Muhammad: A Prophet for Our Time by Karen Armstrong
Eba Mohamed
Author’s expertise:
• English Author
• Former Roman Catholic nun (joined at 17)
i) Left in late 1969
1. Due to her being treated badly
2. Led to her crisis
3. Criticism: People in the Catholic Church saw her as a trader because she supports Islam
Significance: Nothing about her education qualifies her to write books on religion or history.
• Attended St Anne 's College
i) Majored in English literature ii) Did not end up getting her PHD
1. Thesis on Tennyson (Alfred, Lord Tennyson) wasn’t approved
Significance: Qualifies her to write books but still not so much books on religion.
• Now a Freelance Monotheist- a non-organized religion. Armstrong personally “draws nourishment from Judaism, Christianity and Islam”
• Wrote 24 books
i) All on religions Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Judaism
Significance: Shows she is clearly well rounded in knowledge and shows interest about numerous religions, she still doesn’t have any education on these topics.
Sources:
• Eighth century historians
I. Muhammad ibn Ishaq (Muhammad’s first biographer)
II. Muhammad ibn Sa’d
III. Abu Jarir at-Tabari
• The Qur’an
Significance: shows those who don’t know, the Qur’an isn’t stories of Prophet Muhammad’s life, it is more like a guide on how to live and worship.
• Raza Aslan
i) Avoids the anti-Muslim argument
• Different translators and translations from older books. ii) Not using only one translator could be good because
“Fight in the name of God and in the ‘path of god’. Combat those who disbelieve in God.” The quote above is an excerpt from Matthew Gordon’s book, “The Rise of Islam”. Throughout the course of history, many religions have had a profound effect on western civilization. During the early 5th century a religion arose that had an extremely important impact on western civilization. The Arabic prophet Muhammad founded the religion known today as Islam. Violence, diplomacy, Arabic tradition, and public law played a vital role in the rise and conquest of Islam. These four key elements that fostered the rise of Islam helped establish one of the largest religions in western civilization.
The Quran had served as the cornerstone of the Islamic society. They spread the message of
Muhammad a prophet for our time is written by Karen Armstrong. This book is like a diary that tells the life of Muhammad and how he played a big role in the Islamic religion. Muhammad was born in the year 570 ce and died in 623 ce. Muhammad was a man who did not have much going for him, he couldn’t read and lived in a cave with his wife at the time. When Muhammad was reached down upon by Allah he did not know what was happening and why it was happening. “ he knew that some people expected the imminent arrival of an Arab prophet, but it never occurred to him that he would be the one entrusted with the mission.” (p.10). Muhammad was 40 years old when this happened and he lived in Mecca. Mecca at the time had many different civilizations and was a big trading center. Arabs at the time did not like this and kept moving from places to place to get something stable. Some of the Arabs even had settled in urban areas around Mecca. Society in Mecca was based on laws and traditions that even though Allah is the main god
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After moving to Detroit in 1923, Elijah Muhammad met W.F. Muhammad, the original founder, and soon became his successor. W.F. Muhammad found himself in a bind when one of his followers committed murder, in his own words, to “bring himself closer to Allah.” The follower quoted from W.F. Muhammad’s booklet, Secret Rituals of the Lost-Found Nation of Islam. Disturbingly, Satanism also does seem to be the original premise of the NOI, as W.F. Muhammad was accused of
Most people when they hear the word "Muslim" they only think about the Middle East, without realizing that there are Muslims everywhere. A Muslim is someone who follows the religion of Islam, but it does not necessary need to be people from the Middle East. There are a lot of people around the world that decide to become Muslims for many reasons. These three young women Nousheen Yousuf-Sadiq, Maria M. Ebrahimji, and Kameelah Janan Rasheed come from different racial and ethnic backgrounds, but considered themselves as Muslims. In their individual short stories, they talk about the difficulties that they have being an American and a Muslim woman at the same time. It is difficult for them because having these two identities interferes
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A desert peninsula in 6th century was the cross roads of the world, the bridge between Europe, Asia and Africa. Arabia was a vacant wasteland of desert, rarely seeing any life besides that of the trade caravans. City states dominated the political life and the only form of centralized government was in chaos. This was Arabia in the 6th century, this even though Christian was to become the staging ground for the growth of the 2nd largest religion that exists today. This is where the "Prophet" Muhammad was born in the city of Mecca.
Prior to reading an excerpt on Islamic theology and Islamic philosophy in the book Introduction to Islam by Carole Hillenbrand, I did not realized the tremendous effect and contributions Muslims had on the fields of theology and philosophy. According to Hillenbrand, “the term normally used for “theology” in Islam is kalam, which literally means “speech”” (Hillenbrand, 170). Similar to all religions, those following the Islamic faith would eventually be faced with opposition and questions about the teachings of Islam. Hillenbrand explained that Muhammad was not looked to as a theological figure because he merely gained his revelations from the all-knowing God, Allah; therefore, Islamic theologians would begin to emerge overtime. These Islamic theologians would engage in debates on core issues and topics that oppositioners had with the islamic faith, such as
The book I chose to read for this summer assignment was The Adventures of Ibn Battuta (Revised edition) written by Ross E. Dunn. The predominant reason as to why I chose this book is because I am Moroccan descent and I had a strong desire to learn more about the rich cultures of the Arab world. I once read that those who had the last name Bencomo, which was orginally from the Canary Islands and written as Tehncomo were descendents of the Islamic traveler, Ibn Battuta. This sparked even more curiosity to learn about my ancestor’s history. I heard stories from my grandmother about the Moors since her father was half Moroccan. I knew I had to learn about this since this is a part of who I am.
The lives of Muhammad by Kecia Ali is a modern book that describes the way the life of the prophet has been told by past authors. It looks at the manner in which he lived his life and some of the decisions that he made. However, many other authors who have written about the life of Prophet Muhammad but Kecia Ali bring out the unspoken perspective that many people hardly notice. She shies away from describing the truth spoken by anti-Muslims and Muslims alike. On the contrary, she analyses both factions of the narrations and tells the story of Muhammad in a new light.
It explains the reality of life, the good and evil, the lawful and unlawful, the righteousness and unrighteous, moral teachings and all other aspects of life. The holy Quran also provides detailed information about the life in the hereafter and discusses its importance very effectively. The holy Quran impacts basic teachings about man’s individual and collective life, his rights and duties in society and his economic matters. It also educates man comprehensively in the fields of politics and international affairs and morality. In short, holy Quran is a treasure of information and guidance covering all the aspects of human life. It elaborately explains all the things which a common man must know and there is no other source for him to get the required knowledge (Rahman, Fazlur
I have decided to write my Old Testament essay on the mysterious prophet Elijah. According to the bible, in the book of Kings, Elijah was not only a devoted prophet of God, but he also served as a worker who lived in the northern kingdom of Israel, under King Ahab’s reign. Elijah is remembered for his remarkable faith and devotion to God. In writing this essay, I will tell the story of one the many adventures that occurred in Elijah 's lifetime. Of course, there are so many alterations and rewritten versions of the bible, that I have no idea what to believe. No one truly knows what happened, for everyone who could have, died long ago. Either way, all the different versions of the story seem to have the same basic outcome. In telling you this, I will try to incorporate the information that is mentioned throughout the book, “The Old Testament Story, Ninth Edition” (by John H. Tullock and Mark McEntire) and some of what I have been taught myself over my twenty-eight years of life.
The Quran or Koran is the sacred text of Islam, believed to contain the revelations made by Allah to Muhammad. All Muslims study the Quran. The Quran is the final evidence of the Divine origin of the Prophet’s mission (Phipps, 9).
The Hadith also plays an important role in the figure of Muhammad and Islam. It almost functions like a story to tell the life of Muhammad in critical detail. The intricate