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Background
Background
The religion of Islam is intertwined with the life of its main prophet Muhammad (عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ). (When Muslims use the name of the prophet, they say or write something equivalent to ‘peace be upon him’ afterwards. Whilst I may not be a Muslim, I’m happy to do the same as a gesture of respect.)
This is in one sense absolutely correct. According to Muslim tradition, the words of the Quran (the Holy Book of Islam) were given to Muhammad (عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ) by the Angel Gabriel, and Muslims believe that the Quran is the word of God (or Allah, which is the Arabic word for God).
However, Muhammad (عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ) was born in Mecca in about 570 AD, and according to Islamic tradition, the religion of Islam existed thousands of years before Muhammad (عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ).
The ancient roots of Islam
The ancient roots of Islam
In the city of Mecca there is a shrine, called the Kaaba. According to tradition, the Kaaba was built by Abraham – the same Abraham from the Jewish stories. One of the stories said that Abraham’s wife Sara was unable to have children. So Sara told Abraham to have a child with another woman called Hagar. Abraham did as Sara said. When Hagar had a baby boy (who was called Ishmael).
The Jewish story continues by retelling how Sara got very jealous and told Abraham to take Hagar and Ishmael to the desert, but the Quranic narrative is slightly different.
According to the story in the Islamic story, it was God that ordered Abraham to take Hagar and Ishmael to the desert. Whilst Hagar and Ishmael were in the desert, they became very thirsty and Hagar began running about desperately looking for water for her and her child. God told her to stop worrying and a spring (the Zamzam spring) miraculously appeared under Ishmael’s feet. A black stone came down from Heaven next to the spring and God told Abraham and Ishmael to build a shrine to him at that place. That shrine became known as the Kaaba.
And remember Ibrahim and Ismail raised the foundations of the House (With this prayer): "Our Lord! Accept (this service) from us: For Thou art the All-Hearing, the All-knowing."
— Quran, Al-Baqarah (2), Ayah 127Tawaf
Tawaf
For thousands of years people have visited the Kaaba and re-enacted Hagar’s search for water. Muslims call this pilgrimage Hajj, and every Muslim must try to do it at least once in their lives.
When they visit the Kaaba, they must perform a ritual that involves walking round the Kaaba seven times (this act is called tawaf). For Muslims this represents the unity of God’s believers in placing God (the owner of the Kaaba) at the centre.
This ritual is reminiscent of a kind of orbiting. We can think about how the planets orbit the sun, or moons orbit planets and so on.
Tasks
Tasks
Factual questions:
Explain who Muhammad (عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ) is and why he is important.
Explain the meaning of the following words:
Quran
Kaaba
Tawaf
How does Islam relate to Judaism?
According to Islam, what should be the centre of a person's life
Can you think of an objection to this argument?
Does your life have a centre? What do you think your life revolves around? Now think about it carefully - it’s easy to say that your life revolves around something, but does your behaviour reflect this? If your behaviour does demonstrate this, explain how.
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