5. Islam (5)

History, Understanding the Historic Relationship between Christianity and Islam

The present form of Islam began in Saudi Arabia in 622 AD (the year zero of the Islamic calendar). However, many if not most, of the followers of Islam believe that:

• Islam existed before Mohammed was born.
• The origins of Islam date back to the creation of the world.
• Mohammed was the last, and by far, the greatest of a series of prophets.

Muslims hold that the message of Islam – submission to the will of the one God, Allah – is the same as the message preached by all the messengers sent by God to humanity since Adam. From an Islamic point of view, Islam is the oldest of the monotheistic religions because it represents both the original, and the final revelation of God to Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed.

Islamic texts depict Judaism and Christianity as prophetic successor traditions to the teachings of Abraham. The Qur'an calls Jews and Christians "people of the Book," and distinguishes them from polytheists. In order to reconcile discrepancies between the earlier prophets and the Qur'an, Muslims claim that Jews and Christians forgot or distorted the word of God after it was revealed to them. Most early Muslim scholars, and some modern ones, believe it was just distortion in interpretation of the Bible. However, others believe that there was also textual distortion, that Jews changed the Old Testament (Torah) and the Christians the Injil (gospels) by altering the meaning, form, and placement of words in their respective holy texts.

By the year 750, Islam had expanded to China , India , along the Southern shore of the Mediterranean and into Spain . By 1550 they had reached Vienna in Austria ! Wars resulted, expelling Muslims from Spain and Europe . Since their trade routes were mostly over land, they did not develop extensive sea trade (as the English, the Dutch and the Spaniards). As a result, the old world occupation of North America . was left to Christians.

Mohammed died in 632 without appointing a successor or creating a system to choose one. As a result, the caliphate was established. Caliph is the title for the leader of the Ummah, or community of Islam. Early caliphs believed themselves to be both the spiritual and temporal leaders of Islam, and insisted that obedience to the caliph in all things was the hallmark of the good Muslim. Arguments over whether the caliphs should be elected or of Mohammed’s bloodline started the rift between what is now known as its two main branches of Sunni and Shi’a Muslims. Besides these two main groups, other sects include Sufis (mysticism, self-denial), Wahhabis (radical Sunnism, mostly in Saudi Arabia ), the Druze (a secretive sect in Lebanon and northern Israel ) Alawites (Shi’a sect, mostly Syria ), Ahmadiyyas (orthodox cult, Pakistan ) and Sikhism (a mixture of Islam and Hinduism, India ).[12]

Sunnis and Shia
Sunni	Shi’ite
About 80% of Muslims	About 10-15% of Muslims
Mohammed’s successor should be elected	Should be from Mohammed’s bloodline
Authority of written tradition (the Sunna and Hadith) and guidance from elders	Authority from the Imam (“pope”). Are waiting the return of the 12th Imam (Mahdi)
Separation between civil and religious authorities	Combine religious and political power
Central Iraq , most other Islamic nations	Iran/South Iraq

Table 32- 2 : Sunnis and Shia