rel 137 midterm terms

Abu Bakr (d. 634 CE)

first caliph after Muhammad’s death
father-in-law to Muhammad
instructed that the mushaf be made

Umar b. al-Khattab (d. 644 CE)

second caliph after Muhammad’s death

selected by Abu Bakr

created a panel to elect the next caliph

Uthman b. Affan (d. 656 CE)

third caliph after Muhammad’s death

from the quraysh tribe, elected meccans to his cabinet instead of medinans; nepotism

represented growing tensions between people from medina and the people from mecca

assassinated as a result of these tensions

Ali b. Abi Talib (d. 661 CE)

fourth caliph after Muhammad’s death

the first Shia imam

was caliph during a period of civil unrest after Uthman’s assissination

wanted to avoid civil war as retribution for Uthman’s death

Mu’awiyah (d. 680 CE)

relative of Uthman, refused to pledge allegiance to Ali because Ali did not allow for revenge against Uthman’s killers

governor of Syria and Egypt

conflict with Ali lead to the Battle of Siffin, eventually lead to him becoming the fifth caliph after Muhammad’s death

moved capital of islamic empire to Damascus in Syria

established dynastic rule

wahy

divine revelation

can be the exact, literal words of God (Quran) or the divine concepts/meanings (hadith)

Umayyads (661-750 CE)

members of the dynasty that Mu’awiyah started

caliphate spanned from spain to india at its peaked

did not have forced conversion in this caliphate

had a very slow conversion process during this time period

helped create the split between arabs vs arabians

Abbasids (750-1258 CE)

overthrew Umayyads

was the caliphate of the golden age of Islam

caliph

the supreme religious/political leader of a caliphate

not a prophet

Abu Talib (d. 619 CE)

Muhammad’s uncle, employed Muhammad in the long distance trade network

the shaykh of the Benu Hashim clan

protected Muhammad as Islam rose as a religion

was not Muslim himself, but protected Muhammad by assabiyah

the Rightly Guided Caliphs

the first four caliphs that ruled after Muhammad’s death before the Umayyad rule

Sunna

the traditional/continuous practice of social, legal customs and prophetic model

denotes the actions, approvals, lifestyle of Muhammad

second source for sharia

changes to Sunna are heavily challenged

equal in authority to the Quran

bid’ah

unwarranted innovation

applies to the Sunna

canonical collections of Sunni hadiths

the six sound books of collected hadiths

collected by:

Bukhari (d. 870 CE)

Muslim (d. 875 CE)

Abu Daid (d. 889 CE)

Nasai (d. 889 CE)

Tirmidhi (d. 892 CE)

Ibn Majah (d. 915 CE)

Articles of Faith

what all Muslims must believe in to be Muslim

1. believe in God

2. God’s angels are not divine and are creations of God'

3. God’s books, including the books made by all prophets (like Jesus and Moses)

4. God’s messengers, including those like Jesus and Moses

5. judgement and resurrection, paradise/hell exist

6. Qadar/divine appointment (nothing occurs in God’s universe without his permission)

Ash’arites

one of the schools of theological thought

rationalist school

use kalam as their fundamental system of reasoning

believe that the Quran is an uncreated document, but God spoke the Quran

God is not bound to do what’s best for humanity

nothing can occur without God’s permission

good/evil is decided by God

believe in kasb

Maturidites

one of the schools of theological thought

rationalist school

humans have the ability to know things are inherently evil/good without revelation

people are supposed to be able to know God is real without knowing/hearing from the prophet

the Quran is uncreated

God has accidents like sight, knowledge

God creates human action, but humans actively chose what they do in the material world

traditionalism

the school of thought that relied strictly on literal text of the Quran and hadith

reject the metaphorical interpretation of the rationalist schools (ta’wil)

do not believe in kalam (rejected this system of reasoning)

while humans have an innate sense of good/evil, God is not obligated to punish/reward what humans thing is evil/good

Hanbal was the founder

emphasize God’s character, which depends on a person’s relationship with him

ta’wil

the metaphorical or figurative interpretation of scripture

madhhabs

the four Sunni schools of law

Hanafi

Maliki

Shafi’i

Hanbali

al-Ghazali (d. 1111 CE)

one of the most well-known Muslims, was an ash’arite

opposed the falsifah

wrote a famous book called The Incoherence of the Philosophers

ijtihad

intepretation of scripture to make rulings about sharia

muruwwah

the moral/ethical code of pre-islamic arabia

emphasized manliness, chivalry, bravery, generosity, clemency

assabiyah

the idea that if anyone in your tribe is slighted, you must protect them from having further injustice inflicted upon them

jahiliyah

the period of ignorance before the world had Muhammad’s revelation/before Islam came to be in the human world

categorized by polytheism, no goverment/lawless, frequent wars and tribal conflict

iman

faith in the six articles of faith

must have belief in the heart, act with God, and declare one’s faith

mu’min

a person who possesses iman

570 CE

birth of Muhammad

610 CE

the year when Muhammad received his first revelation

622 CE

the year that Muhammad and his followers left Mecca to Medina

ismah

divine protection from errors in interpreting revelation or sinning

shirk

the practice of idolatry, associating a partner with God, or assigning divine attributes to anyone/anything besides God

major sin

Quran

the holy book of Islam

the revelation from God to Muhammad

not the written words that were translated into arabic, but the spoken recitation of what God said to Muhammad

mushaf

the written word of Muhammad’s recitation

had to be collected overtime, was not written/complied during Muhammad’s life

hijrah

the flight in 622 CE of Muhammad and his followers to medina from mecca

hadith

the written report of what Muhammad said about a subject, often running down a chain of multiple individuals

can be sound, unsound, debated/disagreed upon, etc.

each person in a chain must have evidence they existed

hadith vs sunna

the sunna was established before hadith were actively collected

the sunna are social/customary habits established by the prophet and the islamic community

hadiths contain information about what the prophet said/did

some hadiths can be sunnah

banu hashim

the clan in mecca that Muhammad belonged to

mecca

one of the major cities in arabia

where the ka’ba is stored and where hajj is made

birthplace of Muhammad

al Kindi (d. 873 CE)

first arab philosopher

played a central role in integrating greek thought into islamic practice/theology

al Farabi (d. 950 CE)

used neoplatonism as a filter for ideas/practices in islam

believed God was solely intellect, no attributes

denied resurrection of the body

wrote The Virtuous City

Ibn Sina (d. 1037 CE)

another philosopher who focused on neoplatonism

succeeded Al Farabi

also believed God was immaterial, no resurrection of the body

the Incoherence of Philosophers

written by Al Ghazali to criticize the ideas in falsifah and the application of neoplatonism to islam

destroyed a lot of the support for neoplatonism

Al Ghazali argued that neoplatonists were kafirs, or non-believers

called them kafirs becauseL

1. falsifah insisted that if the world was not created, then it could never end thus the day of judgement would never happen

2. falsifah argued the resurrection of the body would not occur

3. God not knowing any particulars of the material world meant that humans were more knowledgeable than him

the Incoherence of the Incoherence

a response to Al Ghazali by Ibn Rushd

an attempt to defend neoplatonism and the ideas of Ibn Sina and Al Farabi

calls those who reject neoplatonism intellectual cowards

emanationism

the idea that all of reality overflows from the One

the universe emanates automatically/naturally from the One, and they remain unchanged

this idea also applies to each of the 1st-10th intellects

falsafah

a specific branch of philosophy that tried to synthesize greek thought with islam

believed that human logic was an equal tool to divine revelation to understand the truth of the world

free will for the Mu’tazilities

absolved God of all evil for human actions

God gives people the capacity to act, but not the actual choice they make and the power to carry it out; humans make the choice

free will for the Ash’arites

God brings about the action, and humans acquire it through their choice

God remains the ultimate cause of anything, but a human still bears responsibility for it because they had intention/choice

free will for the maturidites

more emphasis on a person’s choice

God still creates the action and sustains the power to make a choice possible, but whether or not an action is performed is dependent on the person’s choice/performance

characteristics for God for the mu’tazilites

God must be good and just
humans have an innate sense of good and evil, and God has a single index for it

God has no accidents, and so any reference to God having material qualities are ruled as ta’wil

characteristics for God for the ash’arites

focus on God’s power

nothing can occur without God’s absolute permission; even disobedience is a part of God’s will

human morals are subjective, an act is only wrong/right if God says it is in revelation

God has no accidents

reason might recognize that injustice is harmful, but reason alone does not impose an obligation upon God or independently establish divine punishment for it

characteristics for God for the maturidites

believe in kalam, so God can’t have a face/hand but also believe has some uncreated qualities like hearing, speech and knowledge

God is just, wise, and all powerful

humans have some ability to know with reason whether actions are good/evil, but these don’t stand above God’s ability to decide what’s good/evil

characteristics for God for traditionalists

do not believe in kalam or ta-wil; if it’s said that God has something, he has it

God is not obligated to punish us for things that we as humans view as wrong

emphasize God’s character that depends on your personal relationship with him

kalam

all things possess accidents (material qualities like size, color, volume, sight)

all accidents must have a producer

God is the unproduced producer — the originator of all things that exists eternally

arabian

a person who is from the arabian peninsula

grew up with arabian customs/culture

arab

a person who was not from arabia who become arabicized

arabization occured as the islamic empire conquered new lands and new people began to interact with islam

ansar

the muslims of medina who welcomed muhammad

accident

any temporary physical characteristic/property that depends on the actual object to exist

explains things like size, shape, color, senses, etc.

anthropomorphism

the act of attributing human-like qualities to God

what rationalists accused traditionalists of doing when they rejected ta’wil

Abu Al-Hasan al-Ash’ari (d. 936 CE)

founder of the ash’arite school

was formely a mu’tazilite

Abu Mansar al-Maturidi (d. 944 CE)

founder of the maturidite school

Ahmad Ibn Hanbal (d. 855 CE)

founder of Hanbali/traditionalism theology

remembered as the survivor of the Mihnah

namesake of Hanbali school of law

Sahabah

companions of the prophet of Muhammad

people who met Muhammad, and were early believers in Islam

shari’ah

the moral, spiritual, liturgical, and legal dictates of God as spoke through the Quran and the Sunna

the rules as they exist ideally to God

can literally be applied to almost anything in society

following/not following a rule doesn’t mean there will be an immediate punishment in this current life

while called laws, they don’t function like that realistically

the result of muslim’s interpretation of the words/sunna that guide islam

inherently exclusionary, didn’t historically apply to jews/christians

“shari’ah law”

western perspective on shariah that views it incorrectly

assumption by the west that islamic law functions like law in western society

western law aims to deinstitutionalize inequality, but shari’ah has laws that don’t apply equally because it’s not based on fairness/equality

western laws are created with punishments in this life, while shari’ah has very few laws that have sanctions during a human life

fiqh

the human interpretation of God’s word to create rules/laws

can vary depending on legal school

kasb

idea in ash’arite theology

God creates a person’s act, while a person acquires it through their choice

humanity is not the creator of any action, but we carry it out

dalil

the sources of evidence for islamic law

ijma

scholarly consensus on a ruling

used as a dalil

five pillars of Islam

1. testimony of faith “there is no God and Muhammad is his prophet.”

2. prayer 5x a day facing the Ka’ba

3. fasting (ramadan)

4. zakat (giving alms, 2.5% on surplus income)

5. hajj (once in a lifetime if a person is able to afford it)

mu’tazilites

a rationalist school of theology

believe in kalam

God must be good and just

humans have an innate sense of good and evil

theology that supported the Mihnah

the Quran was the created word of God

isnad

the chain of people who transmitted a hadith

always leads back to the prophet

can be weak/sound

Malik (d. 795 CE)

namesake of Maliki school of law

argued about how the Sunna and hadiths relate

believed that the norm/aka the Sunna was what the prophet did most of the time, even if there was a hadith against the sunna

Abu Hanifah (d. 767 CE)

namesake of Hanifi school of law

Al-Shafi’i (d. 820 CE)

the namesake of the Shafi’i school of law

argued that we have no ability to rule what was Muhammad’s norms were/what his norms weren’t

was concerned that arabs, although they spoke arabic, could have different interpretations based on their base culture and therefore change the meaning of the Quran

Ibn Taymiyah (d. 1328 CE)

prominent Hanbali jurist/traditionalist

believed that sound reason and revelation can’t contradict each other

taqlid

the act of following a legal scholar’s judgement without looking at the root dalil

can be influenced by the cultural influence/ideas by the faqih who made the ruling

the Battle of the Camel (656 CE)

conflict between Ali and Uthman and his family to seek revenge for Uthman’s assissination

the four sources for islamic law

the Quran, Sunna, a hadith, an analogy, or ijma

kafir

non-believer/disbeliever in islam

muslim

a person who submits to God and performs all the key actions of Islam

mu’min

a person who has deep faith and inward belief in God and it drives them to perform the pillars of islam

ayah

a verse in the Quran

over 6,000 verses

surah

a chapter in the Quran

114 chapters

prophethood

the channel of divine communication from God and his angels to humankind

Islam accepts all prophets, even those who were not muslim

have ismah, recitation, prophetic visions

could not be feableminded, had to be resilient

rationalism

one sect of theology that includes three schools

reason is also a valid source of moral and theological truth alongside revelation

tawhid

the oneness of God

one of Muhammad’s revelations when he was in Mecca

uthmanic codex

the first standardized, written compilation of the Quran

created during Uthman’s reign

tawatur

a quality of a hadith where it has so many corroborations to the point it is incredibly unlikely it is an orchestrated lie

ahadi

any hadith that is not corroborated on the same scale as tawatur

does not necessarily mean the hadith is not sound

sahih

describes a hadith that sound/authentic

has to lead back to the prophet and a companion, needed dates of their birth/death, each person in the chains morality, each person in the chains memory, no contradictions

hasan

a good/reliable hadith

still usable for dalil

the only difference between the next tier is how reliable of memory of each person in the chain

da’if

a weak hadith

does not meet previous criteria

Ka’ba

a focal point for direct worship to God

must face in the direction of this to pray

Medina

city that Muhammad fled to after he was pushed out of Mecca

formative location for Muhammad’s rise to power

classical synthesis

a contested battery of interpretations of islam that form the basis in which muslims assess their failure or success as a religious community

agent intellect

the 10th intellect that governs the sublunary world according to neoplatonic logic

lowest intellect

Al Farabi argued that this intellect was the angel Gabriel

Ibn Rushd (d. 1198 CE)

wrote the Incoherence of the Incoherence

defended Al Farabi and Ibn Sina

Muhammad b. Zakariya al-Razi (d. 925 CE)

argued that people could not argue philosophically about the Quran while it had tales of Moses and Jesus in it

was not an atheist, just rejected revealed religion by a prophet

thought that human reason was the ultimate gift from God

neoplatonism

a greek structure of philosophy that formed the basis of falsifah

the highest being is called The One and is pure intellect

on self reflection on their perfection, The One formed the First Intellect all the way down to the 10th Intellect

the universe and all its creations are not physically created by The One, they are emitted from it naturally

the purpose of philosophy is to reach the status of intellect that The One has and reject material things