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Ethiopia Islam
Basic Teachings of Islam
Islam is a system of religious beliefs and an allencompassing way of life. Muslims believe that God (Allah)
revealed to the Prophet Muhammad the rules governing society
and the proper conduct of society's members. Therefore, it
is incumbent on the individual to live in a manner
prescribed by the revealed law and incumbent on the
community to build the perfect human society on earth
according to holy injunctions. Islam recognizes no
distinctions between church and state. The distinction
between religious and secular law is a recent development
that reflects the more pronounced role of the state in
society and of Western economic and cultural penetration.
Religion has a greater impact on daily life in Muslim
countries than it has had in the largely Christian West
since the Middle Ages.
Islam came to Ethiopia by way of the Arabian Peninsula,
where in A.D. 610, Muhammad--a merchant of the Hashimite
branch of the ruling Quraysh tribe in the Arabian town of
Mecca--began to preach the first of a series of revelations
he said had been granted him by God through the angel
Gabriel. A fervent monotheist, Muhammad denounced the
polytheism of his fellow Meccans. Because the town's economy
was based in part on a thriving pilgrimage business to the
shrine called the Kaaba and to numerous other pagan
religious sites in the area, Muhammad's censure earned him
the enmity of the town's leaders. In 622 he and a group of
followers accepted an invitation to settle in the town of
Yathrib, later known as Medina (the city), because it was
the center of Muhammad's activities. The move, or hijra,
known in the West as the hegira, marks the beginning of the
Islamic era and of Islam as a force in history; indeed, the
Muslim calendar begins in 622. In Medina, Muhammad continued
to preach, and he eventually defeated his detractors in
battle. He consolidated the temporal and the spiritual
leadership in his person before his death in 632. After
Muhammad's death, his followers compiled those of his words
regarded as coming directly from God into the Quran, the
holy scriptures of Islam. Others of his sayings and
teachings, recalled by those who had known him, became the
hadith. The precedent of Muhammad's personal behavior is
called the sunna. Together, these works form a comprehensive
guide to the spiritual, ethical, and social life of the
orthodox Sunni Muslim.
The duties of Muslims form the five pillars of Islam, which
set forth the acts necessary to demonstrate and reinforce
the faith. These are the recitation of the shahada ("There
is no god but God [Allah], and Muhammad is his prophet."),
salat (daily prayer), zakat (almsgiving), sawm (fasting),
and hajj (pilgrimage). The believer is to pray in a
prescribed manner after purification through ritual
ablutions each day at dawn, midday, midafternoon, sunset,
and nightfall. Prescribed genuflections and prostrations
accompany the prayers, which the worshiper recites facing
toward Mecca. Whenever possible, men pray in congregation at
the mosque with an imam, or prayer leader, and on Fridays
they make a special effort to do so. The Friday noon prayers
provide the occasion for weekly sermons by religious
leaders. Women may also attend public worship at the mosque,
where they are segregated from the men, although women
usually pray at home. A special functionary, the muezzin,
intones a call to prayer to the entire community at the
appropriate hour. Those out of earshot determine the time by
the position of the sun.
The ninth month of the Muslim calendar is Ramadan, a
period of obligatory fasting in commemoration of Muhammad's
receipt of God's revelation. Throughout the month, all but
the sick and weak, pregnant or lactating women, soldiers on
duty, travelers on necessary journeys, and young children
are enjoined from eating, drinking, smoking, or sexual
intercourse during the daylight hours. Those adults who are
excused are obliged to endure an equivalent fast at their
earliest opportunity. A festive meal breaks the daily fast
and inaugurates a night of feasting and celebration. The
pious well-to-do usually perform little or no work during
this period, and some businesses close for all or part of
the day. Because the months of the lunar year revolve
through the solar year, Ramadan falls at various seasons in
different years. A considerable test of discipline at any
time of the year, a fast that falls in summertime imposes
severe hardship on those who must do physical work.
All Muslims, at least once in their lifetimes, are strongly
encouraged to make the hajj to Mecca to participate in
special rites held there during the twelfth month of the
lunar calendar. Muhammad instituted this requirement,
modifying pre-Islamic custom, to emphasize sites associated
with God and Abraham (Ibrahim), considered the founder of
monotheism and father of the Arabs through his son Ismail.
Other tenets of the Muslim faith include the jihad (holy
war), and the requirement to do good works and to avoid all
evil thoughts, words, and deeds. In addition, Muslims agree
on certain basic principles of faith based on the teachings
of the Prophet Muhammad: there is one God, who is a unitary
divine being, in contrast to the trinitarian belief of
Christians; Muhammad, the last of a line of prophets
beginning with Abraham and including Moses (Musa) and Jesus
(Isa), was chosen by God to present His message to humanity;
and there is to be a general resurrection on the last, or
judgment, day.
During his lifetime, Muhammad was spiritual and temporal
leader of the Muslim community. Religious and secular law
merged, and all Muslims traditionally have been subject to
sharia, or religious law. A comprehensive legal system,
sharia developed gradually through the first four centuries
of the Islamic era, primarily through the accretion of
interpretations and precedents set by various judges and
scholars.
After Muhammad's death, Muslim community leaders chose Abu
Bakr, the Prophet's father-in-law and one of his earliest
followers, to succeed him. At that time, some persons
favored Ali ibn Abu Talib, Muhammad's cousin and the husband
of his daughter Fatima, but Ali and his supporters (the
Shiat Ali, or Party of Ali) eventually recognized the
community's choice. The next two caliphs (successors)--Umar,
who succeeded in A.D. 634, and Uthman, who took power in
644--enjoyed the recognition of the entire community. When
Ali finally succeeded to the caliphate in 656, Muawiyah,
governor of Syria, rebelled in the name of his murdered
kinsman Uthman. After the ensuing civil war, Ali moved his
capital to the area of present-day Iraq, where he was
murdered shortly thereafter.
Ali's death ended the last of the so-called four orthodox
caliphates and the period in which the entire community of
Islam recognized a single caliph. Muawiyah proclaimed
himself caliph from Damascus. The Shiat Ali refused to
recognize him or his line, the Umayyad caliphs, and withdrew
in the great schism to establish the dissident sect, known
as the Shia, who supported the claims of Ali's line to the
caliphate based on descent from the Prophet. The larger
faction, the Sunnis, adhered to the position that the caliph
must be elected, and over the centuries they have
represented themselves as the orthodox branch.
Early in Islam's history the Sufism movement emerged. It
stressed the possibility of emotional closeness to God and
mystical knowledge of God in contrast to the intellectual
and legalistic emphasis of orthodox Sunni theology. By the
twelfth century, this tendency had taken a number of forms.
Orders, each emphasizing specific disciplines (ways) of
achieving that closeness and knowledge, were organized.
Disdained by orthodox Islamic theologians, Sufi orders
nevertheless became an integral part of Islam, although
their importance varied regionally.
Data as of 1991
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