In my presentation I decided to choose these facts mostly because this is what stood out to me personally. I didn’t want to pick facts that had already been selected and retold many times. The key for me was under what title to use it and the order in which I put the facts. It was important to me for people to know the huge differences within the Arab community and religion. The true meanings of certain words and how they impact daily life for the average muslim, or how christians and muslims interacted with each other long ago. Another thing I really noticed was that in Ruthven’s short intro book the author explains Islam and its complexity before allowing the reader to give their new opinion before going into modern Islam and the issue of the jihadi movement. The reason I say that is because Islam has been so twisted in todays world that it’s true meaning is tarnished and not even acknowledged respectfully. The muslim greeting means peace and stands for it, and truly stands for good in this world. But I think today many organizations and groups of people are quick to categorize an entire religion and ethnic group because a tiny percentage of people have spit in the face of what Islam stands for, peace. In the subject of spreading a global religion, Islam has been around for a very long time. Just like Judaism and Christianity, Islam has been taught on this planet for a long time. The spread of culture starts with trade and will continue that way for as long as people have the need to learn an educate themselves. Today new ways of learning have been introduced albeit a bit more difficult. Stricter more radical forms of laws have made the learning and spread of culture more difficult but new waves in communications technology have allowed many to learn the true meaning of Islam. The images I chose were also very nice because they the paintings looked nice too and simply gave a small description of what I wanted to talk about. This is probably the first time I have done a project on this specific topic. It allows me to really understand Islam just a bit more and the real difference between a believer and being muslim. This was something I really never knew about, to submit to a god or surrender yourself to him/her or to truly believe in them. Fundamentalist have reshaped Islam as well by incorporating new ideas into traditional ways. In today’s world we throw around the word self-determination a lot and this is something every society seeks, especially in places that have not smelled a sniff of freedom in a long time. To want to choose your own path to what you believe is the right path not just for yourself but for your religion entirely but when it entirely flips the meaning of your religion and destroys other people ways of life then maybe the right thing is not really being done.
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In addition to my presentation, I would like to provide more details into the reasoning and significance behind the key points I chose to talk about after read Silverstein’s introduction.
1. Caliphs and caliphates
a. Following Muhammad, the caliphs were the leaders that chose the direction, metaphorically and literally, of the followers of Muhammad. It is under the thumb of caliphs that Islamic history ran its course.
2. Arabic language
a. Arabic language was the language in which the Qur’an was written.
3. Geography – location
a. I believe it is important to know about the geography of an occurrence to understand the context much more. For example, knowing the geography of where Islamic history took place can help create a tie to the true significance of camels. Without the camel, it would’ve been impossible to travel across any desert.
4. Muhammad
a. Drawing a parallel with Christianity for a moment – The way Christianity is linked to Jesus of Nazareth, Islam is linked directly to Muhammad. He was the “Prophet of Allah” and the way in which Allah revealed himself to society. He is arguably the most important figure in Islamic beliefs.
5. Qur’an
a. The Qur’an serves as the prayer book for Islam. Showcasing its relevancy today, Islamic followers still study and pray from this religious scripture. Also, the Qur’an also has a tie directly to Muhammad. Thus, it would be negligent to not share the significance of the Qur’an to someone who wants to learn about the religion.
6. Mecca and the Hajj
a. This is a tradition that could be traced all the way back to Muhammad. This is relevant because people in the world today still take Hajjes to Mecca from all over the world.
7. Faith and Mosques
a. When Islam would travel and takeover a new geographic region or city, they would build a mosque in the city. This impressive structure would: 1. Signify that the Islam now control the location and 2. The prestige of the structure would attract new followers.
8. Turkish slave soldiers
a. The question of ‘Who fought in these wars?’ needs to be answered. It is interesting because the Turkish slave soldiers eventually rose to have their own caliph.
9. Sunni & Shiite Islam
a. We see the significance of just how important caliphates truly were along with how sub-groups within Islam were formed.
10. Dynasty Rule of Islam
a. I feel as though this is an important point to bring up considering Islamic history can be followed and studied in the categories of dynasties.
11. Conflict with Judea-Christians
a. This is arguably a relevant topic in today’s world still. However, this can have a direct correlation of Islamic expansion and contraction (Example: Crusades).
12. Camels
a. Much how history will have talk of shipbuilding, airplanes, automobile technology, etc. the question of transportation needs to be answered.
13. Trade
a. Trade was a significant topic because it was a vehicle in which cultural diffusion occurred and Islamic ideas, beliefs and customers were spread.
14. Jihad
a. I chose this topic because it is a misunderstood topic that is relevant in today’s world.
15. Taxes
a. This answers the questions as to who actually funded much of the feats Muhammad and his followers sought after.
In this assignment, I chose to focus on a series of points that would highlight the important stages and factor of the rise and spread of Islam. While the rise and spread of Islam is a very wide and far-ranging topic, I think that there are a few points from our reading that are worth mentioning. It is important to understand the context of the religion itself in the sense that it is the third of the three Abrahamic religions, so this was the first point I focused on. Islam is a monotheistic religion, which means that it is a religion with one god as opposed to many. It is important to recognize that it was a major contrast with a number of other religious practices that were in place in the time. It is important also to understand the significance of the religion’s main prophet, Mohammed and how he contributed to the rise and spread of the religion. He was the original man to bring the Qur’an to the public attention. He also served as the first military and civil leader of the followers of the religion and thus he set the precedent of the Caliph, which was followed by later leaders. The Qur’an is the text that contains all of the holy scriptures of the religion and it is analogous to the Bible or Torah. The early beginnings of the religion are important in that it was the first time in which the followers of Mohammed engaged in armed conflict—something that would happen in multiple other instances later in history. It is important to note that the religion was spread both through civilian means—trade and cultural contact—as well as martial means—via conquest and military conflict. The religion started in the Arabian Peninsula and subsequently spread throughout the Levant, and Mediterranean, including Europe. The focus of the religion’s worship is towards mecca, specifically the Kaabah. This is done in mosques, which are the Islamic temples of worship. These were built in many locations as a mark of territory as the religion’s following spread around the Middle East. As its domain became larger and larger it became organized into a system of theocratic government which became known as the Caliphate. The Caliphate was ruled by many leaders from many locations which shifted over time. The succession of one of the leaders of the Caliphate led at one point to a rift that split the Muslim world into two main camps: Shi’ites and Sunnis. Trade with Europe was an important source of economic and cultural exchange for the Islamic world. Unfortunately, not all interactions with other—Christian—cultures. The Crusades were a series of armed conflicts in which Christians and Muslims fought for control over the Holy Land, today’s Palestine and Israel. This means that it is also important to understand the concept of Jihad, which literally means “struggle” in Arabic. This struggle is meant to be a struggle against evil, which can also be interoperated in a martial sense when other religions may be referred to as evil.
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