The soul of Islam

Islam is one of the three main branches of the Abrahamic religion, all of which trace themselves back to Judaism.

Muhammed, an illiterate merchant (most people of the time were, giving birth to a rich history of oral tradition), was leading a fairly ordinary life by 600AD Arabian standards.

One day, whilst meditating in a cave, the angel Gabriel came to him, and, in my favorite version, he spoke and ordered Muhammed to read.

Muhammed, being illiterate, said that he could not read. The angel grabbed him and ordered him to read. Again, Muhammed said he couldn't. Two mores times, the angel ordered him to read before proclaiming the first revelation.

If we are to believe Islam, the revelations came to Muhammed for the rest of his life, always delivered to him by Gabriel.

The quran is composed of these revelations, remembered until they were written down. This makes the quran, unlike most other holy books, the literal word of god, delivered unto humanity without being diluted.

All events outside of these revelations are collected in the hadiths. Though not everything spoken by Muhammed was taken as revelation, he was considered the perfect muslim. Thus, imitating the behaviour of Muhammed is considered to be the safest bet of getting into heaven.

The various hadiths are based on witnesses to the prophet. Some of these people are considered very reliable (like Aisha, said to be Muhammed's favorite wife), other's are considered little more than hearsay, but documented purely for a case of "what-if." You would hate to be the guy that forgot to write down divine revelation.

The first man to write the book on Muhammed's life after his death estimated as many as 2/3rd of hadiths to be so poorly sourced that they had no value.

Islam, at its most basic, is build upon the five pillars, these being:

Shahada - Reciting the pronounciation, most argue that you become a muslim once you utter these words with the intent of becoming a muslim. The chant being: "There is no god but Allah, and Muhammed is his prophet." The exact wording differs. Some people insist on saying Allah (simply Arabic for god) others are fine with "no god but god." This first pillar firmly explains one of the most fundamental aspects of Islam, there is only one god, and he is singular.

Though we are often taught that the three Abrahamic religions are monotheistic, Islam is by far the most monotheistic. Things like the trinity (The son, father, holy spirit) are deemed deeply heretical. God is one, and god is singular, undivided.

The other thing we learn is the importance placed on the prophet, another theme that features prominently in Islam.

Salah - Daily prayer, the act of praying towards Mecca five times every day. Though the acting of praying physically aimed towards Mecca, the spiritual side of the prayer is expected to be directed towards god, who is not restricted to any specific place.

The act of praying towards the same location is mostly grounded in providing unity for the Ummah, the community of believers.

The importance of praying towards Mecca is believed to be largely responsible for the advances in mathematics that occured during the islamic golden age. By using math and reading the stars, muslims of the time attempted to pinpoint the location of Mecca, no matter where in the world they were.

Zakat - The act of giving to the poor. Not quite like a tithe in that it is less specific. Those who themselves are poor are not expected to give zakat, only those that have the means to do so. The exact degree is disputed, though more is better.

Giving to the poor has been open to interpretation. Some parts of muslim society believe that donating to terrorist or rebellious movements is also a form of zakat.

Ramadan - Most likely the most well known of the four. The month long fast. For one month, muslims refrain from eating, drinking, smoking or having sex (of any kind, including masturbation), for the period during which the sun is up.

Because the month of ramadan can vary, it will sometimes be during the summer, and other times during the winter. Due to the day's length being different, combined with the different environmental conditions, keeping with ramadan can be very difficult or reasonably easy, depending on when it starts.

Ramadan, out of the five pillars, is the only one that is generally enforced upon everyone in society, regardless of belief.

People can be excused of the Ramadan, depending on their condition. Pregnant women and sick people being the two most common.

Hajj - The pilgrimage to Mecca that all muslims are expected to make at least once in their life, if they are healthy enough and have the funds to make the trip.

Some of these pilgrimages have become food for legend and myth. Many African kings would often travel in vast entourages, filled with goods, gold, and even animals that the people of the region had rarely seen.

More practically, these pilgrimages were sometimes used as political tricks, forcing rivals to set out for a journey that could last them years. Other times, they were employed as ways to advance a political career, somewhat akin to how a Roman general would return to Rome in a triumph, so too did muslim politicians sometimes prove their worth in the way they undertook the pilgrimage to Mecca.

After revelation, Muhammed did not instantly begin to preach. Upon returning home from the first revelation, he spoke with family as to what would be the wisest move. His uncle, a devout monotheist (though not a christian or jew), urged him to pick up the mantle of prophet.

Muhammed began his preachings in Mecca, an obvious destination for prophets of the time. Mecca was a city filled with idols of many different gods. This gave the city a very wealthy income from pilgrims, something that would later be one of the main reasons for their dispute with Muhammed's message.

Arabia, at the time (and some argue still) was a deeply tribal society. Those who did not belong to a tribe were denied many chances to climb the social ladder.

Islam, being distinctly un-tribal for its time, was reasonably revolutionairy. Many of the people that lacked tribal connections found themselves enthralled at the prospect of Islam, but by and large, the people of Mecca ignored Muhammed's message.

Muhammed enjoyed protection from his tribal ties, allowing him to keep preaching what many Meccans believed was a very destructive story, one that would see all their pilgrim-money dry up if it were to be believed.

Eventually, Muhammed saw no other option but to flee from Mecca. When his protector in his tribe died, his tribe withdrew his protection. Realizing the danger, and the fact that his message had gone as far as it would go in Mecca, he travelled to Medina in what was called Hijra. It is on this day that the Islamic calendar begins, year 0.

There, in Medina, Muhammed ruled as the spiritual leader and judge of the society, a defacto leadership position.

Hatred continued to exist between Muhammed and the Meccan tribes. This clash of divine mandate and economic interests would eventually lead to an all out war between the two cities.

The war would eventually come to an end with Muhammed entering Mecca and destroying the Kabal, the house of the gods, smashing all the idols and establishing Islam and monotheism and the faith of the region.

The Jewish tribe in the city of Medina had contemplated revolting, believing Muhammed's position to be one doomed for failure. Upon being succesful, Muhammed returned to deal with the Jews. He himself wanted to exile them, but his advisors urged him to strip them of their possession and exile them, which they ended up doing.

After defeating Mecca, there were a few enemies left, city states and tribal powers, but in the end, all of Arabia was brought in line.

Some years later, Muhammed died from a fever. His last wish was for Aishia, his wife, to get rid of his last possessions in the world, seven coins. His last words are disputed, but are often quoted as being:

With Muhammed now dead, the newly formed Islamic nation was in trouble. Their legitimacy was derived from the prophet, and already there were reports of different versions of the quran being spread across Arabia. Since most information was spread through word of mouth, the message was mutating in some places.

Abu Bakr, in a meeting of prominent muslims, was chosen as the first Caliph, to rule over a Caliphate.

This proved to be the first splitting point of the, up till that point, unified muslim community. Those that sided with Abu became the Sunni-muslims, believing that since he became the caliph, god must have wanted it.

Those that sided with Ali, adopted son of Muhammed and first convert to Islam, became the Shia-muslims, believing that god's will was adverted. Over the course of the centuries, this relatively minor dispute would prove to be increasingly divisive.

The first four caliphs to rule over the caliphate were all companions of the prophet, and are often named the rightly-guided caliphs. It was these caliphs that made the muslim world into a true empire.

Though Islam is widely known as being spread by the sword, initial conquests followed a more Roman model where the people were not actively converted. The muslims that conquered the regions generally secluded themselves to their own fortresses and cities, taxing the population as a sort of religious warrior-class.

Over time, the various benefits motivated the conquered peoples to convert, allowing them to circumvent taxes and gain many benefits.

One of the first problems the caliphate faced was on the idenity of Islam. Until the caliphs, Islam had been a religion of Arabs, but as the empire grew increasingly larger and more people were brought into both the fold of the empire and faith, the idenity of Islam came into question.

Ali, proving to be a rather poor caliph (argued to be due to his lack of political realism and hardline dedication to the faith), was faced with many uprisings in the caliphate, one of the earliest being lead by Muhammed's favourite wife Aisha. When he was eventually assassinated, the title passed to his son.

His son, eager to avoid a similar fate, gave the title of Caliph to his father's political (and military) rival. This began the Umayyad dynasty.

The Umayyad's pushed the borderrs even further, but suffered from being distant from Muhammed, giving them the appearance of earthly rulers rather than divinely inspired rulers. In an empire where religion was so central, this couldn't stand forever.

The Umayyad's gave way for the Abbassids. Under the rule of the Abbassids (nearly three centuries) the caliphate grew to its greatest height. The stable rule of the Abbassids gave rise to economical and scientific growth, brining about the Islamic golden age.

But, the muslim empire, like all of mankind, was not ready for the arrival of the Mongols. Using superior military tactics, the caliphate was delivered a series of crushing defeats that destroyed the credibility of the caliphate.

A very prominent theme at the time was the belief that the caliphate had drifted away from god, and the mongols were their punishment. This made the Mongol destruction of the region more than just physical, it destroyed the belief in a system of government that proclaimed itself divinely supported.

After defeat at the hands of the mongols the caliphate would slowly wither and die, not entirely vanishing, but growing increasingly weaker until eventually abolished by the Turks after the first world war, though at that time it was more a symbolic move against religiosity than anything else. Everyone's favorite Secularist Ataturk was responsible for driving the dagger through.

Thus ended the period in which Islam was both a religion and a fact of life through earthly government. Rising tides of nationalism made the transition from caliphate to nationhood relatively quick for the region.

Sunni - The largest denomination, believes Abu Bakr was rightly elected as Caliph, has as many as 70-90% of all muslims as followers. Sunnis generally view all other denominations as heretical.

Shia - The second largest denomination with 10-20% of muslims as followers, believe that Ali was supposed to be the first Caliph (he became the fourth).

Shia Islam has several different beliefs, the most peculiar being the insitution of temporary marriage, allowing people to be married for a specific period of time. These contracts can be made to exclude sex, simply allowing a man and woman to live together and avoid dealing with the many rules of unrelated male/female interaction. For example, a male and female student could be married so they can live in the same house and she doesn't have to wear the headscarf. The contract can also permit sex, thus giving rise to a peculiar form of prostiution where men and women enter a marriage contract that can last as little as an hour.

Suffi - A denomination of Islam that puts focus on the spiritual, rather than the practical side of Islam. Very small denomination that needs to hide out of fear of persecution from the largest two sects.

* Ramadan's start and end is decided by the rising and setting of the sun, as such, the government of Dubai has created a special time table for when one is allowed to eat in the Dubai tower, because the top floor does not experience sunset at the same moment as the ground floor.

* The quran, until established in writing, was passed entirely through word-of-mouth. With writing not being widely spread, most of history was passed through entirely through the spoken word. With the message of the quran especially, the people of the region took extreme care in remembering the exact wording of every revelation.

* Muhammed, in his own time, was often criticized for his love of food and spoils of war.

* Revelation came to Muhammed in what was described as a blinding light and a sharp painful noise. Witnesses to these revelations describe the prophet as being in great pain, giving rise to the belief that he suffered from epilepsy.

* The Satanic verses are a widely disputed set of revelations made by Muhammed. When the Meccans asked Muhammed if they could go on worshipping their own gods, Muhammed surprised everyone by saying that they could, adding that they were also real. This pronounciation was a clash with the strict monotheism of Islam. They are called the satanic verses because it is believed that Satan whispered them into Muhammed ear, pretending to be revelation. Most muslims reject the story, arguing that a prophet of god cannot be touched by Satan.

* It is often said that Islam, for its time, was a great improvement for the lives of women, is actually true. At the time, having a girl was considered an insult to one's manhood, often used as objects to trade for favors or deals. Under Islam, women were recognized as humans, though still not quite equal to men.

* One of the few people known to be in hell is Abu Lahab, one of Muhammed's uncles. When Muhammed first pronounced himself, he did so by climbing onto a hill and giving out the warning sign that was usually reserved for warning of an enemy tribe attacking. His uncle, annoyed at the false warning, insulted Muhammed. Over the course of his life, he would do other things, such as throwing goat entrails over the prophet whilst he was praying. His wife, apparently, had a habbit of throwing thorns on the prophet's path when he was walking. She too is one of the few people known to be in hell.

* When the first quran was written, it was noticed that the Arabic language at the time wasn't always perfectly clear, giving rise to different ways of reading certain passages. It was declared that there were, at least, eight different readings that were equally valid.

* Due to the evolution of Arabic, the quranic scripture that is carved into the Dome of the Rock is no longer the same as one would find in a quran printed in this day and age.

* Whilst the headscarf is considered cannon, the face veil is actually never mentioned in the quran. The division on the subject comes from muslims that differ on whether to adhere to the quran (cover the head and hands) or follow what Muhammed the perfect muslim did (his wives were veiled). Facial veils are prominent in Saudi-Arabia, Afghanistan and Pakistan, but are very rare in Iran.