Islam, the Quran, and the Five Pillars: Crash Course World History #13

Hi there, I’m John Green, this is Crash Course: World History and today we’re going

to talk about Islam, which like Christianity and Judaism grew up on the east coast of the

Mediterranean but unlike Christianity and Judaism is not terribly well understood in

the West. For instance, you probably know what this is and what this is, you probably

don’t know what that is. Google it.

Mr. Green Mr. Green why do you think people know so little about Islamic history?

Did you just ask an interesting non-annoying question, me from the past? I think we don’t

know about early Islamic history because we don’t learn about it, me from the past,

because we don’t learn about it, because we’re taught that our history is the story

of Christianity in Europe, when in fact our history is the story of people on the planet,

so let’s try to learn something today.

[theme

music]

So in less than 200 years Islam went from not existing to being the religious and political

organizing principal of one of the largest empires in the world.

And that story begins in the 7th century CE when the angel Gabriel appeared to Muhammad,

a 40-ish guy who made his living as a caravan trader and told him to begin reciting the word of God.

Initially, this freaked Muhammad out, as, you know, it would—but then his wife and

a couple of other people encouraged him and slowly he came to accept the mantle as prophet.

A few things to know about the world Islam entered: First, Muhammad’s society was intensely

tribal. He was a member of the Quraysh tribe, living in Mecca and tribal ties were extremely important.

Also, at the time, the Arabian peninsula was like this crazy religious melting pot. Like

most tribal Arabs worshipped gods very similar to the Mesopotamian gods you’ll remember from episode 3.

And by the time of Muhammad, cult statutes of many of those gods had been collected in

his hometown of Mecca in this temple-like structure called the Kaaba.

But Arabia was also a home for monotheisms like Christianity and Judaism, even a bit

of Zoroastrianism. So the message that there was only god wouldn’t have been like as

surprising to Muhammad as it was, for instance, to Abraham.

Also, and this will become very important, the northern part of Arabia was sandwiched

between the Byzantine Empire and the Persian Sassanian Empire—and you’ll remember,

those guys were always fighting. They were like snowboarders and skiers, or like the

Westboro Baptist Church and everyone else.

At its core, Islam is what we call a radical reforming religion—just like Jesus and Moses

sought to restore Abrahamic monotheism after what they perceived as straying, so too did Muhammad.

Muslims believe that God sent Muhammad as the final prophet to bring people back to

the one true religion, which involves the worship of, and submission to, a single and all-powerful God.

The Quran also acknowledges Abraham and Moses and Jesus among others as prophets, but it’s

very different from the Hebrew and Christian bibles:

For one thing it’s much less narrative, but also its

the written record of the revelations Muhammad received—which means its not written from

the point of view of people, it is seen as the actual word of God.

The Quran is a really broad-ranging text, but it returns again and again to a couple

themes. One is strict monotheism and the other is the importance of taking care of those

less fortunate than you. The Quran, says of the good person

spends his substance—however much he himself may cherish it—upon his near of kin, and

the orphans, and the needy, and the wayfarer, and the beggars, and for the freeing of human

beings from bondage.

These revelations also radically increased the rights of women and orphans, which was

one of the reasons why Mohammad’s tribal leaders weren’t that psyched about them.

To talk more about Islamic faith and practice, let’s go to the Thought Bubble.

The five pillars of Islam are the basic acts considered obligatory, at least by Sunni Muslims.

First is the shahada or the profession of the faith:

There is no god but god and Muhammad is God’s prophet, which is sometimes translated as

“There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is Allah’s prophet”, which tries to make

Muslims sound other and ignores the fact that the Arabic word for god—whether you are

Christian or Jewish or Muslim—is Allah.

Second, salat, or ritual prayer five times a day—at dawn, noon, afternoon, sunset,

and late evening—which are obligatory unless you haven’t hit puberty, are too sick, or

are menstruating. Keep it PG, Thought Bubble.

Third, sawm, the month-long fast during the month of Ramadan, in which Muslims do not

eat or drink or smoke cigarettes during daylight hours.

Since Ramadan is a lunar-calendar month, it moves around the seasons, and obviously it’s

most fun during the winter, when days are shorter, and least fun during the summer,

when days are both long and hot.

Fourth is zakat, or almsgiving, in which non-poor Muslims are required to give a percentage

of their income to the poor,

and lastly hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca that Muslims must try to fulfill at least once

in their lives, provided they are healthy and have enough money.

And there’s also more to understanding Islam than just knowing the Quran. Like Judaism

with its Talmud, and Christianity with its lives of saints and writings of Church fathers,

Islam has supplementary sacred texts, chief among which is the hadith, a collection of

sayings and stories about the Prophet.

Thanks Thought Bubble. Oh, it’s time for the open letter?

Magic.

An Open Letter to the 72 Virgins. Oh, but first let’s check what’s in the Secret

Compartment. Huh, it’s Andre the Giant. Did you know that Andre the Giant died a virgin-