-All 5 pillars of Islam existed in
pre-Islamic paganism (though denied by
conservative muslims)
1-Shahada -Allah (pagan moon god, and
patron god of M's tribe.)
2- 5 daily prayers toward Mecca (area
pagans also prayed at the same times
each day toward Mecca.
3-Zakat(charity), almost all religions teach
charity.
4-Fasting during Ramadan was also
done by pagans.
5-Pilgrimage to Mecca, (pagans often
came to visit the Kabah)

Shariah (Islamic Law)
-Based on the rulings of clerics, Hadith
and Quran)
-Religious, Civil and Criminal Law.
-Fixed a few hundred years after M's
death.
-No distinction between church and state.

-Sects of Islam
-Sunnis; followed Abu Bakr, M's father in
law.
-Based on written word (like Jews and
Catholics)
-85% of Muslims.
-Shi'ites; followed Alli M's cousin
-Based on dictates of present day clerics
which are guided by Allah, plus the
teachings of 7-12 Imams(a succession of
religious leaders)
-"Twelvers" believe that the last of the
Imams will come again.
-10% of Muslims.
-Suffis
-An ascetic, monastic sect that
emphasizes religious experience and
oness with God.
-Vow of poverty.
-Meditation and Solitary prayer.
-Originally persecuted for their "oness
with God" as blasphemy, and their
under-emphasis on the outward Islamic
law.
-Al-Ghazali; a mid-evil reformer that
made Suffism respectable by restoring the
outward Shariah to Suffism while
maintaining the emphasis on inward
mystical experience.
-Rumi; a Suffi poet that founded the Suffi
sub-sect of Mawlawiya (the Whirling
Dervishes).

Afterlife
-Paradise, very physicalistic (Fruit,
luxurious clothes and pillows etc., trees,
streams, servant girls.)
-Hell (Drink boiling water like a thirsty
camel, eat fruit of the Zakoum tree, which
are little demon heads)

-Day of Doom (equivalent to Judgment
day)

- Dietary restrictions; No pork, meat must
be slaughtered in a special way, no
alcohol.

-Jihad "holy war", Fighting for the cause of
Islam. (Islam was primarily spread
through the sword in the early days)
-Greater Jihad; struggle of individual to
submit oneself to God.

-Caliph; Sunni leader, head of Islamic
empire.

-Muslims say the Kabbah was built by
Adam and later restored by Abraham

-Night of power; M's first holy
transmission.