Religions in the Middle East

Judaism, Christianity, Islam

Three of the world’s major religions—the monotheist traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam were all born in the Middle East and are all linked to one another.

Christianity was born from within the Jewish tradition, and Islam developed from both Christianity and Judaism.

Judaism

Brief History:

Judaism is the oldest surviving monotheistic religion, arising in the eastern Mediterranean in the second millennium B.C.E Abraham is traditionally considered to the first Jew and to have made an agreement with God.

While there was always a small community of Jews in history Palestine, in 73 C.E the Roman Empire dispersed the Jews after there was a rebellion against Roman authority. Most Jews then lived in Diaspora, as minorities in their communities, until the founding of Israel in 1948.

When Jews from all over the world came to settle in modern Israel, they found that various subcultures had developed in different areas with distinctive histories, languages, religious practices, customs and cookery.

Cultural Groups:

Jews from Germany and Eastern Europe were known as Ashkenazim (Hebrew word for Germany) Yiddish, a fusion of German and Hebrew, was the spoken language of Ashkenazim.

Jews tended to be segregated, voluntarily or not, from the Christian population. From the late 19th and through the first half of the 20th century, many Ashkenazim came to Palestine to escape discrimination they faced.

Judaism in Israel:

There is difference of opinion among Israeli Jews over the role Jewish religious law should play in the state, Until recently, Orthodox Judaism was the only form of religion formally and legally recognized in Israel. Although less conservative branches of Judaism now have partial recognition, Orthodox remains dominant politically and legally.

Many Israeli Jews describe themselves in terms of their degree of observance of Jewish law. About half call themselves secular; about 15 to 20 percent see themselves as Orthodox or ultra-Orthodox; and the rest describe themselves as traditionally observant, but not as strict.

What Jews Believe?

Jews believe in one god and his prophets, with special respect for Moses as the prophet to whom God gave the law. Jewish law is embodied in the Torah.

Judaism is more concerned with actions than belief. In other words, the observance of rules regulating human behavior has been of more concern than debates over beliefs in the Jewish tradition. Jewish law covers matters such as prayer, ritual, diet, rules regulating personal status (marriage, divorce, birth death, etc.) and observance of holidays ( Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, Passover etc.)

Christianity

Brief History:

Christianity started as an offshoot of Judaism. In 324 C.E emperor Constantine converted to Christianity in 324. Early Christian communities were often persecuted. It was then the Roman Empire became the Holy Roman Empire. The development of Christian groups derived from the major and minor splits.

Christian missionaries proselytize all over the world, and there large populations of Christians on every continent on Earth, although the forms of Christianity practiced vary.

In the Middle East:

Christians in the Middle East today include Copts, Maronites, Russian Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholics, Armenian Orthodox, Armenian Catholics, Assyrians and Protestants. These groups have different liturgical languages, rituals, and customs, and different leaders who direct their faith.

The Coptic Church, the dominant form of Christianity in Egypt, arose from a doctrinal split in the church at the council of Caledon in 451. The Maronite Church was started in the fifth century by followers of the Syrian priest named Maroun. The Maronite Patriarch, based in Lebanon, guides his followers in the teachings of Maroun and other saints.

There are also Christian communities of different sects living today in Syria (10%), Jordan (6%), West Bank (8%), and Iraq (3%), with smaller percentages in other Middle East today, more than 75 percent of Americans of Arab descent are Christian.

What Christians believe?

Christianity developed out of the monotheistic tradition of Judaism. Jesus is its founder; he was a member of the Jewish community in Roman Palestine. Its holy scriptures are the Old Testament, and the New Testament.

Christians believe that God is revealed though three dimensions: the father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Christians believe in an afterlife where those who have lived a good life will reside in heaven with God, and those who have lived an unrepentant life of sin will be punished in hell.

Views of Judaism and Islam:

Although Christianity developed out of Judaic texts, Christians do not follow Jewish law. Instead, they believe that the ritualistic Jewish law was abrogated in favor of a universal gospel for all of humanity and the Christian teaching, "Love thy neighbor as thyself."

Christianity has also had a problematic relationship with Islam. Christians do not accept Muhammad as a prophet. While many Christians in the Middle East converted to Islam during and after the seventh century, the Church hierarchy in Rome and Constantinople considered Islam to be both a political and theological threat. The Crusades were an unsuccessful attempt to reverse the Islamic conquest of the eastern Mediterranean and the holy places of all three monotheistic religions.

Islam

Brief History:

Islam arose in the early seventh century C.E. in the settled desert community of Mecca (in present-day Saudi Arabia). It developed from both the Judeo-Christian tradition and the cultural values of the nomadic Bedouin tribes of Arabia.

Islam expanded into areas controlled by the Byzantine Empire (largely Greek-speaking and Orthodox Christian, but with a diverse population) By the mid-eighth century, Islam had spread west into North Africa and Europe, and east into Central Asia. Over the centuries, Islam continued to grow in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia.

As Islam expanded, the new Islamic societies adapted and synthesized many of the customs they encountered. As a result, Muslims in different areas of the world created for themselves a wide array of cultural traditions.

Islamic Communities:

Within Islam, there are many different communities. Many of these divisions, like the Sunnis, Shi’ites, Ismailis, Alevis/Alawites, and Druze, originate in political and doctrinal differences in the community. Adherents of Islam may be more or less observant, conservative or liberal.

What Muslims believe?

Muslims believe that Allah (the Arabic word for God) sent his revelation, the Quran, to the prophet Muhammad in the seventh century C.E. to proclaim it to mankind. The Quran contains verses (surahs) in Arabic that tell Muslims to worship one god, and explains how they should treat others properly.

Observant Muslims practice five principles (pillars) of Islam: orally declaring their faith (shahadah); praying five times a day (salat); fasting in the daylight hours during the month of Ramadan (sawm); giving a share of their income for charity (zakat); and making a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in their lifetime if they can afford it (hajj). Many Muslims also observe dietary rules, in origin similar to those of Judaism, that forbid certain foods (like pork), outlaw alcohol, and dictate how animals should be slaughtered for food.

Major Muslim festivals include Id al-Fitr (the Fast-Breaking Festival, celebrated at the end of Ramadan) and Id al-Adha (the Festival of Sacrifice, the commemoration of Abraham's willingness to sacrifice Ishmail which takes place during the month of pilgrimage).

Muslims believe in a Day of Judgment, when righteous souls will go to heaven and wrongdoers will go to hell.

Islam’s views:

Islam sees Judaism and Christianity as earlier versions of Islam, revelations given within the same tradition by Allah but misunderstood over time by their followers. Muslims see Islam as the final, complete, and correct revelation in the monotheistic tradition of the three faiths.

The Islamic tradition recognizes many of the Jewish and Christian prophets, including Abraham, Moses, and Jesus (although he is not considered to be the son of God). Many non-Muslims mistakenly believe that Muhammad is the equivalent of Jesus in the Islamic tradition; in fact, it is the Quran that stands in the same central position in Islam as Jesus does in Christianity. Muhammad himself is not divine, but a prophet chosen by God to deliver his message and an example of piety to emulate.

Jews and Christians are specifically protected in the Quran as Peoples of the Book, reinforcing their spiritual connection to Islam by virtue of having been given revelations from God. The Islamic legal tradition has upheld the rights of Jews and Christians to maintain their beliefs and practices within their communities in Islamic lands, and this policy of tolerance has generally been upheld.

Judaism Christianity Islam

Five Pillars of Islam

1. Iman or Faith

2. Salah or Prayer

3. Zakah or The financial obligation upon Muslims

4. Sawm or Fasting

5. Hajj or Pilgrimage

Iman:

The belief that the only purpose in life is to serve and obey God, and this is achieved through the teachings and practices of the last prophet, Muhammad.

Salah:

Salah is the name for the obligatory prayers that are performed five times a day, and are a direct link between the worshipper and God.

Prayers are led by a learned person who knows the Quran.

Prayers are said at dawn, mid-day, late-afternoon, sunset and nightfall.

The prayers are said in Arabic ( the language of the revelation)

Zakah:

Muslims believe in a principle that everything belongs to God, and that wealth is therefore held by human beings in trust.

Zakah translates to “purification” and “growth”

o Our possessions are purified by setting aside a portion for those in need and for the society in general.

Sawn:

Every year in the month of Ramadan, all Muslims fast from dawn until sundown.

o They don’t have food or drinks.

Children fast from puberty on, although many start earlier.

It is a method for self-purification and self-restraint.

By cutting oneself from worldly comforts, even for a short time, a fasting person focuses on his or her purpose in life by constantly being aware of the presence of God.

Hajj:

Pilgrimage to Mecca is an obligation only for those who are physically and financially able to do so.

Over 2 million people travel to Mecca each year from every corner of the globe.

Pilgrims wear special clothes: simple garments that strip away distinctions of class and structure.

5 Pillars of Islam

Iman/ Faith

Salah/ Prayer

Zakah/ financial obligation

Sawn/ Fasting

Hajj/ Pilgrimage

Conflicts/ Relations

An element that has provoked conflict is the fact that three major religions emerged in this region and their centers, which are considered to be holy, are located in the Middle East.

The dynamics of conflict also emerge from the overlap of the existing and the claimed boarders of these groups. They are based not only on the differences among three major religions, but also on relationships among different groups within a single religion. These conflicts all influence political processes.

Religion-based conflicts in the Middle East need to be examined within the context of the interactions among three religions: Muslims and Jews, Muslims and Christians, and differences among Muslims.

Relations:

Muslim- Jewish relations:

o Conflicts between Muslims and Jews can go under several titles including, geopolitical, ethnic, and religious

o Jews in theory and a few in reality believe that Middle East lands, including those they are living on now, were given to them by Jehovah and need to be recovered from others.

Muslims have no intentions on sharing it with them.

o Jews perceive Arabs as second class and do not accept them as equals in interpersonal relations.

Their belief that any religion after Judaism is seen as deviating.

o Historical events that have occurred between Jews and Muslims also form grounds for conflict.

The prophet Muhammad expelled the Jews from Medina, had one of the three Jewish tribes massacred and deported all the Jews from Saudi Arabia. The Koran also contains anti-Semitic statements.

Muslim- Christian relations:

o From a Christian perspective, religions were born in the Middle East.

Jesus and his apostles lived in Jerusalem. These lands were considered for 700 years as the center of Christendom and were perceived as a region that needed to be rescued from the unbelievers.

o The crusades emerged due to religion.

Christians who perceived the Muslims as usurpers took on a mission to free these lands from the unbelievers.

However, the Christian population was never strong enough to control the region.

Muslims-Muslim relations:

o The Middle East is perceived as the first region where Islam began to spread, and as its first cultural center.

o Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia, Damascus, Baghdad, Jerusalem and Cairo are very important cultural and settlement centers.

o Due to oppressive totalitarian regimes that united with religion, these regions never had the opportunity to display their own religious identities.

Currently they have been transformed by the emergence of a political and radical Islam under the influence of Wahhabism.

The ruling class in Saudi Arabia and in the Gulf has accepted Wahhabism as the official ideology.

There are distorted relations between the ruling class and the governed.

o Saddam Hussein was a Sunni leader ruling a Shi’ite majority.

o Hafez Asad was a Shi’ite leader ruling a Sunni majority.

o Difference between Sunni & Shi’ite Muslims

The Sunni branch believes that the first four caliphs--Mohammed's successors--rightfully took his place as the leaders of Muslims. They recognize the heirs of the four caliphs as legitimate religious leaders.

Sunni are 90% or the population and Shi’ite are 10% of the population.

Sunnis pray to a human form of God and the Shi’ites pray to a manifestation of God and perfect interpreters of the Qaran..

Shi’ites, in contrast, believe that only the heirs of the fourth caliph, Ali, are the legitimate successors of Mohammed.

Holy Cities:

Sunni: Mecca, Medina, Jerusalem

Shi’ite: Mecca, Medina,  Jerusalem, Najaf, Karbala

In conclusion, it does not seem possible that religion-centered conflicts will come to an end any time soon. These problems make a durable peace difficult. In the Middle East war, like peace, is a process. Peace, like war, will be difficult and painful.

Discussion Questions on Conflicts/Relations

1. How does the history and background of the Judaism and Islamic religion play into their recent conflicts?

2. Explain the crusades.

3. Compare and contrast the Sunni and Shi’ite Muslims.

Vocabulary on Middle East Religions

Diaspora The scattering of the Jews to countries outside of Palestine

Mecca City in Saudi Arabia; birthplace of Muhammad; spiritual center of Islam.

Missionaries A person strongly in favor of a program, set of principles, etc., who attempts to persuade or convert others.

Monotheism Doctrine or belief that there is only one God

Wahhabi The most conservative and strict Muslim group and are today found mainly in Saudi Arabia.

Write a sentence for each word and draw a picture for each word.