur'an.
Muhammad's understanding of God
was that God is One,
without parallel, without partner
without associates
and without offspring.
His monotheism was total and radical.
At the same time,
Muhammad deeply revered Jesus and His teachings.
He also believed in many prophets
who had preceded Jesus and himself.
His recited revelations reflected his devotion
to Jesus and to His Mother, Mary.
In many Suras or chapters of the Qu'ran,
both Jesus and Mary are described
as faithful followers of the One True God.
As the chapters (or recitations) began to multiply,
Muhammad taught them to others.
His first convert was his beloved wife, Khadijah.
Most of the earliest followers of Muhammad
were members of their tribe, the Quraysh.
Many members of their tribe were strongly opposed
to Muhammad and his teachings
because the central shrine of Arabia
was in their city, Mecca,
and in their time it included images of many gods.
If Muhammad were successful,
their livelihood would be threatened.
Muhammad and his followers were forced to flee.
They retreated to (the city formerly known as)
Yathrib, now known as Medina,
after being renamed, "City of the Prophet."
(in Arabic, Madinat al Nabi)
That retreat marked the beginning
of the Muslim calendar.
It took place in the year 622 C. E.
Many people gravitated to Muhammad
and his message,
from other tribes,
from other nations,
and from among the Christians
who did not believe that Jesus was God.
Those Christians saw Muhammad
as their prophet, too,
and they gladly joined his movement
and become Muslims,
people surrendered to God's will.
With growing forces Muhammad returned to Mecca.
He retook his tribal city.
Conveniently, many of his tribe converted, too.
Equally conveniently,
Muhammad received a revelation
that Mecca would continue to be
the place of pilgrimage, and
the shrine was cleansed of all images of other gods.
To this day, one of the pillars of Islam
is pilgrimage to Mecca.
((Five Pillars of Islam:
1.1 Shahada: Faith.
1.2 Salat: prayer.
1.3 Zakāt: charity.
1.4 Sawm: fasting.
1.5 Hajj: pilgrimage to Mecca.))
The reconquest of Mecca was only the beginning.
Muslim forces took their new message all over
the ancient Near East.
As in Arabia itself, they were welcomed
by Christians who had chafed
under the rule of official Christianity.
The Muslim preachers and troops swept across
the Levant,
northern Africa,
and even entered Europe
through southern Spain
where they were stopped.
Contrary to the history many of us have been taught,
they were forbidden by the Qur'an
to force conversions.
Islamic civilization in Spain lasted 800 years,
and famously, in the Muslim city
of Granada,
the chief Mosque of the city,
the Christian cathedral,
and the chief Synagogue
coexisted in peace, side by side.
That relationship lasted until 1492,
ironically the same year
as a tragic event for the New World,
Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile
signed an edict expelling
all but faithful Catholics
from Spain.
Muslims have grieved the loss ever since
Ferdinand and Isabella were successful.
For most of their history,
Muslims have shown the same kind of
civilized acceptance
of those different from themselves.
Our own times are an anomaly.
Certainly there have been brutal events
caused by all sides of any conflict,
but the Muslims have not been worse than others,
and they have shown themselves better than most.
Much of their worst brutality, to this very day,
has been reserved for other Muslims.
There are deep divisions.
At Muhammad's death in 632 C.E. in Medina,
there was great controversy
over who would rule the Muslim community
in his place.
The controversy was never settled
to everyone's satisfaction,
and it has led to the division
between the Sunni and the Shiites
even now.
Islam is a simple faith
with a complex history.
Its creed is,
"There is no God but God,
and Muhammad is his messenger."
In many cases, if you speak those words
and believe what you are saying,
you are considered a Muslim
with all the rights and responsibilities
pertaining to that faith.
In fact, there are many interpretations
of what it means to be a Muslim.
One of my favorites is from
a friend of the UUCP in Moscow, ID,
a professor from U of I, "Ghazi" Ghazanfar,
who I think is a Pakistani Muslim.
He tells us that UU's are Muslims
whether we know it or not.
I know that he means that in the best way,
as a sign that he is one of the open and accepting
members of his faith,
not as a kind of pressure on us, or conquest.
Of course, there have been many versions
of the Muslim creed.
What is said from the minarets is,
"I bear witness that there is no God but God,
and Muhammad is his messenger."
Then there is the version
from 13th Century Sufis like Rumi, who
often took the Muslim devotion to Jesus to heart.
They were known to say,
"There is no God but God,
and Jesus is his messenger."
There are many varieties of Muslims
just as there are many varieties
among the believers of every faith.
It would always be a mistake
to try to lump them all into one category.
The central teaching
to which we can all adhere
is very similar to the call of Buddhists
as well as Christians and Jews,
compassion.
In the opening of every Sura in the Qu'ran
(except one),
appear the words,
"In the name of God, the most compassionate,
the most merciful..."
With those words,
almost every Muslim prayer begins.
Those are words for all of us to aspire to,
to be as compassionate and merciful
as ever it would be possible.
It is a simple goal,
but not an easy one to put into practice.
Amen,
Ameen,
Omeyn,
So mote it be.
Blessed be!
((Five Pillars of Islam:
1.1 Shahada: Faith.
1.2 Salat: prayer.
1.3 Zakāt: charity.
1.4 Sawm: fasting.
1.5 Hajj: pilgrimage to Mecca.))
monotheism taken to an extreme
A simple faith isn’t always an easy one.
For more than 300 years
the early Christians were persecuted
by the Roman Empire.
The Jews had an exemption from that persecution.
If they would promise to pray for the Emperor,
they were not required
to burn incense before his image
and speak the Roman Pledge of Allegiance,
"Caesar is Lord."
Since the earliest creed of the Christians was,
"Christ is Lord,"
the Roman Pledge of Allegiance
was very difficult for them to say.
Many Christians gave their lives
rather than offer an act of worship
to the Roman Emperor.
If the Christians had remained a sect of Judaism,
the exemption might have continued to apply.
That was not to be.
Near the turn of the First Century C.E.
Christianity split from Judaism.
One of the sources of the split
was the worship of Jesus
as the Son of God, God Himself in flesh.
The Emperor Constantine found
in the Christian sign of the Cross of Christ
the symbol which he believed
would enable him to unite the empire.
His Edict of Milan in 313 C.E. ended
the official persecution of Christians.
In 325 C.E. he convened
a Council of Christian Bishops
at Nicaea (now Iznik in Turkey).
There the doctrine was clearly defined
that Jesus Christ was God, eternally begotten
of the Father, not made.
A leading Christian preacher and teacher of the time,
Arius, disagreed, teaching that,
"There was a time when He was not,"
meaning that Jesus was not co-eternal
with God the Father.
The decision was made against Arius
and his teachings
by majority vote at the Council of Nicaea.
While reading Dan Brown's famous book,
The DaVinci Code,
my son called me because he was shocked,
shocked, I tell you,
that a majority vote had decided a doctrine
that by then he was quite sure
he no longer believed
in any literal sense,
the doctrine
of the divinity of Christ.
Throughout Christian history,
there have been many Christians
who have not believed
in the literal divinity of Christ.
In parts of the Eastern Roman Empire,
there were many Christians who likewise believed
that Jesus was a created being,
and that worshiping Him
was wrong.
They lost out at Nicaea and later councils,
but Constantine had the unifying principle
he wanted and needed
to hold the Empire together,
or so he thought.
For 300 years those Christians
who did not agree with the divinity of Christ
were suppressed in their faith.
Then in or around the year 570 C.E.
a prophet was born in Arabia (in Mecca)
by the name of Muhammad son of Abdullah.
He sought to know the truth about God.
He received revelations in the desert,
words from God that he was told to recite.
The Arabic word for recite is Qura'a
and a recitation is Qur'an.
Muhammad's understanding of God
was that God is One,
without parallel, without partner
without associates
and without offspring.
His monotheism was total and radical.
At the same time,
Muhammad deeply revered Jesus and His teachings.
He also believed in many prophets
who had preceded Jesus and himself.
His recited revelations reflected his devotion
to Jesus and to His Mother, Mary.
In many Suras or chapters of the Qu'ran,
both Jesus and Mary are described
as faithful followers of the One True God.
As the chapters (or recitations) began to multiply,
Muhammad taught them to others.
His first convert was his beloved wife, Khadijah.
Most of the earliest followers of Muhammad
were members of their tribe, the Quraysh.
Many members of their tribe were strongly opposed
to Muhammad and his teachings
because the central shrine of Arabia
was in their city, Mecca,
and in their time it included images of many gods.
If Muhammad were successful,
their livelihood would be threatened.
Muhammad and his followers were forced to flee.
They retreated to (the city formerly known as)
Yathrib, now known as Medina,
after being renamed, "City of the Prophet."
(in Arabic, Madinat al Nabi)
That retreat marked the beginning
of the Muslim calendar.
It took place in the year 622 C. E.
Many people gravitated to Muhammad
and his message,
from other tribes,
from other nations,
and from among the Christians
who did not believe that Jesus was God.
Those Christians saw Muhammad
as their prophet, too,
and they gladly joined his movement
and become Muslims,
people surrendered to God's will.
With growing forces Muhammad returned to Mecca.
He retook his tribal city.
Conveniently, many of his tribe converted, too.
Equally conveniently,
Muhammad received a revelation
that Mecca would continue to be
the place of pilgrimage, and
the shrine was cleansed of all images of other gods.
To this day, one of the pillars of Islam
is pilgrimage to Mecca.
((Five Pillars of Islam:
1.1 Shahada: Faith.
1.2 Salat: prayer.
1.3 Zakāt: charity.
1.4 Sawm: fasting.
1.5 Hajj: pilgrimage to Mecca.))
The reconquest of Mecca was only the beginning.
Muslim forces took their new message all over
the ancient Near East.
As in Arabia itself, they were welcomed
by Christians who had chafed
under the rule of official Christianity.
The Muslim preachers and troops swept across
the Levant,
northern Africa,
and even entered Europe
through southern Spain
where they were stopped.
Contrary to the history many of us have been taught,
they were forbidden by the Qur'an
to force conversions.
Islamic civilization in Spain lasted 800 years,
and famously, in the Muslim city
of Granada,
the chief Mosque of the city,
the Christian cathedral,
and the chief Synagogue
coexisted in peace, side by side.
That relationship lasted until 1492,
ironically the same year
as a tragic event for the New World,
Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile
signed an edict expelling
all but faithful Catholics
from Spain.
Muslims have grieved the loss ever since
Ferdinand and Isabella were successful.
For most of their history,
Muslims have shown the same kind of
civilized acceptance
of those different from themselves.
Our own times are an anomaly.
Certainly there have been brutal events
caused by all sides of any conflict,
but the Muslims have not been worse than others,
and they have shown themselves better than most.
Much of their worst brutality, to this very day,
has been reserved for other Muslims.
There are deep divisions.
At Muhammad's death in 632 C.E. in Medina,
there was great controversy
over who would rule the Muslim community
in his place.
The controversy was never settled
to everyone's satisfaction,
and it has led to the division
between the Sunni and the Shiites
even now.
Islam is a simple faith
with a complex history.
Its creed is,
"There is no God but God,
and Muhammad is his messenger."
In many cases, if you speak those words
and believe what you are saying,
you are considered a Muslim
with all the rights and responsibilities
pertaining to that faith.
In fact, there are many interpretations
of what it means to be a Muslim.
One of my favorites is from
a friend of the UUCP in Moscow, ID,
a professor from U of I, "Ghazi" Ghazanfar,
who I think is a Pakistani Muslim.
He tells us that UU's are Muslims
whether we know it or not.
I know that he means that in the best way,
as a sign that he is one of the open and accepting
members of his faith,
not as a kind of pressure on us, or conquest.
Of course, there have been many versions
of the Muslim creed.
What is said from the minarets is,
"I bear witness that there is no God but God,
and Muhammad is his messenger."
Then there is the version
from 13th Century Sufis like Rumi, who
often took the Muslim devotion to Jesus to heart.
They were known to say,
"There is no God but God,
and Jesus is his messenger."
There are many varieties of Muslims
just as there are many varieties
among the believers of every faith.
It would always be a mistake
to try to lump them all into one category.
The central teaching
to which we can all adhere
is very similar to the call of Buddhists
as well as Christians and Jews,
compassion.
In the opening of every Sura in the Qu'ran
(except one),
appear the words,
"In the name of God, the most compassionate,
the most merciful..."
With those words,
almost every Muslim prayer begins.
Those are words for all of us to aspire to,
to be as compassionate and merciful
as ever it would be possible.
It is a simple goal,
but not an easy one to put into practice.
Amen,
Ameen,
Omeyn,
So mote it be.
Blessed be!
((Five Pillars of Islam:
1.1 Shahada: Faith.
1.2 Salat: prayer.
1.3 Zakāt: charity.
1.4 Sawm: fasting.
1.5 Hajj: pilgrimage to Mecca.))
posted by pastorfred at 7:34 PM
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