Building the Table: Islamic Structure

A. According to Islam, Muhammad is the seal of the prophets. This means that Muhammad is a reassertion of God’s will and that he is the final prophet. Islam believes that Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Adam were all prophets, but that Muhammad was the culmination of their prophetic vision. They believe that the other prophets’ messages have been distorted through translations by the hand of man. Man’s involvement in the compiling of scriptures has disenfranchised them. This gives way for the Quran to build on those scriptures as the final word of God. This is what sets the Quran apart from pre-Islamic Abrahamic scriptures. The Quran is accepted as the direct word of God as recorded by Mohammed and his men. To a naysayer, this might appear to be a crazed man, running around telling others to record his channelings from God. Why did the direct word of God never come before? Muhammad believed humanity was not ready for it. To Muslims, the old prophets and scriptures were historically-based and simplistic so that humanity could grasp them at the time. Muhammad came along with the final revelations because humans were ready to hear it. Muhammad and Islam’s massive success didn’t come until the Hijra. Muhammad had a following in Mecca and the Meccan nobility was treating him and his people as a threat. Muhammad saw this and took a deal with Yarthrib, a city north of Mecca, to fix splitting factions within their leadership. The Muslims then migrated to Yarthrib, which later became Medina. This pilgrimage marked the start of the Hijra. During the Hijra, Muhammad became an excellent statesman and performed a miracle that united five tribes of the city, three of which were Jewish. Through his excellent state craft, he attracted people from all over Arabia. People flooded to Medina to see the prophet’s amazing governing abilities. Mecca was upset by this competition and sent armies to level Medina. After a couple battles, Muhammad counter-attacked Mecca and won. After speaking with the Meccan leaders he accepted the mass conversion of Mecca. The Hijra turned Muhammad into a world leader of sorts; by his death, he controlled most of Arabia. Even years after his death, armies of Muslims conquered most of the Middle East and Africa. Muhammad readied Islam to spread as easily as the wind blows.

The story of Abraham and Ishmael is a good example of Muhammad’s Hijra. Abraham has a son with servant Hagar, named Ishmael. He does so because his wife, Sarah, is unable to bear children. Many years later, Sarah surprisingly gives birth to Isaac. God soon tells Abraham to send Hagar and Ishmael into the desert with God's protection. Just as Muhammad had been cast out of Mecca, Ishmael was cast from his home. Muhammad ended up returning to Mecca and taking it back. Ishmael also made it to Mecca and is credited with building the foundations of the Ka'aba, just as Muhammad had built the foundations for Islam in Mecca. To reverse this example, Abraham and Isaacs’s relationship is another illustration of Muhammad’s claim to being the seal of the prophets. God promised Abraham that Isaac would be the seed of a great nation, and when he was born Abraham though he was perfect. He bore everything a son needed to be and was the seal of Abraham’s seed. Abraham then chose to send Ishmael, his eldest son, into the desert. Muhammad’s importance as the seal of the prophets is like Isaac in the eyes of Abraham. A perfect son that created a great nation. This parallels Muhammad’s creations through direct messages from God.

B. The ummah is the Muslim community. Allah works through the ummah to raise people’s eyes up to Heaven. Islam means unity and Allah expects Man to look higher than the kings, and have their eyes on Him. The Five Pillars of Islam are built on ummah. They reflect the trials and experiences Muhammed encountered with the early Islamic Ummah. To gain admittance to the community, one must first accept the Shahadah or Islamic creed that Allah is the only God and Muhammad was his prophet. This must be done on an individual basis. Another individualistic task is the daily prayers; they constantly remind Muslims that they must submit before Allah. By having each person perform this prayer at the same time, the community keeps their social dealings in perspective with God. Ramadan fosters compassion and social cohesion through fasting. By fasting, they not only commemorate Muhammed’s revelation and Hijra, but also pull Muslims together to feel the hunger of the poor. This leads into the next pillar of Zakat, or charity. The Quran specifies that a basic tax of 2.5% must be given to the poor and hungry. The final pillar, which best represents the spirit of the Islamic community, is the Hajj. This pilgrimage back to Mecca champions equality among the Muslims and shows their ability to stand as a community under Allah. These five pillars provide a simple groundwork to identify oneself as a Muslim on a broad level. The day-to-day laws of the ummah are the shari‘a. The shari‘a gives guidance from the Quran and the Hadith to lawmakers, so that they can better institute Islamic law. The ummah must be united under these laws to exist. The culmination of these laws creates a universal brotherhood among Muslims. The ummah is connected among people, not countries. It has no national boundaries. The laws and pillars of Islam provide unity among all Muslims, unlike many religions which only direct the individual’s path.

For the purpose of this example, we shall assume that a table needs and relies on five legs to stand. The legs are the five Pillars of Islam. Attached at the top of the legs is a broad table top. This table top represents the Islamic law, Shari ‘a. Standing on top of the table is the Islamic ummah, which requires the table’s support to stay connected. If a pillar falls off or the table top cracks, it could all fall down. To prevent this from happening, the table needs constant repair and upkeep by the people standing on it. Through this constant upkeep, the ummah is formed through an interconnecting brotherhood that depends on the table.

C. Ali is the origin of the Shi’a and Sunni split. Sunnis view Ali as the fourth and last of the caliphs following on from Abu Bakr, Umar, and Uthman. Sunnis believe that the caliphs are to be chosen by the community; blood ties with Muhammad is not a requirement. Shi’as believe that Ali was the first caliph and because of this, the caliphate only passes through direct descendants of Mohammed. Uthman was murdered and Ali became caliphate. Ali soon had to fight Mu'awiya Ummayad who refused to recognize Ali as the Caliph. Ali compromised with Mu'awiya, and upset his supporters, who felt betrayed and killed him. Mu'awiya declared himself to be the caliph. Mu'awiya finally died and his son, Yazid, took over the caliphate. Hussein, Ali’s son, led an army against Yazid, but he was slaughtered and beheaded. Hussein’s death was the final divide between the Shi’a and Sunni. The Shi’a believe that imam is the spiritual leader of the community. Ali was the first imam and his successors were the only true imams. The imam tradition ended with Muhammad al-Mahdi al Hujja, who disappeared in a cave, but would reappear every once in a while. He finally appeared for the last time as the Mahdi, or expected one. This was the golden age of Shi’a Islam. Now, the imam’s influence is representative and there is no physical imam living. Sunnis, on the other hand, look at the imam as just a person who leads services at a mosque. The theological differences of Sunni and Shi’a are minor. The basis of the two tribes’ division is a historical and political feud.

Imagine there is a faceless coin. This coin is Islam. The coin is shared by two friends who mean for the coin to be equal forever. One day, the friends have an argument and one of them stamps his face on one side claiming ownership of the coin. The other friend is upset by this and stamps his face on the other side. Now, the coin is split because of a feud and the coin adorns two faces. Though at the root, it is still a coin. This illustrates the Sunni and Shi’a split over the caliphates. They may look different and on the surface seem to be different, but they are still Islam.

Critique:
My biggest problem with Islam is that it proposes kingdoms and countries be run by Islamic law. The Quran’s laws are a product of their time. Back when Muhammad started receiving Allah’s message, Mecca was a distraught and corrupt place. Mass orgies, lawlessness, and other social dysfunctions were commonplace. Islamic law is based on the eradication of these corruptions. The world is a little more stable now, but Middle Eastern countries still use this Islamic law to rule their people. The wealthy leaders of Saudi Arabia use it to keep lower classes poor and keep themselves rich. Sudanese warlords use it as an excuse to slaughter thousands of innocent people. Who are the people to argue Islam’s law when interrupted by a dictator? The fact that the Quran is the direct word of God strikes fear into the people who challenge the dictator’s reign of exploitation. If the world leaders were true to the Quran and sought to fight hunger and poverty, then we wouldn’t see the large poverty rates in Islamic countries where the leaders live with the spoils of ancient kings as they step on the backs of the people. We see this happening in the west as well, but it’s not under the façade of divinity. The use of Islamic law would be more acceptable if leaders were companionate and cared for their people. Unfortunately, this is not the case; they only care about their riches and use Islam to extort the people. The post-colonial world isn’t so romantic and leaders don’t lease with their heart. They lead with ideas of power and wealth.

That Which Cannot Be Described

A. All things start with Brahman, the infinite. One does not describe Brahman by what it is, but by what it isn’t. Brahman is the state which all subjective and objective distinctions are annihilated. Brahman is the experience of being. To be, we must start with nirguna Brahman. nirguna Brahman is Brahman without qualities—a transcendent state of being with no distinction. Furthermore, nirguna, as an experience, is one where all things and their definitions are overcome. When the formless nirguna becomes neguna, the material realm takes form. Samsara is the material realm where life extinguishes and is reborn. Brahman in form is seguna Brahman. Seguna is all that we are aware of and how we experience life. Nirguna and seguna are one and that one is many. If everything we perceive comes from a formless state of being and is given characteristics when it creates manifestations in the material realm (samsara) and becomes the same state of being, but with qualities, we have an instance of “God as the world.” God as the world is expressed by the relationship of seguna and nirguna Brahman because God takes on all manifestations in the world, but still remains the same source. With the creation of samsara, it is easy for humans to fall victim to maya, the occasion for illusion. All we may see and worship is samsara or the image of ourselves. We forget our dependence on the infinite to live and believe we have total control over our own destiny. We forget that we are all part of Brahman when we die. The finite is destroyed, but the infinite still remains.

The relationship of nirguna and seguna can be illustrated by light passing through a prism. The white formless light is nirguna. This light passes through the prism, representative of seguna, and manifests into a spectrum of all colors to make samsara. The colors take on different characteristics after passing through the prism, but they still remain of the formless white light. Another example would be a boat. The boat is made of wood, but do we call the boat wood? No, we call it a boat. If the boat is destroyed, it becomes what it once was, wood. Wood as the boat. God as the world.

B. To reach Brahman, one must recognize and shed maya. Maya is the occasion for illusion. The occasions cause our minds and the jiva—our personal souls or the self—to become entangled. This ignorance is the cause of “material experiences” in the corporal world. Humans, under the spell of maya, feel they are limited by the material world. This illusion of Brahman as the seen world results in human emotions like sadness, happiness and fear. The jiva can become bound to maya. When maya constrains the self, then the Atman, or the true Self or God within, is not seen. Maya hides the one Atman and makes it appear as several Atmans, each in a single body. When maya is destroyed, the jiva can see Atman is one in the same as Brahman and ignorance is lost. Karma’s relationship to the jiva is through a person’s deeds. Karma can be defined as the moral law of cause and effect. Karma says that man’s actions have consequences but are arrived at freely. Thus, a jiva has the choice to act out of self-gratification or compassion. Each time one acts out in a negative manner, bad karma will cling to Atman and remain there as a blemish on the Self. A life of good deeds leads to rebirth in a better life, and foul deeds lead to a lower existence.

An example of maya can be demonstrated in a simple story of a man in the woods. One day, a man walking in a forest spots a snake on the ground. The man reels and is ready to stomp the snake dead, but then realizes it is actually a rope. The man calms down and the adrenaline subsides. The snake represents the occasion for illusion. Maya made the man’s adrenaline rush; it masked his vision so that he could only see what he thought was fact. He did not see the truth that there was no snake. His ignorance of what was the case and attention to his own mental construct rendered him physically sick and potentially a fool. Karma can be visualized by a man who buys things to please himself until they eventually surround him. He becomes trapped, as he is no longer himself but the things he owns. The man’s deeds trapped his Atman behind scars and blemishes so that it is too blind to realize its oneness with Brahman.

C. The blemishes of karma stain the soul if one cannot break the world of maya. Moksha must seem very far off. Moksha is liberation from samsara and all the suffering of the material world. An essential path to moksha would be that of the four yogas. Bhakti yoga is the most popular of the four. It is a discipline that consists of constantly loving and remembering God in all mortal actions. To master it, one must love God, not for personal gain but for love’s sake alone. It strives to ultimately connect with manifestations of seguna Brahman.
A follower of bhakti yoga would put God in his or her everyday life by singing or repeating His name, making God a friend to have an internal and loving relationship with, and being totally absorbed in Him. Surrounding oneself with Him is a path to become closer to Him.
Jnana yoga is attaining moksha through the path of knowledge and tries to attain oneness with nirguna Brahman. Jnana yoga is for the reflective minded to look at the self’s actions and liberate the self from the temporal. To reach moksha, a master of jnana yoga must attain the “me, I’m not” way of thinking and see past the self, onto what is past the worldly.
A Jnana yoga disciple would detach himself or herself from the earthly self. One way of doing this is by reflecting on actions in the third-person and analyzing them. For instance, if one were to get angry, one would not let oneself get lost in the anger. Instead, this person would realize that he or she is feeling anger and reflect on why that may be. This will help someone following jnana to detach themselves from the material and feelings brought up by the material.
Karma yoga is focused on liberation through one’s actions as expressed in the Bhavagad Gita. One can attain moksha by performing his or her duties selflessly and without becoming attached to the fruits of labor.
An example of karma yoga in practice would be a person who acts so they are not rewarded by the material but by how their actions are sacrifices for God and do not swell the ego. Those who live modest lives of service represent this behavior.
Raja Yoga is primarily concerned with the mind or the psychophysical. Raja yoga emphasizes the relationship between mind and body and the need to learn self-discipline. The main tool of raja yoga is meditation. To meditate successfully, one must master eight steps, starting with being able to ignore physical and mental distractions and ending with a state of samadhi. Samadhi is the deepest state of meditation and one of the last precursors to moksha.
A raja yoga disciple would attain moksha by disciplining the mind to drop the self and would perfect the paradox of seeing the invisible.



Critique of part A:
Most dualist ideals concerning salvation and “heaven” would not agree in the principle of God living as the world. In Christianity, we are at home when we are with God in heaven, while God has no home on earth. That means God is related externally to the earth. Hindu thought believes we are God before we are born, when we are on earth, and when we die. This directly relates to the Atman, which a dualist has a hard time understanding. The duelist would only consider the jiva and Brahman, leaving the interconnecting Atman out of the equation. Thus we are never a part of God. Therefore, the world and God exist independently. To a duelist “God as the world” is placing too much power in man. If one says “God is me,” then might this person also claim, “I am God”? That may not be the case, but someone could draw that conclusion, because the line between God and man is blurry in Hinduism.