Origins
One of the major contentions of this book is that there are connections among culture,
history, family, and religion. You can see this point reflected in the Islamic faith. As
Sedgwick notes,“Just as the events of Jesus’life matter to a Christian, and just as the
history of Israel matters to a Jew, so the events of early Islam matter to a Muslim.”^128
So essential is history to the study of Islam that we dedicated an entire section to this
topic in the next chapter. However, we need to briefly preview that history, from a reli-
gious perspective. Woodward provides a summary of the events that led to the creation
of Islam:
The Arabs were mostly polytheists, worshiping tribal deities. They had no sacred history link-
ing them to one universal god, like other Middle Eastern peoples. They had no sacred text to
live by, like the Bible; no sacred language, as Hebrew is to Jews and Sanskrit is to Hindus.
Above all, they had no prophet sent to them by God, as Jews and Christians could boast.^129
The need for a prophet to carry the message from God was resolved in 610 CE when
Archangel Gabriel delivered to Muhammad a revelation from God. According to the
stories of Muhammad, he was a person with a curious mind who would retreat into a
cave near his home and engage in prayer and meditation. It was during one of these
meditative periods that“the angel Gabriel appeared to him and told him that God had
chosen him to be His messenger to all mankind.”^130 This epic event was to cast
Muhammad forever as the messenger of God. Muslims believe Allah (Arabic for God)
had spoken to human beings many times in the past through other prophets. However,
it was Muhammad who delivered the religious messages until his death in 623. These
messages were to become recorded in the Koran. Not only did these messages reveal
“words from God,”but they also established the social order that was to become Islam.
Muhammad believed that community and religion were one. Muhammad made the city-
state of Medina the capital of Islam. This fusion of church and state was unique in
Muhammad’s time and remains one of the central characteristics of Islam today.Core Assumptions
As is the case with all religious traditions, the major premises at the heart of the
Islamic worldview are complex and numerous. We have selected six that deserve to
be called“core assumptions,”for they are the most basic articles of faith and help
explain some of the perceptions and actions of people who call themselves Muslims.One God
The central pronouncement of Islam is that there is only one God. As Matthews
points out,“Islam is a firm monotheism. The Shahada recited by every Muslim
emphasizes that there is no god but God. God is great; God is merciful.”^131 In the
Koran, the idea is stated as follows:“He is God, the One God to Whom the creatures
turn for their needs. He begets not, nor was He begotten, and there is none like
Him.”^132 This core belief makes it clear that“there cannot be different or rival gods
(for example, a god of the Jews, a god of the Christians, or the many gods of
polytheists).”^133 So commanding is this premise that Muslims believe that the worst
of all sins occurs when a person gives any share of Allah’s special and matchless130 CHAPTER 4•Worldview: Cultural Explanations of Life and Death
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