The Prophet Muhammad Two Flashcards
To Be Able To Explain The Different Religions And Disputes That Were Going On When The Prophet Muhammad Was Alive (5 cards)
Why is it important to study religion in the 21st century?
There are several reasons why it is important to study religion in the 21st century such as religion builds cultural understanding and awareness, religion builds many of the foundations of ethics, and religion gives many people identity and meaning.
Can you outline the history of pre-Islamic Saudi Arabia?
Quite a bit of Saudi Arabia was inhabited by tribal societies but there were also urban centres like Mecca. People were very Polytheistic and people worshipped multiple deities and idols. Mecca was a commercial hub due to its position on trade routes. When the Prophet Muhammad was forty he received a revelation from the angel Gabriel in a Cave. After this revelation the Prophet Muhammad started to preach publicly in Mecca about his visits from the angel Gabriel but because he was preaching that there was only one God and people at the time were very polytheistic and worshipped many deities and idols so the Prophet got persecuted and had to flee Mecca. The prophet made his way to Medina and raised an army to fight the Meccans and Muhammad won. Muhammad peacefully conquered Mecca and got rid of all the idols in the Kaaba and preached that there was only one God.
Can you define the concept of Ummah?
Ummah is the global community of Muslims bound together by their shared faith in Islam.
Can you explain what happened after Muhammad’s death?
Due to the fact that Muhammad didn’t leave a clear successor there was a dispute about who should succeed the Prophet and there were two groups who were disputing in Sunni Muslims and Shi’a Muslims. Sunni Muslims believed that Abu Bakr Muhammad’s father-in-law and closest friend should succeed Muhammad whereas Shi’a Muslims believed that Ali was Muhammad’s rightful successor because he was related by blood to the Prophet and various actions and words throughout the Prophet’s life expressed that this was God’s will.
Can you explain the re-emergence of Islam?
The re-emergence of Islam occurred because after many years of colonization and outside control in Muslim countries people felt that they had lost their culture and faith so in the 20th and 21st centuries Muslims around the world began to learn more about Islam, practise it more openly, build mosques, schools, and Islamic centres, wear traditional clothing, and share Islamic ideas online and in books.
