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word of the week: 13/06/16 - Ali

12/6/2016

 

Islamic name meaning "high" or "exaulted". 

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The death of Muhammad Ali on June 3rd has raised a number of key issues that are of interest to Religious Studies students: most obviously issues of pacifism, racism and conversion. Cassius Clay, as Ali was originally known, was born into a Christian Family and was subject to all the “normal” prejudices that Black men and women were subject to at that time in the USA. In 1961 Ali was introduced to Islam and converted by 1964. At this time changed his name from Cassius Clay to Muhammed Ali citing that Cassius Clay was his “slave name”. This encapsulates the reasons for Muhammed Ali’s conversion and the political and racial campaigning that was to follow. Ali famously refuse to fight in the Vietnam War stating that “my enemy is the white people, not the Vietcong”. 

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So why the names Muhammad and Ali? Most people would recognise that Muhammad is the prophet of Islam and the most revered man in Islamic tradition. Many Muslims give their children his name out of respect and a wish for them to emulate him. But why Ali?

Well, Ali was the cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad. He was the son of Abu Talib, Muhammed's uncle, who protected and cared for Muhammad after the death of his parents. Ali is said to be the only person to have been born within the Kaba, the "Black box” at the centre of the Muslim world. Muhamed highly influenced and tradition has it that he became the first Muslim, migrating to Medina with Muhammad and being central to the developing religion. He fought alongside Muhammad against The Mecans, and was appointed as leader by Mohammed after his death.

​He was arguably the first Caliph, the leader of Islam after the death of The Prophet. However this divides Islamic world; Sunni Muslims believe that the Caliph should be elected by other Muslims (and so Abu Bakr was the first Caliph)  and Shia Muslims who believe that Caliph should be of the family of Muhammed and so it should be Ali. Ali lived during one of the most turbulent periods of Islamic history and died after an attack by other Muslims. 
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It would seem that Muhammed Ali had little to say as to why he so chose this name in particular but in 1964 when interviewed he said “Cassius Clay is a slave name. I didn't choose it and I don't want it. I am Muhammad Ali, a free name - it means beloved of God, and I insist people use it when people speak to me." (1) I like to think that, like him, Ali was a convert and fighter, and that parallel was what drew him to it.

Word Of The Week: W/C 18/05/14 - Hajj

17/5/2015

 



The Greater Muslim Pilgrimage To Mecca, Which Takes Place In The Last Month Of The Year And Which All Muslims Are Expected To Make At Least Once During Their Lifetime If They Can Afford To Do So. It Is One Of The Five Pillars Of Islam.

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The city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia has long been the spiritual centre of the Islamic faith: the world's 1.3 billion Muslims kneel in its direction during prayers. But in the final months of the  Islamic year, Islam's holiest city becomes even more vital, as an estimated 2.5 million pilgrims make their once-in-a-lifetime journey to the site.

This pilgrimage, known as the Hajj, is one of the Five Pillars of Islam by which every practising Muslim must abide. This year, the Hajj takes place from September 21st to 26th, it takes place annually between the 8th and 12th days of Dhu-al-Hijjah, the final month of the lunar Islamic calendar.

PicturePilgrims walking the Hajj in traditional Ihram
The Hajj consists of a five-day excursion, required by all physically and financially able Muslims, to Mecca and the nearby holy sites of Arafat, Mina, and Muzdalifah. Once there, pilgrims wear Ihram, white garments that make everyone equal and perform a series of rituals to unify themselves with other believers, absolve themselves of their sins and pay tribute to God. This is the Ummah, the community of Islam, in action; one cannot tell the difference between a prince and a pauper.

Muslims claim that the origins of the Hajj date back to 2,000 B.C. when Ishmael, the infant son of the prophet Ibrahim (Or Abraham, as he is called in the Old Testament) and Ibrahim's wife Hager were stranded in the desert. With Ishmael close to death from thirst, Hager ran back and forth between the hills of Safa and Marwa looking for water until the angel Jibril (Gabriel) touched down to earth and created a spring of fresh water for the baby, known as the Well of Zamzam.


PictureA pilgrim prays at Mt. Arafat
Following the orders of God, Ibrahim is said to have built a monument at the site of the spring known as the Kaaba. Worshippers from all faiths travelled to worship at the site; in 630 A.D., the Prophet Muhammad led a group of Muslims there in the first official Hajj, destroying the idols placed there by polytheistic worshippers and re-dedicating the site in the name of Allah. The path that Muhammad and his followers travelled is retraced as part of the Hajj rituals which include making Hager's walk between Safa and Marwa, stoning the wall of Satan that tempted Ibrahim to defy God, slaughtering an animal in honour of the sacrifice that Ibrahim made to save his son and climbing the Mount of Arafat from which Muhammad made his last sermon.

The ultimate rite of passage during the Hajj is circling the Kaaba, an immense black cube, spiritually considered by Muslims to be the centre of the world, and literally located in the centre of the Masjid al-Haram mosque in Mecca. During the Hajj, vast swells of worshippers seeking forgiveness circle the Kaaba counter-clockwise, seven times. Completion of all of the mandated rituals earns the pilgrim the title of hajji (literally, one who has performed the Hajj) — coveted and admired in Muslim communities around the world.

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A time-laspe photo of pilgrims circumambulating the Kabba

Word of the Week: w/C 12/1/15 - Aniconic

11/1/2015

 


The practice of or belief in the avoiding or shunning of images of divine beings, prophets or other respected religious figures, or in different manifestations, any human beings or living creatures.
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This week’s shocking events in Paris (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-30708237) have brought back into public consciousness debates about free-speech and the right to freedom of expression. Many have naturally rallied to uphold the right of satirical magazines such as Charlie Hebdo to express their opinions and publish cartoons containing images of The Prophet that many Muslims find offensive - this has been seen most clearly with the twitter hashtag #iamcharlie (http://republicanherald.com/news/i-am-charlie-goes-viral-after-paris-news-attack-1.1814311).

I think at times such as these it is worth looking back at why many Muslims find images of the Prophet Muhammad offensive. The Aniconism of Islam began with the prohibition of images of God; Islam is concerned that God is limited and diminished when he is reified by human beings. This is really crucial to understand; Allah is at the heart of every Muslim life and yet he is a transcendent being who is not to be limited or captured in human terms. This is why he has 99 names - he is beyond full definition.
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Part of the work of The Prophet in Mecca was clearing of the Kaaba of figural images worshiped by the people of his time. Very soon after The Prophet’s death the Quran was written down and so Muslims became a people of the book - Just like Jews and Christians. The difference being the stress in the inerrancy of the Quran; it is perfect and cannot be altered or interpreted as it was a near-direct revelation from Allah.  That said, there is no actual prohibition of figural images in the Quran (http://www.newsweek.com/koran-does-not-forbid-images-prophet-298298), there is however to be found in Hadith (the sayings of the prophet) some directives aginast the production of images.

Either-way over time an aniconic attitude developed in Islam to not only include images of God but also images of The Prophet, other prophets and The Prophet’s family. This lead to wondrous range of non-figural artistic styles in Islam including geometric patterns and calligraphic art. Artists have also found ways of circumventing the prohibition by depicting Muhammad with a veiled face or a halo of fire which obscures his image. Thus artists were able to express themselves without breaking the religious taboo.

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I hope that this will help us to remember that Muslims are offended by images of the Prophet because it strikes at a central tenet of their faith, theology and culture. Just as Americans would be offended by the burning of the star-spangled banner, Jews if you defamed a Torah Scroll or Roman Catholics if you did not consume consecrated bread and wine, so Muslims feel very strongly about this boundary and taboo. Just because in secularised Britain and France where many have lost a sense of the sacred and see everything as fair game for comment, criticism and satire does not mean that Muslims must necessarily adopt the same attitude.


What do you think about this difficult issue?

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