INTRODUCTION TO THE HOLY QURAN

All through the ages Allah conveyed His message to people through messengers and prophets. When, with th epassage of time, this message was change d or forgotten Allah sent another  messenger. The Holy Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H) is the last of the messenger and the Holy Quran is the last book which is for whole mankind and for all times. Allah has Himself taken the responsibility for it's protection and preservation. 

The Holy Quran is a sacred Book, containing guidance for all mankind . Books had been revealed to previous Prophets as well. Although their basic teachings and commandments were similar, yet these books were for the needs of a particular people or period and did not meet the requirement of all humanity. The Quran is a complete Book which provides guidance in all spheres of human activity. Its teaching are for all times and conditions
         The Arabic word Quran means Reading or Recitation. The Quran is a record of the revalations or commands sent by Allah and received by Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H)  through the angel Jibrael.
         The Quran was revealed to Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H) over a period of several years. Revelations started in the fortieth year of Hazrat Muhammad's (P.B.U.H) life when He was appointed the Prophet of Allah and continued for twenty-three years. As He approached the fortiethyear of his life, 

Read More

Salat

Salat is the obligatory Muslim prayers, performed five times each day by Muslims. It is the second Pillar of Islam.

God ordered Muslims to pray at five set times of day:

• Salat al-fajr: dawn, before sunrise
• Salat al-zuhr: midday, after the sun passes its highest
• Salat al-'asr: the late part of the afternoon
• Salat al-maghrib: just after sunset
• Salat al-'isha: between sunset and midnight

All Muslims try to do this. Muslim children as young as seven are encouraged to pray.

Prayer sets the rhythm of the day

This prayer timetable gives Muslims the pattern of their day.

In Islamic countries, the public call to prayer from the mosques sets the rhythm of the day for the entire population, including non-Muslims.

A universal Muslim ritual

The prayer ritual, which is over 1400 years old, is repeated five times a day by hundreds of millions of people all round the world.

Carrying it out is not only highly spiritual, but connects each Muslim to all others around the world, and to all those who have uttered the same words and made the same movements at different times in Islamic history.

Prayers of body, mind and soul

The set prayers are not just phrases to be spoken.

Prayer for a Muslim involves uniting mind, soul, and body in worship; so a Muslim carrying out these prayers will perform a whole series of set movements that go with the words of the prayer.

Muslims make sure that they are in the right frame of mind before they pray; they put aside all everyday cares and thoughts so that they can concentrate exclusively on God.

If a Muslim prays without the right attitude of mind, it as if they hadn't bothered to pray at all.

Woe to those who pray, but are unmindful of their prayer, or who pray only to be seen by people

Qur'an 107:4-6

Muslims don't pray for God's benefit

Muslims do not pray for the benefit of Allah.

Allah does not need human prayers because he has no needs at all.

Muslims pray because God has told them that they are to do this, and because they believe that they obtain great benefit in doing so.

Muslims pray direct to God

A Muslim prays as if standing in the presence of Allah.

In the ritual prayers each individual Muslim is in direct contact with Allah. There is no need of a priest as an intermediary. (While there is a prayer leader in the mosque - the imam - they are not a priest, simply a person who knows a great deal about Islam.)

Praying in the mosque

Muslims can pray anywhere, but it is especially good to pray with others in a mosque.

Praying together in a congregation helps Muslims to realise that all humanity is one, and all are equal in the sight of Allah.

Ritual washing

Muslims must be clean before they pray. They make sure of this by performing ritual washing, called wudhu. Mosques have washing facilities.

Read More

Religion in the Safavid Empire - the negatives

Religion

Religion in the Safavid Empire - the negatives

One of Shah Ismail's most important decisions was to declare that the state religion would be the form of Islam called Shi'ism, that at the time was completely foreign to Iranian culture.

The Safavids launched a vigorous campaign to convert what was then a predominantly Sunni population by persuasion and by force. The Sunni ulama (a religious council of wise men) either left or were killed.

To promote Shi'ism the Safavids brought in scholars from Shi'ite countries to form a new religious elite. They appointed an official (the Sadr) to co-ordinate this elite - and ensure that it did what the Shah wanted. The religious leaders effectively became a tool of the government.

The Safavids also spent money to promote religion, making grants to shrines and religious schools. And most craftily of all, they used grants of land and money to create a new class of wealthy religious aristocrats who owed everything to the state.

In specifically religious terms the Safavids not only persecuted Sunni Muslims, but Shi'ites with different views, and all other religions. Alien shrines were vandalised, and Sufi mystic groups forbidden.

This was surprising, since the Safavids owed their origins to a Sufi order and to a form of Shi'ism that they now banned. They also reduced the importance of the Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca), replacing it with pilgrimage to Shi'ite shrines.

Religion in the Safavid Empire - the positives

The early Safavid empire was effectively a theocracy. Religious and political power were completely intertwined, and encapsulated in the person of the Shah.

The people of the Empire soon embraced the new faith with enthusiasm, celebrating Shi'ite festivals with great piety. The most significant of these was Ashura, when Shia Muslims mark the death of Husayn. Ali was also venerated.

Because Shi'ism was now a state religion, with major educational establishments devoted to it, its philosophy and theology developed greatly during the Safavid Empire.

Read More

Safavid Empire (1501-1722)

Introduction

The Safavid Empire (1501-1722)

The Safavid Empire was based in what is today Iran ©

The Safavid Empire was based in what is today Iran.

This Islamic Empire was strong enough to challenge the Ottomansin the west and the Mughals in the east.

Summary

• The Safavid Empire lasted from 1501-1722
• It covered all of Iran, and parts of Turkey and Georgia
• The Safavid Empire was a theocracy
• The state religion was Shi'a Islam
• All other religions, and forms of Islam were suppressed
• The Empire's economic strength came from its location on the trade routes
• The Empire made Iran a centre of art, architecture, poetry and philosophy
• The capital, Isfahan, is one of the most beautiful cities in the world
• The key figures in the Empire were:
  • Isma'il I
  • Abbas I
• The Empire declined when it became complacent and corrupt

Origins

The Empire was founded by the Safavids, a Sufi order that goes back to Safi al-Din (1252-1334). Safi al-Din converted to Shi'ism and was a Persian nationalist. The Safavid brotherhood was originally a religious group.

Over the following centuries the brotherhood became stronger, by attracting local warlords and by political marriages. It became a military group as well as a religious one in the 15th century.

Many were attracted by the brotherhood's allegiance to Ali, and to the 'hidden Imam'.

In the 15th century the brotherhood became more militarily aggressive, and waged a jihad(Islamic holy war) against parts of what are now modern Turkey and Georgia.

The Safavid Empire dates from the rule of Shah Ismail (ruled 1501-1524).

In 1501, the Safavid Shahs declared independence when the Ottomans outlawed Shi'a Islam in their territory. The Safavid Empire was strengthened by important Shi'a soldiers from the Ottoman army who had fled from persecution.

When the Safavids came to power, Shah Ismail was proclaimed ruler at the age of 14 or 15, and by 1510 Ismail had conquered the whole of Iran.

Read More

Shahadah: the statement of faith

Shahadah

"There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is his messenger."

This is the basic statement of the Islamic faith: anyone who cannot recite this wholeheartedly is not a Muslim.

When a Muslim recites this they proclaim:

• That Allah is the only God, and that Muhammad is his prophet
• That they personally accept this as true
• That they will obey all the commitments of Islam in their life

The Shahadah is the first of the Five Pillars of Islam.

Becoming a Muslim

Reciting this statement three times in front of witnesses is all that anyone need do to become a Muslim.

A Muslim is expected to recite this statement out loud, with total sincerity, fully understanding what it means.

The Arabic can be transliterated into the Roman alphabet like this:

Ashhadu Alla Ilaha Illa Allah Wa Ashhadu 

Read More

Prophet Muhammad (570-632)

Introduction

The Prophet Muhammad

Muslims believe that Islam is a faith that has always existed and that it was gradually revealed to humanity by a number of prophets, but the final and complete revelation of the faith was made through the Prophet Muhammad in the 7th century CE.

Muhammad was born in Mecca in Saudi Arabia ©

Muhammad was born in Mecca in Saudi Arabia in 570.

He was a deeply spiritual man, and often spent time in meditation on Mount Hira.

The traditional story of the Qur'an tells how one night in 610 he was meditating in a cave on the mountain when he was visited by the angel Jibreel who ordered him to recite.

Once Jibreel mentioned the name of Allah, Muhammad began to recite words which he came to believe were the words of God.

The Qur'an

During the rest of his life Muhammad continued to receive these revelations. The words were remembered and recorded, and form the text of the Holy Qu'ran, the Muslim scripture.

Preaching

Believing that God had chosen him as his messenger Muhammad began to preach what God had revealed to him.

The simple and clear-cut message of Islam, that there is no God but Allah, and that life should be lived in complete submission to the will of Allah, was attractive to many people, and they flocked to hear it.

The Hijrah

Muhammad's popularity was seen as threatening by the people in power in Mecca, and Muhammad took his followers on a journey from Mecca to Medina in 622.

This journey is called the Hijrah (migration) and the event was seen as so important for Islam that 622 is the year in which the Islamic calendar begins.

The return to Mecca

Within ten years Muhammad had gained so many followers that he was able to return and conquer Mecca.

From this time on he was generally accepted by the faithful as the true final Prophet of God.

Muhammad continued to lead his community both spiritually and in earthly matters until his death in 632.

Read More

Islam as a Political Force

Islam as a political force

The political status of Islam, and the role Muhammad had given it as a political as well as a religious force, was reinforced in the military conquests.

A caliph such as Umar seems to have regarded himself, first and foremost, as the leader of the Arabs, and their monotheistic creed as the religious component of their new political identity.

Jonathan P. Berkey, The Formation of Islam: Religion and Society in the Near East, 600-1800, 2003

The conquest of Arabia

After the death of Muhammad in 632 CE, the young Muslim federation came under strain. Some of the tribes decided that as their loyalty to Islam had been primarily to Muhammad himself, his death allowed them to end their allegiance to Mecca and to Islam.

To make things more difficult, the Prophet had not left clear instructions as to who should lead the community after his death.

Fortunately the community immediately chose the Prophet's close companion and father-in-Law Abu Bakr, as his successor. Abu Bakr was known as the first caliph (from khalifa, the Arabic for successor).

Abu Bakr took swift military action against the communities that wanted to break away. These campaigns, known as the apostasy or ridda wars, effectively consolidated Arabia into a single country under Muslim control within two years.

Expansion in the Middle East

Abu Bakr died in 634 and was succeeded by Umar ibn al-Khattab, the second caliph, who ruled until 644. Umar found himself the ruler of a large unified state, with an organised army, and he used this as a tool to spread Islam further in the Middle East.

Umar's early campaigns were against the Byzantine Empire. Following the decisive Battle of Yarmouk in 636, the former Byzantine states of Syria, Palestine, and Lebanon were conquered by the Muslim armies.

Shortly afterwards the Muslim army attacked the Sassanid Empire in Iraq, gaining a massive victory in 637 at the Battle of Qadasiya, and gradually conquering more and more of Iraq over the next dozen years.

This conquest was made much easier by the weakness of the Sassanid Empire, which was wounded by internal conflicts and a lengthy war with the Byzantine Empire.

Within a few years the Muslims had also conquered parts of Egypt to the South and Anatolia and Armenia to the North.

Read More