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In this episode, based on listener questions, Dr. Yaron Friedman of the University of Haifa joins the podcast to discuss the fundamentals of the religion of Islam. The conversation covers the definition of Islam, its historical spread, its various streams and factions, and the possibility of a secular Muslim state.
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What is Islam
According to Dr. Friedman, to understand Islam, one must start with the basics. He begins by explaining the ‘misbaha’, the Muslim prayer beads. It consists of 33 beads, and each bead symbolizes one of the 99 names of Allah. According to the belief, the 100th name is the explicit name of God, and it is hidden. Mystical streams in Islam, such as the Sufis or the Baha’is, claim to know the explicit name.
Dr. Friedman explains that the meaning of the word ‘Islam’ is submission or devotion to God, not peace. A Muslim is a person who submits to God’s will. The prime example in the Quran is Abraham, who is called a Muslim because he obeyed God without question, even when required to sacrifice his son. This submission is expressed physically in prayer, by prostrating before God.
From a legal perspective, Islam is defined by the Five Pillars of Islam:
- The ‘shahada’: the declaration of faith that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is his messenger.
- The ‘salat’: prayer, five times a day.
- The ‘zakat’: giving charity to the poor.
- The ‘sawm’: fasting during the month of Ramadan.
- The ‘hajj’: the pilgrimage to Mecca, for those who can afford it.
The spread of Islam: persuasion or coercion?
Boris Gorelik asks how the claim that Islam is a ‘religion of peace’ reconciles with its spread through wars. According to Dr. Friedman, Islam is a missionary religion that has always sought to spread throughout the world. He notes that most Muslims today are not Arabs.
The spread occurred in two ways. One way is war and conquest, which characterized the Middle Ages, similar to Christianity in the same period. However, Dr. Friedman argues that most converts to Islam throughout history did so willingly and not by force. The reason for this is that the Islamic civilization in the Middle Ages was the most advanced in the world. Converting to Islam was a gateway to social mobility, economic opportunities, and belonging to the dominant and developed culture of the time. However, there were also cases of coercion, such as the forced recruitment of boys (devshirme) in the Ottoman Empire or the forced conversion of Iran to Shi’ism in the 16th century.
Today, Dr. Friedman explains, major Muslim countries like Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the Emirates are actively fighting radical Islam and organizations like the Muslim Brotherhood. According to him, that is where moderate Islam is found.
Streams and communities in Islam
Sunni Islam, which constitutes the majority in the Muslim world, has hardly split. However, there are nuances within it as well. Alongside rational and legalistic Islam, a mystical stream known as ‘Sufism’ developed. Sufis emphasize the importance of love for God and use music, dance, and mantras to draw closer to him. They believe in the ‘jihad of the soul’, the internal struggle against evil inclinations, as the most important jihad.
In Sunni Islam, there are four schools of law (madhhab), with relatively minor differences between them: the Hanafi (considered the most moderate), the Shafi’i (common in our region), the Maliki (conservative), and the Hanbali (the strictest, common in Saudi Arabia).
The Shi’a, in contrast, believe that the leadership was usurped from Muhammad’s rightful heir, Ali ibn Abi Talib. They have a separate school of law, the Ja’fari, and there are certain differences between them and the Sunnis in commandments and customs.
Dr. Friedman clarifies that the Kurds are not a separate religious stream but an ethnic group. Most of them are Sunnis, and some belong to the Sufi stream. Another community mentioned is the Ahmadis, a stream that developed from Islam and advocates spreading the religion only by peaceful means, with a total opposition to violence.
A secular Muslim state
In response to the question of whether a secular Muslim state can exist, Dr. Friedman cites Atatürk’s Turkey as a successful example, and the Shah’s Iran as a failed attempt. He notes that most Arab dictatorships in the 20th century (Egypt, Syria, Iraq) were secular in their laws, even if the constitution stipulated that the president must be a Muslim. However, it is difficult to determine if a secular Muslim state can also be democratic, as there are almost no democracies in the Arab world.
Alliances on a religious basis
Dr. Friedman expresses great skepticism about the effectiveness of political alliances in the Middle East based on religion, such as the emerging alliance between Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan. According to him, such alliances do not last because each country has different and sometimes conflicting interests. He notes that there is no united Sunni front against Iran, and that even the Shi’ite ‘Axis of Resistance’ led by Iran has proven unreliable, with each party looking out for itself. The history of the region, he concludes, is full of failed alliances and betrayals.
The original episode, in Hebrew: שלום וחרב באסלאם