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Islam Beliefs and Teachings - Coggle Diagram

- - - - aka The Ithna Asharis
      - believe that Muhammad's religious leadership, spiritual authority and divine guidance were passed on to 12 of his descendants, beginning with Ali, Hassan and Hussein.
      - The 12th Imam, Muhammad al-Mahdi, is said to have disappeared from a cave below a mosque in 878.
        Ithna Asharis believe the so-called "awaited imam" did not die and will return at the end of time to restore justice on earth.
  - - - father-in-law of Muhammad and one of the first Muslims.
      - His reign lasted for two years, from 632 to 634.
      - He immediately announced that Muhammed was the last Prophet and that the Muslim community should united under a sole government.
        The unity was ensured by force. The Wars of Apostasy, Riddah Wars, reintroduced communities who had abandoned Islamic faith after the death of Muhammed and ensured their loyalty.
    - - for large part of Muhammed's life, Umar was one of the Prophet's leading advisers
      - He ruled the Muslim community from 634 to 644.
      - Under his political leadership, Islam rapidly spread beyond the borders that were established at the time of Muhammed's death, with Arab armies embarking on a holy mission into the Sassanian Persian and Byzantine empire.
        Warfare and internal difficulties had exhausted the empires and their defence was weak.
      - Starting under the rule of Umar, the period of the first four caliphs was marked by great territorial expansion, eventually reaching deep into Persia and North Africa.
    - - Uthman ruled the Islamic empire from 644 until his assassination in 656.
      - His governance saw the conquest of present day Afghanistan, Iran and Armenia.
      - Uthman carried on the previous policies of Umar, but they were less successful.
        Challenges arose from the transition from a religious movement into an well functioning empire, especially in Iraq and Egypt.
        These tensions, culminating in the assassination of Uthman, marked the beginning of the breakdown of unity within the Islam.
    - - Ali was Muhammed's son-in-law and cousin and ruled from 656 till 661.
      - He was supported by the opponents of Uthman, who saw Uthman as having abandoned faith and his murder as a just act.
      - Uthman's adherents called for punishment of the perpetrators of the murder, and a civil war broke out.
        When Ali decided to punish those guilty for Uthman's death, his supporters split, eventually leading to Ali's murder.
        This meant the last of Muhammed closest associates were dead and religious unity was broken.
- - - - angels do the work of Allah
      - They deliver revelations via the prophets so that Muslims know what Allah wants them to do
      - They record the words+actions of each individual person, so that they have a book to account for their lives
      - they receive souls at death
      - angels do not have free will like humans, they obey Allah's commands
    - - 'The Oneness of Allah' is the concept of Tawhid meaning 'oneness, absolute, alone'
      - 'he is Allah, the One, Allah is eternal and Absolute. None is born of him, He is unborn. There is none like unto him" - Surah 112:1-4
      - Allah is the creator+sustainer of life+he is beyond any human limitations e.g. age, death as was not born +cannot die
      - he has no partners/children nothing is like him
    - - prophets+messengers are chosen by Allah to deliver his messages to humankind
      - muslims believe that Allah has revealed messages throughout time to guide humanity + that Muhammad was the last (seal) of the prophets; he was given the ultimate guidance in the Qur'an thus there is no need for any more prophets
      - 'Muhammad (pbuh) is not the father of any of your men, but the messenger of Allah and the Seal of the Prophets' (Qur'an 33:40)
    - - Muslims believe there will be a day (the day of judgement) where all muslims and others stand alone in front of Allah, who decides whether they go to heaven or hell based on their deeds
      - everyone will answer for themselves and must face the consequences of their thoughts and actions on earth
      - human life acts as a test for the eternal life to come
    - - Sunni believe God knows everyone
      - Qadr means everything is ordered by Allah; nothing is random or by chance
      - humans do have free will though, but as Allah knows the past, present and future their choices are already known to him but not to them
    - - 5 sources of authority are the books: the torah of Moses, the Psalms of David, the Gospels, the scrolls of Abraham, the Qur'an
      - according to muslims, the first 4 books have been lost in their original form or changed
      - the Qur'an is the only revealed scripture still in its original form - it is the direct word of Allah as given through Angel Jibril
  - - - Allah is 'The Just' and 'The wise' which means he does no wrong
      - shi'a believe they need to be aware there is good+evil in everything, but that Allah commands them to do good
      - Sarah 16.90 says 'Indeed Allah commands you towards Justice'
      - Humans will be held responsible for their actions, good+bad
      - Allah acts with a purpose which humans cannot understand
      - sometimes justice can be hard to see but the Shia should try to understand as much as they can
    - - means the same as in sunni
      - Shia use Qur'an Surah 112 to explain why they believe Allah is One and cannot be associated with anything as "none is like him'; to do so is to commit the greatest sin, namely 'shirk' meaning association in arabic
    - - Shias believe that Allah sent messengers to guide people to the right path+Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was the last of them
      - The 'right path' means a peaceful way of life, lived in total submission to Allah
      - prophets deliver the messages to spread the religion
      - the Imam protects the messages so that people do not forget and leave the faith in the absence of prophets
    - - some believe that the Prophet Muhammad said that 12 Imams from his own tribe (the Quraysh) would succeed him as leaders
      - Shias believe that the first 11 led the community, some were killed, but that the 12th disappeared after his father's death. this imam will appear again when Allah decides at the end of time, currently he is alive and in hiding
      - protectors of the faith, ensuring teachings don't become corrupted/spoilt
      - all imams seen as infallible, can do no wrong, must be obeyed
    - - Shias believe there will be a day of judgement (Yawm al-Qiyyamah)
      - every muslim+non muslim will be judged by Allah
      - humans will be physically resurrected to stand to be judged+they will be asked to account for the words+actions of their lives on earth
      - the events of this day are described in the Qur'an and Hadith
- - - - external forces
        
        cause of behaviour is outside the individual
      - internal forces
        
        biological
        
        evolution + genetics
        
        behaviour triggered by neurological + hormonal processes
      - freud: motivation= unconscious psychic determinism
    - - psychological determinism is the 'nurture' argument. You are who you are because of how you are brought up.
      - Psychological determinists (like genetic determinists) believe that how we act is caused by our character. However, rather than saying our character is caused by our genes they would argue that it is cause (at least in part) by our upbringing.
      - Children learn by imitation + are very receptive to new influences. As we get older we are still shaped by our environment but we seem to be a bit less impressionable. This means that the influences that we are exposed to when we are young seem to be very important in shaping our character.
    - - The synapses in the brain fire in a certain way because they have received specific input (information from the senses). Our 'thoughts' and 'choices' are directly caused by these processes and the sense of free will is just and illusion.
      - Benjamin Libet neurological experiment in the
        1980s
        asked volunteer to move their finger whenever they liked but to notice what time they experienced the feeling of intention (made the choice).
        What he
        discovered that the feeling of intention comes significantly after the action has been initiated.
        provides some evidence that the feeling of free will is an illusion and our choices result from unconscious processes in the brain
        but is a simplistic test and does not really replicate what happens when we make choices day to day.
        In the experiment the volunteer knows that they must make a choice between one of two options so it is not surprising that their is a subconscious process going on which contributes to this choice.
  - - - Shi'a – 5 Roots
        The justice of God – He holds humans accountable for their actions.
        
        Most Shi'a Muslims believe that Allah has ultimate control of the world but that people’s lives are down to their own free will.
        
        Shi’a Muslims believe that God knows what will happen, but this doesn’t mean that he decides it. They believe that God can see everything that happens - past, present and future.
        
        God knows what choices people will make, but they still have the free will to make these choices for themselves.
        
        God does not change the conditions of a people for the worse unless they change what is in themselves. Qur’an 13:11
        
        Some Shi’a Muslims believe that the idea of the Day of Judgement (Sunni belief) contradicts the idea of Al-Qadr. This is because if Muslims are being judged on their actions, this must be because they had the free will to act in a certain way.
        
        bada - humans have control over their lives , they have reason +intelligence. God allows events to be affected by human actions while still retaining supreme power - Shi'a outlook
      - Sunni - 6 Articles of faith
        The supremacy of God's will – God already knows but also makes happen everything that occurs in the world and in human lives.
        
        Some Sunni Muslims believe that God has already determined everything that will happen in the universe. - Only what God has decreed will happen to us.Qur’an 9:51
        
        Humans do not have the freedom to change their destiny.
        
        Some Muslims often say Insha’Allah, which means “if Allah wills”. This highlights that life has already been planned out by Allah and he has determined how each person will behave.
        
        Most Sunni Muslims believe that Allah has made it impossible for them to choose anything other than what he has chosen.
    - - "Only what God has decreed will happen to us. He is our master: let the believers put their trust in God."
      - “Knowest thou not that Allah knows all that is in heaven and on earth? Indeed it is all in a Record."
      - "From Allah, verily nothing is hidden on earth or in the heavens.”
      - al adl - the justice of God
    - - Does predestination mean that humans have no freedom and are not responsible for their actions? Explanations of predestination often seek to address the “paradox of free will”, whereby God's omniscience seems incompatible with human free will.
      - in islam
        
        free will is essential in Islam. for Muslims, life is a test from Allah. Thus, all human beings must make their own decisions, on which they will be judged by Allah. (day of judgment sunni)
        
        The records of every individual’s faith and actions will be read out to them on the Day of Judgement from the Book of Life.
        
        Muslims believe that God will reward those who have had faith and done good deeds, and will punish those who have not.
        
        e.g. a Muslim might say, “Next summer, I will get a good grade in GCSE Religious Studies and go on to study it at A Level, insha’Allah.”
        This does not mean that they can just sit back and hope to get a good grade because it is Allah’s will. They will still need to work really hard.
        but if they do not get a good grade, they will know that it is not because of their lack of effort – instead, it was not the will of Allah for them to achieve a good grade.
        Believing that Allah is good and merciful gives encouragement that there will be a different, but good, alternative future path.
        
        The Qur’an speaks of a Muslim’s duty to know and abide by the teachings of Allah when making choices with their free will:
        
        "It is not fitting for a believing man or a believing woman to have an option in their affairs when a matter has been decided by Allah and His Prophet; and whoever disobeys Allah and His Prophet has indeed strayed into a clearly wrong path" .Surah 33:36
- - - - important prophets in Islam
        
        ibrihim (Abraham)
        
        quotes
        
        he said 'I devote myself to the Lord of the universe'
        
        Qur'an refers to him as 'a community unto himself' showing the legacy he left behind
        
        'Ibrahim was indeed forbearing, most tender-hearted [and] penitent' Qur'an
        
        Qur'an says when guests came to him he went to his family and placed a fat calf near them and said "will you not eat?" - hospitality
        
        testing powers of the idols - not powerful (idolatry)
        ruining idols in temples - almost being burnt as repercussions for his actions - teaches muslims about challenging the status quo
        
        almost killed his son to prove loyalty to Allah - tested by Allah which teaches muslims they must be prepared to submit to Allah in the same way
        
        he rebuilt ka'aba following the great flood
        
        Ismail was one of his sons. he is associated w/ makkah+construction of ka'aba
        
        regarded as the father of the Arab people
        
        Musa (Moses)
        
        Isa (Jesus)
        
        Muhammad pbuh
        
        Adam
        
        father of humankind
        
        experienced Iblis (teach people how to protect themselves)
        
        caretaker of the earth - stewardship
        
        communicated w/ Allah
        
        prophet until his death
        
        he taught revelations to his sons
        
        he taught life on earth was temporary - eternal life in the next
        
        built the ka'aba (place of worship)
        
        disobeyed Allah but repented his sins straight away+regretted it all his life - found salvation+openly criticised himself - showed its okay to make mistakes as long as you repent
        
        quotes
        
        'indeed I am going to set a vicegerent (representative of Allah) on the earth' - Qur'an
        
        "... I am going to create a human out of clay... so when I have made him, and breathed life into him" - Qur'an
      - 25 prophets named in Qur'an
      - muslims believe there are 124,000 prophets
      - Iblis- a spiritual being created from fire who was thrown out of paradise for refusing to bow to Adam
    - - provide communication between allah+humans
      - know how to live the way Allah decides
      - if humans forgot, misunderstood or changed Allah's plan, he would send down prophets to call people to the correct path
      - good role models
- - - - every human being has 2 angels (kiraman and katibin) assigned to them to record their good+ bad deeds throughout their lives
      - it is a mercy from God that good deeds are witten down as soon as the intention is formulated, whereas bad deeds are only written down after the act has been performed
      - the records of good+bad deeds will be brought out on the day of Judgement - the book of deeds
      - when we are dead there is nothing more we can do to affect our records of good+bad deeds - except for 3 things that we can leave behind us
        
        upright children full of taqwa (God consciousness) can be an ongoing credit to us after we die
        
        if we do something for education e.g. as a teacher, by writing a book, contributing to a library, the knowledge continues to spread long after we are dead
        
        establish a charitable trust (waqf) to continue doing good for later generations
    - - when human beings are being buried and mourners have filled in the grave+left, angels of interrogation-Munkar+Nakir-appear
        
        they ask a dead person "who is your lord? What religion did you follow? and Who was your prophet?"
        
        they are given a taste of the joys of heaven and the torments of hell
        
        if heaven - grave expands-light+airy
        
        if hell-grave contracts-dark+cold
        
        life in grave/barzakh = timeless state in another dimension where one awaits resurrection - barzakh means barrier
    - - God sorts souls by making them cross the narrow 'sitar bridge' that spans the fires of hell
        good people are quickly transported across the bridge+enter heaven
      - heaven/paradise/jannah
        
        described in Qur'an as gardens of happiness - '[there will be] any fruit they choose:, the meat of any bird they like; and beautiful-eyes maidens like hidden pearls: a reward for what they used to do"
        
        magical, mystical - all wishes+desires fulfilled
        
        no growing ill, old, dying, no pain, no worries
        
        reward from Allah
        
        cannot be reached by any known means
        
        person must've lived religiously, asked for Allah's forgiveness
        
        good beliefs+actions
        
        people will be invited in - 'enter among my servants! enter My Paradise!' Quran
        
        8 gates, each represents a good action, the gate that calls you shows what you did best
      - hell/jahannam
        
        described in Qur'an as fiery and a place of great torment - 'they will dwell amid scorching wind and scalding water in the shadow of black smoke, neither cool nor refreshing'
        
        fire 70x hotter than any flame on earth
        
        people will wail in misery
        
        boiling water poured over their heads, black smoke in their eyes
        
        anyone trying to climb out is pushed back in
        
        live a life full of evil
        
        reject religious teachings of quran
        
        make excuses, not take responsibility, try to blame others for your actions
      - muslim interpretations on the Quran verses about heaven/hell
        
        some think they are exactly what heaven+hell are like
        
        some think they are just hints/suggestions as heaven+hell are beyond human understanding
        
        some think they are symbolic of the spiritual life a person will live after their death, either in the presence/absence of God
    - - one of the 6 articles+5 roots
      - encourages human responsibility+accountability
      - encourages them to follow the path laid down in the Qur'an
      - reminds good people who have suffered that not all is lost, there is something to look forward to