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The Islam
Indice 1. Introduccin 2. Believes of Islam 3. Khalila and Dimna 4. Islam in Spain 1. Introduccin Primitive religions have their origins in the search of God by the men. But the Islam, as the Judaism, say that they have been created from heaven. The Islam is a revelation of God to the men. We know that the historical revelation of God has made to the Israel town. Israel was choose for God. It was a rogresive revelation between them, until !hrist came to com let the God"s revelation to the men# redeemming them, as God had romesed. But centuries ago after !hrist, in the year of $%%, a new religion a eared in the middle east, roclamming to have origin in a new and final revelation. It is the Islam, founded by &ohammad, at whom his followers, the moslems, considerate the last ro het. The word Islam means 'absolute submission to the will of God(. &any out of the Islam called them &ohammetans, but the moslems do not use that word. They want to mean that their cult is not to &ohammad. In fact, their great truths say that there is not other God, but )llah. )lone in a cave, in the mountain, near of *a &eca"s city on the east of )rabia, &ohammad meditated about the dee roblems of good and evil, and about the deity named )llah, at whom eo le of *a &eca adorated as a creator, and not only as the uni+ue God. ,inally he convinced himself that )llah was the only truth God and that there is not other one, but -im. &ohammad was sub.ugated at terribles e/ erienses, visions, that turn him fear and doubtful about his welth. -is wife, 0hadi.a, ersuaded him that those were ro hetical visions and that, in fact, he was a ro het. By the rest of his life, &ohammad worked to change his town of beeing disorgani1ed tribes, always figthing between them, to be an unificated nation dedicated to )llah. -e became a olitical and religious leader of the arabs. The word Islam, as we said, means 'absolute submission to the will of God(, but also makes reference to the eace in its derivation. The loyal moslem lives to make the will of God and cohabite in eace with all menkind. &uslems have been in numerous battles trying to con+uest the world and erase the christian civili1ation. But this war s irit did not born from &ohammad"s teaching. )t many times surged from the ambition of the same moslem2s leaders.

2. Believes of Islam &oslem2s life and his cult are totally governed by the 0oran, the revealed book. Islam says that the archangel Gabriel dictated to &ohammad all the content of its 334 cha ters. Is belief of the Islam that &ohammad is the 0oran"s author. But students from outside say that the content of 0oran has been took from .ewish and christians fonts, and that &ohammad had contact with eo le of both religions. In fact, in his first redication, he was anctious for mold the Islam with the Bible"s atern and make it atractive to the chistians and .ewish. It seems that he obtained his knowledge about the chistian teaching with lot of confusions# it is a combination of real facts and o ular legends.

In the last eriod of his redication, failed in his traying for atract convert eo le from chistianism, he became against them and trayed to cut all the things that tied him to that religion. ,or e/am le, while .ewish rayed facing Jerusalem, &ohammad made of *a &eca his saint city, and the moslems have to ray facing *a &eca. The Islam ro hets the faith in God, who is one, all owerful, ethernal, su rem and the one we have to obey. &oslems say they are )braham"s descendants trough Ismael, son of the slave. They think that God talked trough )braham, &oses and the ro hets. They considered Jesus as a great ro het, but as God. ,or &oslems, &ohammad is the last ro het and the biggest. The Islam ro hets the faith in Books of God, the 0oran and the Te/ts writed before It. They belive in The Judgement 5ay, when men will be rewarded in heaven or unished in hell, de ending of their observance of God"s commandments.

6 ecific PracticePray the !reed# 5istinguished for an s ecial em hasis in God"s unify# 'There is no other God, but )llah and &ohammad, his ro het(. In the 0oran is re eated many times that )llah is the only truth God, adoring by .ewish and chistians too. &oslems thing that God is trascendent and all resent, this means that -e is the su rem being, all over the creatures, and that -e is here with us forever. Pray five times a day# in the morning, at noon, at middle afternoon 7inmediatly after sunfall8 and ninety minutes after nightfall. )t these times moslems ray facing *a &eca. Pay a +uantity of money for charity# This is named the 9akat. ,ast during a month, named :amadan# the ninth month on the moslem calendar. &ake a eregrination to *a &eca, at least, one time in life. These five rinci les are obligated, but there are other ractices and believings among the diferent divisions of Islam.

The &oral :es ect of this to ic, even &ohammad had in sight the roblems of the evil in the world of his time, his moral rule does not have lot of re+uirements. ,or e/am le, he allow a man has various wives, 7himself had nine8, and allow, even, divorce of them. ;ther rescri tions do not allow the li+uor or eat ig"s meat. The 0oran says clearly that in the Islam there is no monarch life. 5es ite of the fact, after a century of &ohammad"s death, there araised a kind of monarchical life named 6ufism. There are eo le who think that it is an influence of the !histianism and the Buddhism. They develo their own line of theology and mysticism inside the Islam, wich was strongly o osited to the legal institution. In <I century e/isted a famous hiloso her named )l = Gha11ali, who harmoni1ed the diferent currents of Islam. -owever, now a day e/ist diferents currents of this religion. They have the tendence to change and>or reform the Islam doctrins and its ractices at lights of the modern world re+uirements. There is not an authori1ed voice now that guides all moslems in the world. Today the modern moslem is alone in his trying to straigth ahead whit his faith.

Philoso hy )lga1el, )vicena and )verroes )lga1el 73?@A = 33338 -is real com lete arabic name was )bu -amid &uhammad ibn &uhammad at = Tusi al Gha11ali, Islamic hiloso her and theologist, wich name in latin is )lga1el. -e was born in Tus, near of &eshed, Persia 7now IrBn8. )fter ac+uire an e/cellent re utation as a learned, was destinated to teach at Ci1amiya"s Dniversity, in Bagdad, by sultan 6el.uk"s vi1ier Ci1am alE &ulk, in 3?F3. In 3?F@, after a faith crisis, he

renunciated to his osition, abandoned his family and turned himself in an hermit. There assed ten years of meditation and living on that way, until he acce ted other work for teaching in Cisha ur, but he left it few time later and went to Tus. )lga1el related his internal fight and the religious solution that found at the end in his work The *iberation of Grror, a te/t that has been com arated with The !onfessions of 6aint )gustin. In other work, The :eborn of :eligious !ience, resented his unify vision of religion, incor orating elements of three origins, before considerated in contradiction# tradition, intelectualism and mysticism. This book is took as the most im ortan religious te/t wrote by a moslem, after the 0oran. )fter criticised the methods of west hiloso hy, )lga1el begun to refutes the neo latonic theories of other moslems hiloso hers, articulary )vicena"s, wich were o osite to some orthodo/ religious doctrins as the creation, the inmortality of the soul and the 5ivine Providence. -is attack to the hiloso hical theory and the s eculation, enunciated in his te/t The 5estruction of Philoso hers, was in great art res onsable of the final slo e of the rationalist element e/istent at the Islam. )vicena 7FA? = 3?HI8 0nown in moslem world as Ibn 6ina, hiloso her and medicine doctor from Persia, was born near of Bu.ara 7now a day D1bekistan8. 6on of a government functionary, studied medicine and hiloso hy in the same city. When he was eighteen, was named doctor of the !ourt of the sovereing 6amani of Bu.ara. -e ke t that charge until the fall of the 6amani"s Gm ire in FFF and assed the last fourhteen years of his life acting as scientific and doctor counselor of Is ahan2s government. !onsiderated by moslems as one of their biggest hiloso hers, )vicena is an im ortant figure in the field of medice and hiloso hy. -is work, The !anon of the &edicine, was for a lot of time the rinci al te/t of Cear Gast and Guro e. It is significative as a clasification and systematic sumary of medicine and harmaceutical knowledge and before its time. The firts translation to latin of this work was made in twelfth century. The hebrew version a eared in 34F3 and the arabical te/t in 3@FH. It was the second te/t rinted in arab language. -is most known work is 0itab )sh = 6hifa 7The !ure Book8, an abridgment of trades about logical, meta hysics, aristotelical anthro ology, nature ciences and other to ics. )vicena"s hiloso hy is a combination of )ristotels" and neo latonic hiloso hy. Just as the ma.ority of medieval hiloso hers, he denied the inmortality of individual soul, the interest of God for each erson and the world"s creation on the time, all of them central to ics of the main current of the Islam doctrin. )vicena turned in to the main target of sunies theologists attacks, as )lga1el. Cever the less, )vicena"s hiloso hy was very influential all throuhg the medieval age. )verroes 733%$ = 33FA8 -is arabical name was Ibn :ushd# arab moslem hiloso her, hysicist, maliki .urist and ashari theologyst. Was born in !Jrdoba, 6 ain. -is father, a !Jrdoba"s .udge, teached him moslem .uris rudence. In his natal town even studied theology, west hiloso hy and mathemathics with Ibn Tufayl, and medicine with the arab doctor )ven1oar. )verroes were designated .udge in 6evilla in 33$F and !Jrdoba in 33I3. In 33A% he became the doctor of cali h )bu Ka+ub Kusuf, the almohade"s cali h of &orroco and the moslem s ain. The )verroes" idea that reason rimes over the religion, took him to the e/ile in 33F@ for order of )bu Kusuf Ka+ub al = &ansur, but it gave him back few time before his death. )verroes said that meta hysical truths can be e/ ressed by two ways# trough hiloso hy 7according to the classic hiloso her )ristoteles and the neo latonics of the latest anti+uity8 and trough religion 7as we can see at the allegorycal and sim lified idea of the :evelation Books8. )lthough in fact )verroes did not ro ose the e/istence of two kinds of truths = hiloso hical and religious =, his ideas were inter retated by the chistian thinkers classifying them as Theory of 5ouble Truth. )verroes denied the conce t of world"s creation on the time# he said that world do not have beginning. God is the first motor, the ro ellant strength of every movement that transform the otential into the real. The individual human soul emanates from the universal unify soul. Wide )verroes" commentaries about )ristoteles" te/ts were traduced to the latin and hebrew, and had a great influece as the scholastic and chistian hiloso hy 7in medieval Guro e8 as the .ewish hiloso hers of medieval age. )verroes" main te/t was Tahafut al = Tahafut, arab language that means 5estruction of 5estruction, where he refutes an )lga1el"s te/t about hiloso hy.

3. Khalila and Dimna Pancha = Tantra is a very old collection of stories. It was translated into many languages in ancient times and forms the basis for many stories in &iddle Gast and Guro e. 0halila wa 5imna is the arabic version 7)5 I@?8, translated from ersian 7)5 @@?8. Pancha = Tantra includes a good number of stories# many are embedded in others. Gach one illustrates a conce t of neeti 7 olicy8 and it was rewritten several times. This +uote below is from kaakoluukiiyam, the third tantra 7tale8. )t the time of com osition of Pancha = Tantra, animal sacrifices were still common, although it had declined significantly due to o osition by Jainism and Buddhism. The te/t sais that one should do ya.na 7sacrifice8 using a.a# This is a seven year old grain and not a s ecific animal, but most of the times it means a goat. Gven though, the te/t suggest to be inter reted as aL.a M notLgrow grain that is too old to grow. The writ cuntinue saying# !utting down trees, killing animals, creating mud from flowing blood# If you go to heaven this way, who will go to hellN In Pancha = Tantra there is a story of an agnihotri brahmin named &itra = 6harma# While he was carrying a goat for sacrifice, some clever scoundrels convinced him that it was really a dog, so that he would give it to them. &oral of the story is that eo le should be aware of ossible desce tion, however the story does suggest contem orary ractices. )nimal sacrifice was once common, not only in India but in many arts of the world. The custom has declined greatly, although some still continue to ractice it. There have heard about many cases in recent times where Jains were able to convince others to sto animal sacrifice.

4. Islam in Spain The -istory of )l )ndalus 5ata# 5ecember 3FAA ,ont from Internet Garly in the eighth century, armies from Corth )frica began robing the Oisigothic defenses of 6 ain and ultimately they initiated the &oorish e och that would last for centuries. The eo le who became known to West Guro eans as &oors were the )rabs, who had swe t across Corth )frica from their &iddle Gastern homeland, and the Berbers, inhabitants of &orocco who had been con+uered by the )rabs and converted to Islam. In I33 Tari+ ibn 9iyad, a Berber governor of Tangier, crossed into 6 ain with an army of 3%,??? 7landing at a romontory that was later named, in his honor, Jabal Tari+, or &ount Tari+, from which the name, Gibraltar, is derived8. They came at the invitation of a Oisigothic clan to assist it in rising against 0ing :oderic. :oderic died in battle, and 6 ain was left without a leader. Tari+ returned to &orocco, but the ne/t year 7I3%8 &usa ibn Cusair, the &uslim governor in Corth )frica, lead the best of his )rab troo s to 6 ain with the intention of staying. In three years he had subdued all but the mountainous region in the e/treme north and had initiated forays into ,rance, which were stemmed at Poitiers in IH%. )l )ndalus, as Islamic 6 ain was called, was organi1ed under the civil and religious leadershi of the cali h of 5amascus. Governors in 6 ain were generally 6yrians, whose olitical frame of reference was dee ly influenced by By1antine ractices. Cevertheless, the largest contingent of &oors in 6 ain consisted of the Corth )frican Berbers, recent converts to Islam, who were hostile to the so histicated )rab governors and bureaucrats and were given to a religious enthusiasm and fundamentalism that were to set the standard for the Islamic community in 6 ain. Berber settlers fanned out through the country and made u as much as %? ercent of the o ulation of the occu ied territory. The )rabs constituted an aristocracy in the revived cities and on the latifundios that they had inherited from the :omans and the Oisigoths. &ost members of the Oisigothic nobility converted to Islam, and they retained their rivileged osition in the new society. The countryside, only nominally !hristian, was also successfully Islami1ed. Cevertheless, an -is anoE:oman !hristian community survived in the cities. &oreover, Jews, who constituted more than @ ercent of the o ulation, continued to lay an im ortant role in commerce, scholarshi , and the rofessions.

The )rabEdominated Dmayyad dynasty at 5amascus was overthrown in I@$ by the )bbasids, who moved the cali hate to Baghdad. ;ne Dmayyad rince fled to 6 ain and, under the name of )bd al :ahman 7r. I@$EAA8, founded a olitically inde endent amirate 7the !ali hate of !ordoba8, which was then the farthest e/tremity of the Islamic world. -is dynasty flourished for %@? years. Cothing in Guro e com ared with the wealth, the ower, and the sheer brilliance of )l )ndalus during this eriod. In F%F )bd al :ahman III 7r. F3%E$38, who was half Guro ean, as were many of the ruling caste, elevated the amirate to the status of a cali hate. This action cut 6 ainPs last ties with Baghdad and established that thereafter )l )ndalusPs rulers would en.oy com lete religious and olitical sovereignty. When -isham II, grandson of )bd al :ahman, inherited the throne in FI$ at age twelve, the royal vi1ier, Ibn )bi )mir 7known as )l &ansur8, became regent 7FA3E3??%8 and established himself as virtual dictator. ,or the ne/t twentyEsi/ years, the cali h was no more than a figurehead, and )l &ansur was the actual ruler. )l &ansur wanted the cali hate to symboli1e the ideal of religious and olitical unity as insurance against any renewal of civil strife. Cotwithstanding his em loyment of !hristian mercenaries, )l &ansur reached .ihad, or holy war, against the !hristian states on the frontier, undertaking annual summer cam aigns against them, which served not only to unite 6 anish &uslims in a common cause but also to e/tend tem orary &uslim control in the north. The cali hate of !ordoba did not long survive )l &ansurPs dictatorshi . :ival claimants to the throne, local aristocrats, and army commanders who staked out taifas 7sing., taifa8, or inde endent regional cityE states, tore the cali hate a art. 6ome taifas, such as 6eville 76 anish, 6evilla8, Granada, Oalencia, and 9arago1a, became strong amirates, but all faced fre+uent olitical u heavals, war among themselves, and longEterm accommodations to emerging !hristian states. Peaceful relations among )rabs, Berbers, and 6 anish converts to Islam were not easily maintained. To hold together such a heterogeneous o ulation, 6 anish Islam stressed ethics and legalism. Pressure from the uritanical Berbers also led to crackdowns on &o1arabs 7name for !hristians in )l )ndalus# literally, )rabElike8 and Jews. &o1arabs were considered a se arate caste even though there were no real differences between them and the converts to Islam e/ce t for religion and liability to ta/ation, which fell heavily on the !hristian community. They were essentially urban merchants and artisans. Their church was ermitted to e/ist with few restrictions, but it was rohibited from flourishing. The e isco al and monastic structure remained intact, but teaching was curbed and intellectual initiative was lost. In the ninth century, &o1arabs in !ordoba, led by their bisho , invited martyrdom by ublicly denouncing the Pro het &uhammad in ublic. Cevertheless, violence against the &o1arabs was rare until the eleventh century, when the !hristian states became a serious threat to the security of )l )ndalus. &any &o1arabs fled to the !hristian north.

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