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MAHOMMEDAN RELIGION
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See also:MAHOMMEDAN See also:RELIGION . The Mahommedan religion is generally known as See also:Islam—the name given to it by See also:Mahomet himself—and meaning the resigning or submitting oneself to See also:God. The participle of the same Arabic verb, Muslim (in See also:English usually spelt Moslem), is used for one who professes this religion. The expression " Mahommedan religion " has arisen in the See also:West probably from See also:analogy with " See also:Christian religion," but is not recognized as a proper one by Moslem writers. Islam claims to be a divinely revealed religion given to the See also:world by Mahomet, who was the last of a See also:succession of inspired prophets. Its See also:doctrine and practices are to be found in (I) the See also:Book of God—the See also:Koran—which was sent down from the highest See also:heaven to See also:Gabriel in the lowest, who in turn revealed it in sections to Mahomet; (2) the collections of tradition (hadith) containing the sayings and manner of See also:life (sunna) of the See also:Prophet; (3) the use of analogy (giyas) as applied to (I) and (2); and (4) the universal consent (ijrna') of the believers. The See also:worship of Islam consists in (1) the See also:recital of the creed; (2) the recital of the ordained prayers; (3) the fast during the See also:month of Ramadhan; (4) See also:alms-giving; (5) the See also:hajj, the See also:pilgrimage to See also:Mecca. The See also:theology of Islam finds its first public expression among the orthodox in the teaching of al-Ash'See also:ari (d. after 932), but had its real beginning among the sects that arose soon after the See also:death of Mahomet. Islam is the latest of the so-called world-religions, and as several of the others were practised in See also:Arabia at the See also:time of Mahomet, and the Prophet undoubtedly borrowed some of his doctrines and some of his practices from these, it is necessary to enumerate them and to indicate the extent to which they prevailed in the Arabian world. Relations with Other Religions.—The religions practised in Arabia at the time of Mahomet were heathenism, Judaism, See also:Christianity, and Zoroastrianism. 1. Heathenism was the religion of the See also:majority of the See also:Arabs. In the cities of See also:south Arabia it was a survival from the forms represented in the Sabaean, Minaean and Himyaritic See also:inscriptions of south Arabia (see ARABIA: Antiquities). The more popular See also:form current among the nomads is known very imperfectly from the remains of pre-Islamic See also:poetry and such See also:works as the Kitab ul-Asnam contained in Yaqut's See also:geography, from See also:Shahrastani's See also:work on the sects, and from the few references in classical writers. From these we have mostly names of See also:local deities (cf. J. See also:Wellhausen, Reste arabischen Heidenturns, 2nd ed., See also:Berlin, 1897) and See also:ancient religious customs, which remained in See also:part after the introduction of Islam (cf. W. See also:Robertson See also: It was against this association (shirk) of gods that Mahomet inveighed in his See also:attempt to unify the religion and polity of the Arabs. But there were features in this heathenism favourable to unity, and these Mahomet either simply took over into Islam or adapted for his purpose. The popularity of the Ka'ba in Mecca as a See also:place of resort for worshippers from all parts of Arabia led Mahomet not only to See also:institute the hajj as a See also:duty, but also to take over the customs connected with the See also:heathen worship of these visits, and later to make Mecca the qibla, i.e. the place to which his followers turned when they prayed. The name of See also:Allah, who seems to have been the god of the Koreish (cf. D. S. Margoliouth, Mohammed, p. 19, See also:London, 1905), was accepted by Mahomet as the name of the one God, though he abandoned the corresponding See also:female deity Al-See also:lat. II 2. Judaism had See also:long been known in Arabia at the time of the Prophet. Whether See also:Hebrews settled in Arabia as early as the time of See also:David (cf. R. See also:Dozy, See also:Die Israeliten zu Mecca, See also:Leipzig, 1864), or not, is of little importance here as Judaism cannot be said to have existed until the end of the 5th See also:century B.C. The Seleucid persecutions and the See also:political troubles that ended with the fall of See also:Jerusalem (A.D. 70) probably sent many See also:Jews to Arabia. In the 5th and 6th centuries the See also:history of south Arabia and of Nejran is largely that of the strife between Jews and Christians. In the See also:north-west the Jews possessed Tema, Khaibar, Yathrib (See also:Medina), Fadak, and other smaller settlements. In these they lived as self-contained communities, not seeking to proselytize but working at their trades, especially concerned with See also:money and See also:jewelry. Mahomet seems to have expected their help in his See also:proclamation of monotheism, and his first gibla was Jerusalem. It was only when they refused to accept him as prophet that he turned in anger against them. They had, however, supplied him with much material from the Old Testament, and the stories of creation, the patriarchs and early See also:kings and prophets occur continually in the Koran, told evidently as they were recited by the See also:common See also:people and with many mistakes caused by his own misunderstanding. 3. Christianity, though later than Judaism, had a sure footing in Arabia. It had suffered persecution in Nejran and had been supported in the south by the Abyssinian invasions. The See also:kingdom of See also:Hira was largely Christian; the same is true of the north Arabian tribes of Bakr and Taghlib, and See also:east of the See also:Jordan and on the Syrian boundary as well as in Yemama Christianity had made progress. Pre-Islamic literature contains many allusions to the teaching and practices of Christianity. Of the time of its introduction little is known; little also of the form in which it was taught, See also:save that it came from the Eastern See also: Sources of Authority.—Islam, as we have said, is founded on: (I) the Koran; (2) the tradition or rather the sunna (manner of life of Mahomet) contained in the tradition (Iadith); (3) ijma'; the universal agreement; (4) qiyds (analogy). 1. The Koran 1 (properly Qur'an from qara'a to collect, or to read, recite) is the copy of an uncreated See also:original preserved by God (see below), sent down from the seventh heaven to Gabriel in the first heaven, and revealed to Mahomet in sections as occasion required. These revelations were recited by the Prophet and in many cases written down at once, though from ii. See also:loo it would seem that this was not always the See also:case. • God is the See also:speaker throughout the revelations. It seems probable that the whole Koran was written in Mahomet's lifetime, but not brought together as a whole or arranged in See also:order. As it exists now the Koran consists of 114 chapters called suras (from sura, a See also:row of bricks in a See also:wall, a degree or step). The first is the Fatiha (opening), which occupies the place of the See also:Lord's See also:Prayer in Christianity. The others are arranged generally in order of length, the longest coming first, the shortest (often the earliest in date) coming at the end. Certain See also:groups, however, indicated by initial unvowelled letters, seem to have been kept together from the time of the Prophet. At the See also:head of each sura is a See also:title, the place of its origin (Mecca or Medina) and the number of its verses (dyat) together with the See also:formula, " In the name of God the Merciful, the Compassionate " (except in sure 9). For liturgical purposes the whole book is divided into 6o sections (ahzab) or into 30 divisions (ajza), each subdivided into a number of prostrations (ruk'a or sajda). The origin of the collected and written Koran is due to See also:Omar, who in the See also:caliphate of See also:Abu Bekr pointed out that many possessors of suras were being slain in the battles of Islam and their See also:property lost, that there was a danger in this way that much of the See also:revelation might disappear, and that men were uncertain what was to be accepted as genuine revelation. Accordingly Zaid See also:ibn Thabit who had been secretary to Mahomet, was commissioned to collect all he could find of the revelation. His work seems to have been simply that of a See also:collector. He seems to have done his work thoroughly and made a copy of the whole for Abu Bekr. The collection 1 See also KORAN.was thus chiefly a private See also:matter, and this copy passed after Abu Bekr's death into the hands of Omar, and after his death to Hafsa, daughter of Omar, a widow of Mahomet. In the caliphate of See also:Othman it was discovered that there were serious See also:differences between the readings of the Koran possessed by the Syrian troops and those of the Eastern soldiers, and Othman was urged to have a copy prepared which should be authoritative for the Moslem world. He appointed Zaid ibn Thabit and three members of the tribe of Koreish (Quraish) to do the work. Each of these made a copy of Abu Bekr's collection, carefully preserving Koreishite forms of words. How far the See also:text was amended by the help of other copies is doubtful; in any case the mode of See also:procedure was undoubtedly very conservative. The four similar See also:manuscripts were sent, one each to Medina, Cufa (See also:Kufa), See also:Basra and See also:Damascus, and an order was issued that all differing copies should be destroyed. In spite of the See also:personal unpopularity of Othman this recension was adopted by the Moslem world and remains the only See also:standard text. A few variant readings and differences of order of the suras in the collections of Ubay ibn Ka'b and of Ibn Masud were, however, known to later commentators. The only variants after the time of Othman were owing to different possible ways of pronouncing the consonantal text. These are usually of little importance for the meaning. As the text is now always vowelled, See also:variations are found in the vowels of different copies, and the opinions of seven leading " readers " are regarded as worthy of respect by commentators (see Th. See also:Noldeke, Geschichte See also:des Qorans, pp. 279 seq., See also:Gottingen, 1860). Various characteristics enable one to establish with more or less certainty the relative See also:chronological order of the suras in the Koran, at any See also:rate so far as to place them in the first or second Meccan See also:period or that of Medina. The form of the sentences is a See also:guide, for the earliest parts are usually written in the saj' form (see ARABIA: Literature). The expressions used also help; thus the " O ye people " of the Meccan period is replaced in the Medina suras by " O ye who believe." The oaths in the first Meccan period are longer, in the second shorter, and are absent in the Medinan. In the earliest period the See also:style is more elevated and passionate. Occasionally the time of origin is determined by reference to See also:historical events. In accordance with such principles of See also:criticism two leading scholars, Noldeke (loc. cit.) and H. Grimme (in his Mohammed Zweiter Teil. Einleitung in den Koran. 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