Islam and Monotheism: One God for All

• The session focuses on "One God for All," exploring Islam and Monotheism in the Mediterranean through Prophet Muhammad and the new Khilafah.
• Session date: 03/02/2025.

Grading System

• Oral presentation and written review will be graded.
• Presentations should last 15/20/25 minutes.
• Main thesis and critical approach are key components.
• Each session involves presenting a small article and engaging with Albert Hourani's book "A History of the Arab Peoples."

Methodology

• Involves cautious use of classifications, categories, and typologies.
• Contextualization and classification are essential.
• Acknowledges the limits of historical event analysis calling for multiple criteria to avoid essentialization.
• Challenges mechanical causality rejecting teleological readings of history.
• Advocates for contextualization, precision, and avoiding generalizations.
• Calls for considering local, national, regional, and international scales for comprehensive analysis achieved through contextualization, historicization, and correlation.
• Emphasizes reflexive & analytical vs normative/prescriptive analyses and academic/historical methodology vs political commentaries.
• Discerns science from belief, studies religion objectively.
• Identifies different narratives including those of actors, scientists, and general narratives.
• Differentiates apologetic narratives from historical and critical narratives, exemplified by studying the beginning of Islam using apologetic narratives due to a lack of texts.
• Stresses the difficulty of Axiological neutrality, the need to produce contextualized, critical analysis without value judgments (Max Weber), which understanding Islam requires both religious and historical perspectives.

Definitions - Concepts and geography

• Key terms include "The Near East," "The Middle East," Maghreb (North African West), and Mashreq (Arab East).
• "MENA region" is a common English term, though deemed a Eurocentric denomination, translating expressions based on Arab and Islamic references.
• Defining the Middle East faces geographic and linguistic challenges, lacking a discernible identity.
• The "Middle East" as a concept, like "Europe" or "America," is a human construct subject to outer limits and internal divisions, characterized by persistent violence exacerbating appellation and vocabulary tensions (Chibli MALLAT).

Questioning the borders of the "East" and the "West"

• The "East" refers to countries of previous Islamic empires, reaching Indonesia/Western China.
• Russia and the “far east” (South East Asia, China, Japan, Mongolia) are usually not included in the denomination
• “Western civilization” is a mental, collective, cultural representation of European descent making former colonies like Australia/North America part of it, while others like Russia, Israel, and Turkey are questionable.

Religion

• Multiples meanings and evolution is a mix of the subjective (faith) and objective (ritual, community, law).
• Includes individual (inner faith) vs official/collective religion.
• Involves belief in dogma, obedience to norms , and personal/collective identity, forming a "Weltanschauung" (Immanuel Kant).
• First Monotheistic Religions were Zarathustraism / Zoroastrianism (Iran).

The origins of monotheism - Before Abraham

• Ahura Mazda represents unique divinity in Persia (Zarathustra, ~1000BC) as the origin of good and bad; mirroring pre-Abrahamic Egyptian beliefs (Akhenaton, ~13000BC) in a shared origin.
• Abrahamic monotheism uniquely aims to replace other idols, imposing a more normative vision that aided monotheism's expansion.

The Abrahamic reform: towards exclusive monotheism (1850 BC)

• Abraham is the father of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam documented in Genesis.
• His journey aims to receive God's gifts including a willingness to sacrifice his son prevented by an angel.
• Jewish, Christian, and Muslim traditions vary on Abraham's legitimate wife (Sarah/Hajar) and the son of sacrifice (Isaac/Ismail).
• This God is both jealous and merciful that will eventually lead to Prophet Mohamed.

The Story of Moses and the foundation of Judaism (1250 BC)

• Moses (Musa) is the first prophet of Judaism (major Torah figure, also in Qur'an)
• Embodies the search for the promised land is anticipated by Jesus.
• Received Tables of Law defining monotheism also prefiguring the Coranic revelation for muslims

The Christic message: incarnation and resurrection (0-33 AD)

• Jesus is a central figure of Christianity considered the incarnation of God, aiming to redeem humans through suffering.
• Christians see Jesus as the renewal of God's alliance with Moses having prophetic descent from Adam, Abraham, Moses.
• Jews reject Jesus' divine incarnation, conflicting with monotheism, while Islam views Jesus as an important prophet but denies his death.

The rise of Islam in the Arab Peninsula: Chronology

• 570: Prophet Muhammad's birth in Mecca receiving texts from God transcribed in the Quoran after being visited by an angel.
• 610: Quranic revelation begins during Ramadhan.
• The Qur'an is revealed to Muhammad, and he preaches to family, companions, and merchants in Mecca
• It caused Social, Political, Religious and Economical Disruption to Mecca as a problem because Mecca was a trade city and people buy and sell different religious items making Mohammed into an endangered commerce
• 622: Hegira / Hijra (“Emigration") happens due to intolerance, Muhammad leaves Mecca and travels to Medina where he is welcomed by the locals
• Travels to Medina (he leaves from Mecca with some appropriates) is welcomed by the locals ("In Medina, we have heard about your religion" - message will spread, but some will reject it).
• 624: Battle of Badr happens with The Prophet and his followers fighting own tribe, the Quraysh of Mecca becoming a first victory leading to victory as a tribe victory
• 625: Battle of Uhud where The Prophet is defeated by the Quraysh of Mecca.
• 627: Siege of Medina whereThe Prophet holds resistance to the Quraish tribe
• 628: Battle of Khaybar which is talked today by Hamas where the Jewish tribes of the city of Khaybar are defeated and a tax is paid to avoid death.
• 632: Death of prophet in Medina leads to Abu Bakr al-Siddiq becoming first caliph.

After the death of Mohammed,

• 632: Abu Bakr-al Siddiq’s Caliphate begins when internal dissensions are taken care of, order is progressively restored
• 634: Umar ibn ul-Khattab's caliphate begins and settles the Hijri Calendar.
• Islamic conquest starts on Syria, Lebanon, Jordan followed by Persia (636), Egypt (639), Libya (642).
• 644: ‘Uthman ibn Affan's caliphate begins whereThe Qur'an gets assembled
• 647: Islamic Conquest of Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco begins.
• 656: Ali ibn Abi Talib's caliphate begins marked by the division between Sunnis, Shias and Khawarji
• 709: North Africa is entirely controlled by Muslims
• 711: Muslims arrive in Spain/Portugal
• 712: Uzbekistan and Kirgizishtan are invaded.
• 713: The Muslim army arrives at the borders of India
• 719: France is invaded turning Narbonne into capital of Wilayat Arbuna

Environment and family of the Prophet Muhammad (570-632)

• The Hejaz region plays a pivotal role.
• Muhammad is a direct descendant of Qusay, Mecca's founder where the Quraysh tribe (Banu Umayya is in charge of affairs and Banu Hashim is in charge of affairs)
• 622: The Prophetic message and the Hijra (exile) happens
• The prophetic message and the Hijra (exile) to Yatrhrib / Medina (622) includes revelations by angel Gabriel as public preaching of the belief in the Last Judgement is preached
• Opposition of the inhabitants of Mecca results in followers of the Prophets migrating from Mecca (related by kinship).

Justifications for polygamous societies:

• It allowed men to marry until you have a son AND protect widows,
• Mohammed gives Fatimah to Ali allowing Mohammed to have more children.

Understanding Islamic Sources and Tradition

• Primary sources:
  • Qur'an contains the words of God without specifying how the prayer is operated that causes the Hadith to explain actions of prophets.
  • It contains 6236 verses in 114 chapters from longet to shortest, which were said to be revealed to Prophet Muhammad by Malak Jibril.
  • Definitive versions were made under Caliphs and share versions, Shia Islam deem Qur'an was falsified
  • Hadith are sayings and acts of Prophet Muhammad (difficult to establish authenticity) that were compiled to 7000
  • six books of reliable sources of Hadith with Sahih being the authenticity
  • Isnan is a chain of transmission.
• Secondary Sources:
  • Sira is a biography of the Prophet
  • Tafsir is Interpretation of the texts
  • Fiqh is Islamic jurisprudence used for consensus or analogy from above sources.
• 11. The "Sira" Controversy:
  • Text related to Prophet Muhammad's life was published 2 centuries after death.
  • Its difficult because based on forgery, since 1950's the authenticity has been questioned.
  • Debate between salvation and scientific history.

Historicity of Muhammad, the Qur'an and the Islamic early traditions

• Goldziher and Schacht from 1950 doubt the historicity of Hadith so Western and secular contradicted with a lot of beliefs.
• Wael Hallq, states that science of hadith was developed in the very objective of facts:

There are major tendencies in modern Islamic studies:

• work to try and believe the historicity of parts of the Islamic tradition.
• Science and Faith's conflict is stupid since They complement each other
• Science is to explain the world, while Faith is to find its meaning