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Presentation Notes.
Islam Summary: Landscape, Goal and Means, juxtaposed alongside Judaism and Christianity
Goal:
Dwell with God , with Allah, eternally, in Jannah – “Paradise,” referred to in the Quran as the (Garden of) “Eden,” i.e., Heaven
*Akin to both the goal in Judaism and in Christianity, or is it? But it is described extensively in the Quran as a physical place , with jewelry and food, surrounded by eight principal gates, each level generally being divided into a hundred degrees. The highest level is known as firdaws (sometimes called Eden). It will be entered first by Muhammad, then those who lived in poverty, and then the most pious, such as Ibrahim. Entrants will be greeted by angels with salutations of peace. The Islamic texts describes life for its immortal inhabitants, one that is happy — without hurt, sorrow, fear or shame — where every wish is fulfilled
Which begs the intriguing question , is the Islamic Heaven also occupied with Jews and Christians?
We know that the Jewish Heaven is occupied with Muslims and Christians.
And in contrast, the Christian Heaven is occupied only by Christians, only by those saved via confession of Faith in Christ.
In the Islamic view, for the rest, let’s see after we consider the “means”.....?
Landscape:
While anchored in the same landscape as Judaism and Christianity, including a. the supremacy of a monotheistic God, b. the origins of humans in the Garden of Eden, and c.the lessons to be learned from the many prophets, including Abraham, who is the also father to them as he is to the Jewish people, Moses and all the other prophets of the Book, as well as the Jesus, there are some fundamental distinctions between the Islamic and Judaic and Christian landscapes.
- Allah is supreme , with all good as well as suffering and evil, the result of Him. “Allah” is Arabic for “God.” The one God, beyond imagination, eternal Creator of all, neither begetting nor begotten. Is knowable not in and of itself – too all encompassing, but through divine attributes or “ names of God ,” such as the Merciful, the Truth, the Living, the Sustainer, the Forgiving, the Judge, the source of Peace, of which there are 99.
As per the Qur'an and Muslim scholarship, Allah is responsible for the creation of 3 types of sentient beings – the Jinn, the Angels, and the children of Adam – humans, along with all the natural beings.
Before the creation of Man , Allah created the Angels, out of light, and which had no free will, and the Jinn or Genie, made of smokeless fire, with semi-free will.
Jinn are spiritual beings of whom humans have little knowledge, serving as a reminder that there exist life forms, living in their own order, with their own revelations and religions, own moral struggles, own accounting before God. The Qur’an describes them as being made of “smokeless fire.”
Angels are celestial beings who are perfectly obedient to the divine will of God and help in supervising the processes of creation. The Qur’an describes them as being made of “light.” Among them are Jibril – Gabriel, the angel of revelation, the Holy Spirit. Mika – Michael, who oversees the natural world, and is said not to have smiled since witnessing the creation of hell. Israfil , whose horn will usher in the breaking of the world and the Day of Judgment. And Izra’il , the angel of death.
Children of Adam are beings created neither of fire nor light, but of clay mingled with the divine spirit. The Children of Adam thus are of both the material and the divine realm. Born divine and good, God-like, with an innate disposition to virtue.
Humans have an innate nature, called fitra , which leads them to seek, love and serve God. But they also tend to forget their true nature and purpose, get distracted by the world, and become arrogant.
*SUM: God is thus much more akin to Judaism’s supreme Yahawah, though He is to be approached with complete submission, for there is no room for arguing or debating with Him in Islam. And the Muslim God is very distinct from than Christianity’s Dual Divinity
- Thus the World is “Good” as are all humans, born innocent and good, and they will, on their own accord, naturally turn to Allah. Will have more to say about this “good” world later.
After their creation, Adam and Hawwa' (Adam and Adam=s wife, the name “Eve” is actually not mentioned in the Qur’an) dwelt in Paradise (Al Jannah), where Allah forbade them to go near the cursed tree. Iblis - "The Satan" (or al-Shaitan in Arabic), tricked Adam and Hawwa' into eating from the tree (i.e., humans have free will to be tricked ). Allah then expelled both of them from Heaven and onto Earth, to wander about not as a punishment.
In Islam, Allah created humans to send them on to Earth, which he created for them. He was just to see how long the humans, Adam and Hawwa could stay in heaven or paradise.
Then Adam sought to repent to Allah, and Allah taught him the words by which to do so. Allah forgave Adam and Hawwa', and told them "Get ye down all from here; and if, as is sure, there comes to you Guidance from me, whosoever follows My guidance, on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve." Adam remained weeping for 40 days, until he repented. Allah shows forgiveness and thus sin not passed down to all descends of Adam.
Thus illustrates role of Iblis will try to influence as many of their descendants as he possibly could into sin, so as to be his companions in his final destiny into Hell. Iblis who seeks to tempt humans with Awhispers@ of sinful ideas and discourages them for following and obeying God.
*Thus Adam and Hawwa , and Garden of Eden interpreted as humanity setting forth into world given transgression, but not as punishment, as Allah forgave Adam and shows forgiveness. No chasm between God and humanity that results in “fall from Grace,” no “Original Sin. ” Evil is not passed down to future generations. The Qur=an does not propound a doctrine of original sin, the “fall,” nor essential sinfulness of humanity.
- Sin is thus not a state of being, but an act of transgression vie forgetting to follow Allah’s guidelines. An act of forgetting.
So that sin is understood as anything done that goes against Allah and his teachings. An act, and not a state of being. Of transgressing form, of acting wickedly from, of forgetting to do what Allah guides us to do.
Human beings are not born sinful, but they are forgetful. So that atonement is to overcome this forgetfulness, and is countered only by reminder B dhiki. Includes repeated questioning about the primary Qur=anic values: sharing one=s wealth, attending to orphans, the destitute, the disinherited, preforming prayer and carrying out good deeds.
And by acts of repentance , acts of prayer, of pilgrimage, of charity, of good deeds to the displaced.
In Islam, human understood as tending to hide , from others and from ourselves , what we really are. We veil who we are. But of course Allah, sees the inner being of each person, and at the moment of truth, will reveal each person, inside and out. The Day of Judgment is a self revealing of what we really are, an accounting of our essence.
*More akin to Judiasm’s understanding of Garden and of Sin. And hence no need for the cleansing that results of baptism. Very distinct from Christian interpretation of Garden, and sin.
- Duality of a Heaven and Hell
*More akin to Christian world view, and not Judaic, with all eventually going to Heaven and lack of Hell. There is no Muslim reference to an apocalyptic revelation of time , with a duality of God and Satan battling over supremacy of human souls and a near future Day of Judgment, no Armageddon and Second Coming of the Messiah.
- Focus on human soul , playing field of accountability, upon which sins placed and atonement given, and a soul that has eternal existence. The afterlife is strongly held, either in heaven or hell.
*More akin to Christian notion and role of soul and the afterlife, than Jewish roles of the sole and afterlife.
Confession of faith “There is no god but Allah, and Mohammad is His Prophet, 2. Prayer five times a day, 3. Charity, 4. Ramadan (month of fasting), and 5. the Hajj to Mecca.
Emphasize correct behavior – orthopraxy over correct belief – orthodoxy, with a focus on moral law over theology
*More akin to Jewish orthopraxy, of acts of behavioral doing, than Christian testament of faith, of orthodoxy.
And the key behaviors to follow are:
a. submission to God – “only though enslavement to God can one find true freedom”??
b. and acts of charity, compassion and love for all beings, all humans, regardless of religion – it is a God of compassion that is conveyed in the Quar’an
*shared by Judaism and Christianity, in fact it is the key teaching and central value of every religion we’ve studied this year.
One wonders then why in the name of one’s religion there is a call for so much hatred and war , though out human history?
Extended to a Land Ethic: And in Islam, it is a love that is extended to the earth itself – an environmental earth ethic
Written about extensively by the Islamic scholar, Seyyed Hossein Nasr, in his classic Man and Nature: The Spiritual Crisis of the Modern Man 1968, revised edition, 2007. Offers one of the most insightful critiques I’ve ever read on the origins of the current ecological crisis and some convincing arguments about what needs to be done to deal with it. His understanding of the Islamic land ethic is based upon the Qur’an and in the philosophies and sciences of Islam.
While Islam certainly inheritors and a continuation of the land ethic developed in its Judaic and Christian foundations :
nature is good , to benefit and be used by humankind – as referred to in Genesis, “ take dominion over and multiple” (kept)
*contrast: From the Christian perspective, Humanity and Nature as each separate from the other and not extension and Nature is fundamentally devoid of spirit with a focus on the redemption of human souls. (don’t keep)
Al-tawhid : Islam has had one foot in Eastern Philosophies and Religions , encapsulated in Arabic word – al-tawhid – the principle of Divine Unity, which runs through every mode of knowledge, be it social, scientific, juridical, or theological, as well as through all being, be it sentient or inanimate.
Islam ultimately acknowledges unity with Nature, not a separation from it – humanity is a part of Nature, not existing apart from it
and further, acknowledges that as both Nature and Humanity are Divine creations, and inseparable from each other and from the Divine, each are necessarily endowed with the Divine spirit.
Ayah : Illustrated in the term used for the verses of the Qur’an – ayah. Signifies not only the Divine word of God in the pages of a book , but also Divine events occurring in the soul as well as in the phenomenal world
Thus: the Divine archetype runs through and links all beings and creation.
“So that the purpose and aim of creation is in fact for God to come to know Himself through His perfect instrument of knowledge that is the Universal Man. Man therefore occupies a particular position in this world. He is at the axis and centre of the cosmic milieu at once the master and custodian of nature. By being taught the names of all things he gains domination over them (Judaic/Christian link), but he is given the power only because he is the vicegerent ( khalifah ; a duty of God) of God on earth and the instrument of His Will. Man is given the right to dominate over nature only by virtue of his [shared] theomorphic make- up [with Nature], not as a rebel against heaven.
In fact man is the channel of grace for nature; through his active participation in the spiritual world he casts light into the world of nature. He is the mouth through which nature breathes and lives. Because of the intimate connection between man and nature, the inner state of man is reflected in the external order. Were there to be no more contemplatives and saints, nature would become deprived of the light
the theological world view and definitions of the cosmos and humanity as advocated by Christianity, in order for it to maintain itself as a viable institution, the Church relinquished to Science and Humanism its claim to Nature, and focused entirely on the redemption of Human Souls. A sort of unspoken truce.
Compartmentalizing : science would have dominion over and deal with nature (biology, chemistry, astronomy, physics, anthropology, etc.), while and Christianity would have dominion over and deal with human souls (salvation). And neither would venture into the realm of the other.
- The Day of Judgment – Soul Judging Itself. All of us will then, upon our death, face a Day of Judgment , also known the Last Judgment, the Day of Judgment, the Accounting, a fundamental tenet in Islam. But critically for Muslims, it’s a judgment not so much directly involving Allah, as some sort of gate keeper, rewarding and punishing one from past deeds, but rather one’s own soul judging itself. The reveal self, the Soul is held accountable. One’s own soul is the Judge on the Day of Judgment. It is not God nor Satan that determines if cool of Heaven or fires of Hell will be your eternal fate, you are responsible for your own fate.
As stated previously, humans tend to hide for ourselves and others what we really are; we attempt to veil our true self. But with Death, all is revealed, the true nature of the soul, of how one has lived his or her life, so that one’s own life’s actions “rise up to accuse or confirm.”
*Distinct from Judaism, which has no Day of Judgment per se,
*And distinct from Christianity, where atonement and salvation are only though acceptance of Jesus Christ. For Muslim, no need for atonement or salvation, just a Day of Judgment.
*For Muslims, Jesus is a revered Prophet, of equal standing with Ibrahim and Moses, but not the son of God. Only God is incarnate, so the idea of divine incarnation in Jesus as well as the Holy Spirit is rejected. If adhere to, is to commit idolatry and a form of polytheism.
*More akin to Christian notion, though God does not judge. And there is not a near future Day of the Lord, a Second Coming of the Messiah, and thus accounting and resurrection that result in dwelling in a New Jerusalem for a 1000-year reign of the Lord
- So who’s in Heaven?
According to the Qur’an, when a child dies, regardless of the child’s parent’s religion (Jewish, Christian, Hindu, etc.), that child’s soul goes to heaven.
And also according to the Qur’an, the basic criteria for salvation for an afterlife in Jannah is the belief in: 1. one God, and denial of all others, 2. Last Judgment, 3. Life of good deeds, and 4. in ALL the messengers of Allah as well as believing that Muhammad is the last messenger of God.
If the “ People of the Book ,” Jews and Christians, deny and reject Muhammad as the Messenger of God, the Qur’an also asserts that those who reject him are damned in afterlife, and if they reject him in front of the Messenger of God, then they also face dreadful fate in this world and in afterlife (see Itmam al-hujjah).
Conversely, a person who discovers monotheism, a “person of the Book,” though not having been reached by a messenger, is called Hanif. Example, Ibrahim. While ambiguous, it implies the possibility, as with Ibrahim, of “others of the Book” residing in Heaven!
For Muslims, the other “People of the Book ,” Jews and Christian, have always had a compatible and respected relationship, as exemplified in Moorish, pre-fifteenth century Spain.
