MIDDLE EAST COUNTRIES




Major

Algeria
Azerbaijan
Georgia
Afghanistan
Kazakhstan
Pakistan
Uzbekistan
Turkmenistan
Tajikistan
Kyrgyzstan
Algeria
Mauritania
Western Sahara
Libya
Morocco
Tunisia
Djibouti
Eritrea
Somalia
Sudan

Traditional

Turkey
Bahrain
Kuwait
Oman
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
United Arab Emirates
Yemen
Gaza Strip
Iraq
Israel
Jordan
Lebanon
Syria
West Bank
Iran
Cyprus
Egypt







THE MESANGER



The Prophet Muhammad is known to all Arabs, his story is quite interesting, I will tell you about The Prophet Muhammad, his message, the faith and unity.  Muhammad was born around 570AD in the Arabian Peninsula, where tribes were constantly at war.  When Muhammad was young he was sent off to live with his uncle.  At the age of 6 both of Muhammad’s parents had died.  In his uncle’s clan the Bedawin, they would get together like all other Arabs across the Arabian Peninsula and tell stories that were told and retold for generations.  Because of this some of the most important people in the tribe were poets because they linked the tribe to there ancestors.  Poets binned the Bedawin together.  Muhammad was taught hunting skills be his uncle.  They would raid and defend grazing lands trade routes and most importantly wells.  Water was very precious to them.  Each clan had its separate gods and totems such as water, wind, fire, and night that were kept in a shrine in Mecca wade of wood, stone and cloth called the Kaaba which in Arabic means cube.  It was said that the Hebrew patriarch Abraham built the Kaaba centuries ago and that a sacred black stone that is said to have fell from the sky was held within.


In Mecca you would find rare spices, silk from China and much more.  The local religion was mixed quite a bit.  Mecca was the center of a large trade route, which connected the Mediterranean Sea to the Indian Ocean and linking Byzantium Empire and Persia to India and China.  Muhammad became a merchant and was a good one.  At the age of 25 while leading his caravan his clan spotted the shipment’s owner a widow named Hidija who soon gave a proposal to Muhammad and they got married.  Muhammad was a very intelligent and open-minded man and could help people with there problems.  Once when the Kaaba fell into disrepair the clan chief wondered who would have the honor of putting the stone back where it belongs.  Before violence broke out Muhammad proposed an idea to the clan.  With united effort the four leaders shared the weight.  In gratitude the leaders invited Muhammad to put the stone were it belonged, he was from there on known as ‘the trusted one’.  Muhammad would go up to the mountains around Mecca and meditate.

One time Muhammad had a vision while meditating up in the mountains near Mecca that is talked about through out Arab religion even today (cave was called cave of Hira).  While Muhammad was up in the mountains he saw a vision of an angel in the form of a man named Gabriel, instructing him to recite in the name of God the Almighty.  Muhammad would say to people that there is no God, but Allah.  One God meant one people, so all of the tribes formed as one.  Muhammad began to srecite to the community.  Some people called him a poet, there’s a chronic serum saying, “Muhammad is not a poet, poets speak through desire Muhammad dose not speak through desire, he speaks through God.” Muhammad followers began to grow and those that followed Muhammad called themselves Muslims ‘Those who surrender to God’.  They set out to preserve the message that Muhammad had brought, this was the beginning of the Koran.  They copied it down so the message could not be corrupted.  The Koran is a revelation of spiritual teaching, it was revealed and it remains in Arabic.  There were some paintings of Muhammad, but were not to be worshiped.  The tribe chiefs decided that Muhammad and this message must be removed forever.  The tribe chiefs decided to assassinate Muhammad, and they asked his uncle to put down his tribes defenses so the path to assassinate Muhammad was clear, he refused. Muhammad’s follower’s were driven away from the markets and starved, and those without tribe protection were tortured and killed.  In 619 A.D. Muhammad’s wife died and his uncle died as well.

This was the opportunity Muhammad’s enemies were waiting for.  The people of an oasis city named Yakrib invited Muhammad for his peacemaking skills. Muhammad agreed to travel to Yakrib in exchange for safe protection and refuge for his tribes‘ people.  They began a new community, a new tribe and for the first time they were bound not by blood but by faith.  Their journey known as the Hijra, 622A.D. in the Christian calendar marks the Muslim year one.  Muhammad’s goal on the people of Yakrib was the same goal as his major goal: to bring unity and peace with his message. He would bring peace between tribes that were intractable.  Yakbir would be known as ‘The city of the Prophet’ Medina.  Muhammad wanted to bring all of the groups in Medina together to form a sort of community of believers that in a way would bring them together in a kind of harmony.

While the community in Medina grew, a life of simple devotion and ritual began.  A freed Abyssinian slave named Belal was the first to call believers to prayer at Muhammad’s house.  The call to prayer, the first Islamic pillar which is the affirmation of God’s unity “La ilaha ill-Allah”.  To constantly remind them-selves of the unity of God and unity of what we should focus on in life.  The call to prayer brought the people to come and pray with the caller, and that all people praying would face toward Mecca and more specifically toward the Kaaba.  It’s said that when Muhammad was in Medina he received a revelation instructing those in prayer to face in the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca.  Though filled with idols it was still the shrine of Abraham the first believer in the one true god.

But even as the Muslims were praying towards Mecca their enemies there were rallying in force, their goal was to wipe out the Muslims. Muhammad’s people began to gather weapons, though the Muslims prepared their arms as best as they could they were out matched and out numbered.  They only mustered a force of 313 people, mostly old men and boys, with few weapons.  While on the other side the Mecums mustered a force of strong, well-armed force of 1000 men strong.  For years Muhammad had tried to bring Islam to the people of Mecca peacefully, and now it was time to fight.  The Muslims fought their own tribes, brother fighting brother, and son against father. Muhammad’s troops fought hard.  There were three bloody battles, at one point the young Muslim community was at the edge of annihilation.  For three years the Muslim army held out against ‘staggering’ odds.


As word of the war spread other Bedawin tribes saw Gods hand in Muhammad’s victories.  One by one the people of the dessert joined Muhammad’s struggle.  The Muslim army grew and tide began to turn.  The Muslim forces advanced to the outskirts of Mecca.  It was a furious siege that lasted nearly a month, until the city fell into the hands of Muhammad.  In 630 A.D. The terrified people of Mecca braced for the onslaught, Muhammad’s army was returning home now 10,000 strong.  The vanquished knew the terrible fate that awaited them.


The Mecums could expect a big revenge, the men would be killed and the women and children would be sold into slavery.  There is little pity for the loser of a tribal war.  But Muhammad had a surprise for the city, when he entered the city he did have a bloody revenge, but embraced the very Mecums who fought him for three years and almost annihilated him.  The people of Mecca were surprised.  But not all of the people escaped the wrath of Muhammad, his troops rushed straight to the Kaaba after their victory.  Seven times they circled the Kaaba.  But it was not the people Muhammad had come to destroy; he came for their gods.  He raised his staff and the tribal gods of his ancestors crumbled to dust.  When Muhammad destroyed the idols he was breaking apart the tribal system, this was shocking to the people.  The destruction of the idols created a new beginning, doing so created a powerful force.  Mecca was just the beginning, one by one the tribes were summoned under the banner of Islam.  A worldwide community of faith had begun.


The Muslims turned to the north swept into what is now Lebanon and Seria then turned to Egypt and North Africa after that they moved to the Mediterranean.  Soon they took over Iran and two thirds of the Christian Byzantine Empire, now there Empire was larger that Rome’s.  Their Empire stretched from Morocco to where the Indian border is today.  Nobody was to “convert or die” in fact the Muslims let the Jews and Christians maintain there religious laws.


As they swept through Seria the Muslims held their Friday prayers in the church of St. John the Baptist in Damascus allowing its Christian congregation to continue its services on Sunday.  Side by side the two religions shared the same building in peace.  As the Muslim community grew they bought the church and built a huge mosque on the site.  They decorated it with golden mosaics.  The great mosque of Damascus would be a great model for the other Mosques to come, all across the world.  The Muslim’s found a way to gather fresh water with a filter and two separate ponds, the fresh water would then be sent through pipes through the city.


This was hundreds of years before anyone had even thought of doing something like this.  The Muslim’s thought of an irrigation system an soon agriculture flourished.  But Muslim’s saved their most monumental feat for the holy city of Jerusalem.  There they constructed the Dome of the Rock.  Like Mecca and the Kaaba this was also a holy sight referring back to Abraham, for the rock within is to be the place he nearly sacrificed his son.  In just 100 years Muhammad’s empire was greater than Rome’s and they had build a religion that flourished around the world.  But Muhammad never lived to see it in the 11th year of the Islam calendar 632 A.D two years after the taking of Mecca Muhammad died.  Medina fell into despair; the town was in sorrow and ceremony.  Muhammad had said that he wanted a simple grave with no mark and nothing else, for that would interfere with their worship to God.  The people only saw God through Muhammad and know that the Prophet was gone then maybe God was too.


The people wondered how they would go about choosing a new leader.  According to the Shiites a faction of the Shia of Alli, Muhammad had chosen his son in law Alli to be his successor.  The Sundi opinion or the majority opinion was that Muhammad had not chosen a successor, but had said to choose one of the elders.  Eventually the successor became Aluh’Bekar who told the people “If you worship Muhammad know that he is dead, if you worsh ip God know that he lives forever.”



Two hundred years after Muhammad’s death the Muslim faith reached out and changed three different continents.  It took nearly a year to reach from their lands of the border of India to Spain.  The center of this empire was a city named Baghdad, it was city of wealth, but it was mainly important for its scholars making Baghdad the center of learning for the Islamic community.  The best scholars were accepted in to Baghdad’s center of wisdom, The House of Wisdom.  Scholars from all over the empire would come together in Baghdad, even Christians and Jews.  Soon they were fighting to be the elite in their job.  Scholars were sent through the empire to search for as many ancient texts as possible.  This was the first international scientific search in history.


Unlike the Christians the Muslims thinkers thought of no contradiction between their religion and lures governing the natural world, so they embraced Aristotle and Plato, which the Christians called phony.  From the Hindu’s came mathematical concepts that we use today.  It was scholars from the House of Wisdom that created the Arab numerals.  The Renaissance had its beginnings in Baghdad.  And soon the Muslims began to challenge their wisdom.

Many things like algebra, engineering and astronomy were all based from Muslim scientist, they also thrived in medicine.  The Muslims had a theory that disease was given by tiny airborne molecules like germs.  Their theory of anatomy was so complicated that they remained in use to Muslim and European physicians for 600 years.  They also studied the human eye.










Call to Prayer


Allah is Most Great. Allah is Most Great.
Allah is Most Great. Allah is Most Great.
I bear witness that there is none worthy of being worshipped except Allah.
I bear witness that there is none worthy of being worshipped except Allah.
I bear witness that Muhammad is the Apostle of Allah.
I bear witness that Muhammad is the Apostle of Allah.
Come to prayer. Come to prayer.
Come to Success. Come to Success.
Allah is Most Great. Allah is Most Great.
There is none worthy of being worshipped except Allah.
Allahu Akbar. Allahu Akbar.
Allahu Akbar. Allahu Akbar.
Ash-hadu an la ilaha ill-Allah.
Ash-hadu an la ilaha ill-Allah.
Ash-hadu anna Muhammad-ar-Rasoolullah.
Ash-hadu anna Muhammad-ar-Rasoolullah.
Hayya ‘alas-Salah. Hayya ‘alas-Salah.
Hayya ‘alal-falah. Hayya ‘alal-falah.
Allahu Akbar. Allahu Akbar.
La ilaha ill-Allah.







Approximately 40% of worldwide Shi’a adherents are concentrated in Iran, with other significant population in Iraq, Pakistan, and India.  Shi’a make up the majority of the Muslim population in several countries, including Iran (90–95%), Iraq (65–70%), Azerbaijan, Bahrain, and Lebanon
Shi’a Islam has several branches, the largest of which is the Twelvers (iṯnāʿašariyya) which the label Shi’a generally refers to. Although the Twelver Shi’a share many core practices with the Sunni, the two branches disagree over the proper importance and validity of specific collections of hadith. The Twelver Shi’a follow a legal tradition called Ja’fari jurisprudence. Other smaller groups include the Ismaili and Zaidi, who differ from Twelvers in both their line of successors and theological beliefs.


Islam consists of a number of religious denominations that are essentially similar in belief but which have significant theological and legal differences. The primary division is between the Sunni and the Shi’a, with Sufism generally considered to be a mystical inflection of Islam rather than a distinct school. According to most sources, 70% of the world’s Muslims are Sunni, 20% are Shi’a with the 10% being other various small minorities and Islamic sects.
Sunni

Sunni Muslims are the largest group in Islam, comprising 70% of the world’s 1.5 billion Muslims, hence the title ‘Ahl as-Sunnah wa’l-Jamā‘ah’ (people of the principle and majority). In Arabic, as-Sunnah literally means “principle” or “path”. The Sunnah (the example of Muhammad’s life) as recorded in the Qur’an and the hadith is the main pillar of Sunni doctrine. Sunnis believe that the first four caliphs were the rightful successors to Muhammad; since God did not specify any particular leaders to succeed him, those leaders had to be elected. There are four recognised madh’habs (schools of thought): Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi’i, and Hanbali. All four accept the validity of the others and a Muslim may choose any one that he or she finds agreeable.

There are other Islamic sects that may be considered as being Sunni yet are believed to have departed from the majority by introducing bidah (innovations) and extreme political views which are divorced from Islam.




The first pillar of Islam shahada, literally meaning Bearing Witness, the affirmation in Allah, and Muhammad as his prophet.  The second pillar is salat, group prayer or worship.  Group prayer is more blessed than individual prayer, Muhammad suggested Friday as the day that Muslims would gather to pray.  The third pillar zakat  means purification, but has evolved to designate tithing and almsgiving.  The fourth pillar is sawm the fast during the month of Ramadan the ninth mounth of the Muslim calendar.  The fifth pillar the haji the pilgrimage to Mecca, a sacered duty and transcendent opportunity.









Shahadah (profession of faith), Salat (prayers), Sawm (fasting), Zakat (giving of alms, specifically during Ramadan) and Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca, the place where the most famous islamic temple is located)


These five practices are essential to Muslims. For Shia Islam, the five pillars are more abstract and inward oriented: Tawhid (monotheism), Ma’ad (Day of judgment), Nubuwwah (Prophecy [Prophet of Islam, Jesus, Jewish Prophets, and other prophets]), Imamah (Leadership of the Twelve Imams), and Adl (Justice).




In the Year of the Hegira
A.H. 1430     A.H. 1431     A.H. 1432     A.H. 1433
Muharram
(Islamic New Year)
Dec. 29, 2008         Dec. 18, 2009         Dec. 7, 2010         Nov. 26, 2011
Mawlid al-Nabi
(Muhammad’s Birthday)
March 9, 2009     Feb. 26, 2010         Feb. 15, 2011         Feb. 4, 2012
Ramadan begins
Aug. 22, 2009         Aug. 11, 2010         Aug. 1, 2011         July 20, 2012
Eid al-Fitr
(Ramadan ends)
Sep. 21, 2009         Sep. 9, 2010         Aug. 30, 2011         Aug. 19, 2012
Eid al-Adha
(Festival of Sacrifice)
Nov. 28, 2009         Nov. 15, 2010         Nov. 6, 2011         Oct. 26, 2012




The Islamic New Year

The month of Muharram marks the beginning of the Islamic liturgical year. The Islamic year begins on the first day of Muharram, and is counted from the year of the Hegira (anno Hegirae) the year in which Muhammad emigrated from Mecca to Medina (A.D. July 16, 622).

The Islamic new year is celebrated relatively quietly, with prayers and readings and reflection upon the hegira.
Mawlid al-Nabi (12 Rabi 1)
Prophet Muhammad’s Birthday

This holiday celebrates the birthday of Muhammad, the founder of Islam. It is fixed as the 12th day of the month of Rabi I in the Islamic calendar. Mawlid means birthday of a holy figure and al-Nabi means prophet.

The day is commemorated with recollections of Muhammad’s life and significance. Fundamentalist Muslims, such as the Wahhabi sect, do not celebrate it.
Eid al-Fitr (1 Shawwal)
The Celebration concluding Ramadan

Ramadan, the month of fasting, ends with the festival of Eid al-Fitr. Literally the “Festival of Breaking the Fast,” Eid al-Fitr is one of the two most important Islamic celebrations (Eid al-Adha is the other). At Eid al-Fitr people dress in their finest clothes, adorn their homes with lights and decorations, give treats to children, and enjoy visits with friends and family.

A sense of generosity and gratitude colors these festivities. Although charity and good deeds are always important in Islam, they have special significance at the end of Ramadan. As the month draws to a close, Muslims are obligated to share their blessings by feeding the poor and making contributions to mosques.
Eid al-Adha (10 Dhu’l-Hijjah)
The celebration concluding the Hajj

Eid al-Adha, or the Feast of Sacrifice, commemorates the prophet Abraham’s willingness to obey Allah by sacrificing his son Ishmael. According to the Qu’ran, just before Abraham sacrificed his son, Allah replaced Ishmael with a ram, thus sparing his life.

One of the two most important Islamic festivals, Eid al-Adha begins on the 10 day of Dhu’l-Hijja, the last month of the Islamic calendar. Lasting for three days, it occurs at the conclusion of the annual Hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca. Muslims all over the world celebrate, not simply those undertaking the hajj, which for most Muslims is a once-a-lifetime occurrence.

The festival is celebrated by sacrificing a lamb or other animal and distributing the meat to relatives, friends, and the poor. The sacrifice symbolizes obedience to Allah and its distribution to others is an expression of generosity, one of the five pillars of Islam






The Shi’a constitute about 15% of Islam, coming as the second-largest branch. They believe in the political and religious leadership of Imams from the progeny of Ali ibn Abi Talib, who according to most Shi’a are in a state of ismah, meaning infallibility. They believe that Ali ibn Abi Talib, as the cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad, was his rightful successor, and they call him the first Imam (leader), rejecting the legitimacy of the previous Muslim caliphs. To most Shi’a, an Imam rules by right of divine appointment and holds “absolute spiritual authority” among Muslims, having final say in matters of doctrine and revelation.

Approximately 40% of worldwide Shi’a adherents are concentrated in Iran, with other significant population in Iraq, Pakistan, and India. Shi’a make up the majority of the Muslim population in several countries, including Iran (90–95%), Iraq (65–70%), Azerbaijan, Bahrain, and Lebanon.

Shi’a Islam has several branches, the largest of which is the Twelvers which the label Shi’a generally refers to. Although the Twelver Shi’a share many core practices with the Sunni, the two branches disagree over the proper importance and validity of specific collections of hadith. The Twelver Shi’a follow a legal tradition called Ja’fari jurisprudence.  Other smaller groups include the Ismaili and Zaidi, who differ from Twelvers in both their line of successors and theological beliefs.


Sufism is a mystical-ascetic form of Islam. By focusing on the more spiritual aspects of religion, Sufis strive to obtain direct experience of God by making use of “intuitive and emotional faculties” that one must be trained to use. Sufism and Islamic law are usually considered to be complementary, although Sufism has been criticized by some Muslims for being an unjustified religious innovation. Many Sufi orders, or tariqas, can be classified as either Sunni or Shi’a, but others classify themselves simply as ‘Sufi’. Some Sufi groups can be described as non-Islamic when their teachings are very distinct from Islam.
Others


Ahmadiyya is a religious movement founded towards the end of the 19th century and originating with the life and teachings of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835–1908). Ghulam Ahmad was an important religious figure who claimed to have fulfilled the prophecies about the world reformer of the end times, who was to herald the Eschaton as predicted in the traditions of various world religions and bring about the final triumph of Islam as per Islamic prophecy. He claimed that he was the Mujaddid (divine reformer) of the 14th Islamic century, the promised Messiah (“Second Coming of Christ”) and Mahdi awaited by Muslims. Ahmadi emphasis lay in the belief that Islam is the final law for humanity as revealed to Muhammad and the necessity of restoring to it its true essence and pristine form, which had been lost through the centuries. Thus, Ahmadis view themselves as leading the revival and peaceful propagation of Islam. The Ahmadis were among the earliest Muslim communities to arrive in Britain and other Western countries.. Ahmadis are considered to be non-Muslims by many mainstream Muslims. They have been formally declared as non-Muslims by Pakistan.

                                                 BIBLIOGRAPHY

“YouTube - Islam: Empire of Faith. Part 1: Prophet Muhammad and Rise of Islam (full; PBS Documentary).” YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. Web. 27 May 2010. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yX3UHNhQ1Zk>.



“YouTube - Islam: Empire of Faith. Part 2: The Awakening (full; PBS Documentary).” YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. Web. 27 May 2010. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1PxJomypQE>.


“Islam.” Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 27 May 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam>.


“Major Islamic Holidays.” Major Islamic Holidays. Web. 27 May 2010. <Major Islamic Holidays>.


My Step dad helped a little and so did Sherif.