History of the Ka'aba

The Ka'aba is a semi-cubic building made of granite that was originally built by Abraham and his son, Ishmael, as a place of worship for monotheistic religion, but eventually fell into the hands of pagans. The pagans devoted Mecca's holy site to their tribal gods and placed figures of them within the structure and used it for their religious ceremonies.

Around 630 C.E. Muhammad and his followers claimed the Ka'aba as a site for Islamic worship after several years of battling with the pagan population of Mecca. Muhammad had the idols expelled from within the holy site and destroyed. At this time some of Muhammad's most difficult opponents converted to Islam along with the rest of the population in the area as the religion began to grow rapidly.

Today the Ka'aba still serves as a central focus for Islamic worship. Muslims all over the world orient themselves in a position that faces the holy site when they recite prayers five times daily. This practice brings a sense of unity to the people of the religion along with the Hajj, which is a pilgrimage to Mecca that is made by all Muslims that are physically and financially able at least once in their lifetime. During the Hajj, the pilgrims circle counter-clockwise together around the Ka'aba seven times among several other rituals that take place. This tradition can be seen in this video.

A little about Islam

When most people hear Islam, a stereotype might pop into mind. Perhaps you see people who wear turbans, or clothing very different from ours. Some may revert to the attacks on 9/11 as Jamie talked about in her post. For me, I knew a stereotype popped into my head, but I realized that most of what I thought was actually ignorance, lack of knowledge on the subject.

Islam is very similar to Christianity. According to what we talked about in class, they have five articles of faith. 1.) belief in one god, or Allah. 2.) Believe in angels as bearers of Divine revelation. 3.) Belief in old and new testament
4.) belief in validity of previous prophets such as Moses, and Abraham. Finally, Islam believes in the coming of the final judgment day. Like Christianity, they also have a book by which they abide. Where Christians have the bible, Islamic people have the Qur'an which are revelations about what people are supposed to do at certain times. Muslims, people who adhere to the Islamic faith also believe Muhammad, the prophet of Allah, is the seal of God. In class, my professor explained this as such: where the other religions had failed God, the Islamic faith and followers would not, and Muhammad was thus the last prophet from God, because they would not fail.
In the Islamic faith, there are also five pillars. First, there is daily prayer, five times a day. Second, is fasting during Ramadan. Next, is charity (tithe) and last is a pilgrimage to Mecca or Haji.

As much as it is a religion, or a following, it is also a system of social organization. As stated earlier, the Qur'an is a book of revelations of what people should do in certain instances. Along with this, there is the Hadith, which are stories about the life of Muhammad. However, these alone cannot rule or lead a people alone, and so Sharia was created: which is a code of Islamic law. According to my notes, this extends ritual law to all aspects of human life. So, it is essentially how to apply teachings to everyday life.

Within Islam, there are to sects, or types is another way to put it. You may have heard of the Shia, and the Suni. These are basically two different followings of one religion. The split happened when Ali, Muhammad's son in law did not receive the honor of being the first caliph, or deputy after Muhammad's death. It instead went to Ali Bakr. The division begun here. Long story short, Ali was very angry he was not elected as the first caliph. He was later made the fourth caliph, however conflicts arose, and Ali and a vast majority of his followers were assassinated. Those who survived became the sect of the Shia, and follow Ali and the dynastic ideas. (A fancy way to say they believed in the rule of the dynasty, that the successor of an empire should be a son or close relative of the previous empire.
The other sect, the Suni (Which is the majority of the Islamic following) Follows Abu (the first caliph talked about earlier) and the idea that whoever is most capable to lead, should.

Islam in my mind is a different form of Christianity. I find the ideas of Islam, and it's pillars to make a lot of sense, and I have a greater understanding of the faith. I was very intrigued to find Islam is also a social structure, as well as a religion. I hope my post has given you a different idea of Islam, and perhaps changed a stereotype.

Islam Influences in the Western World

When most people of our generation think of Islam, what is the first thing that comes to mind? For me, the first memory of actually understanding what Islam was happened on September 11, 2001. It is a date that many can easily recall. It was a date where planes did not fly overhead. It was a date where many of us can recall exactly where we were when we heard the announcement either first on the radio (in my case) or watched the events unfold on television. It was an event that impacted our lives forever.

Being from the east side of Michigan, my dad works in Dearborn, MI. Outside of the Islamic Empire, it is said to be the area where there is the most gathering of Islamic people. On September 11, 2001, my dad was sent home from work out of his own protection. When that day happened, I did not quite understand the significance of how this all tied together. I was lucky enough, however, to be in tenth grade at the time. My history teacher thought that his students were old enough to understand what was happening in the world around us and he thought that we needed to understand how the Islamic Empire has effected the Western world throughout history. He took three weeks out of his normal lesson to teach us about the Quran. We covered the Five Pillars of Islam and he explained at length the concept of jihad.

Perhaps one of the most significant memories from that three week long lesson consists of learning about the Battle of Granada. How does a city from Spain tie into the Islamic Empire? First, it is important to understand the geography of the Islamic Empire. Here is a detailed map that highlights the Islamic Empire at its height. Spain was one of the many countries that fell to the Islamic Empire, as early as 750 CE. The Spanish Muslims, known as Moors, dominated the country. Their presence was known throughout the country. Moorish architecture is still found today. Here is an example of the Moorish arches that are famous in Spain. Here is yet another example of the Moorish architecture. This last was as far north as Toledo. It is evident that Spain was completely controlled by the Moorish empire.

However, not everyone in Spain wanted the country to continue to be run by the Moors. As early as 1035, the country of Spain is split into two independent halves: Castille and Aragon. This was the beginning of the religious split between Islam and Christianity in Spain. Here is a map that shows the different kingdoms of Spain. Castille took up the central part of Spain, whereas Aragon controlled the northeastern territory. Portugal was already its own independent country and the kingdom of Granada was in the southeastern section of Spain. By 1212, Christian armies were beginning to dominant Spain. This website informs that Christian forces were already pushing the Muslim influence into just the southern part of Spain, and they were slowly trying to force the Moors completely out of Spain. The religious turmoil continues to effect the citizens of Spain. In 1481-1482, a battle that would last for 10 years began. It was the decisive Battle of Granada and in 1491, the Christian empire in Spain finally forced the last of the Moors to leave Spanish borders, fully reclaiming Spain for Christendom.

So how is this an early encounter with Islam? One of the main reasons why Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain agreed to fund Christopher Columbus' attempt to find a northwest passage to the East Indies is because of this decisive victory. Islam was finally gone from the Iberian Peninsula. They saw it more as an opportunity to spread Christianity to the Western World. But without the Islamic influence, it is possible that America never would have been discovered. Or at least, it would have been conquered at a much later date than 1492. It is an early Islamic encounter for the future American people in the sense that the defeat of the Islamic reign gave motive to send out an explorer that would forever change the Western World.

Now it's Istanbul, not Constantinople...

Literally every time I hear the word Constantinople, I can not help to sing to myself the lyrics from the famous They Must Be Giants Song, entitled Istanbul. (It is actually a song. I suggest YouTubing it if you haven't heard it.

Continuing on though, I will actually be discussing Constantinople and its influence by leader Constantine over the Christian Religion.

To start off with, as Jamie a few other of my peers have mentioned, Rome fell in about 476. It was about this time that the Byzantine empire was on the rise. (Constantinople was its central city). Constantinople's leader, Constantine, had previously been a Roman emperor, and had also converted over to Christianity. Due to his success as an emperor, he also managed to influence not only Constantinople's ideals towards Christianity, he also brought the ideas to the places he managed to conquer during his time. This can be noted in the Strayer Text (Ways of the World: A Brief Global History, Vol 1: to 1500 by Robert W. Strayer, if you wanted to look it up)

Strayer says the emperor in Constantinople claimed to "Govern all creation as God's worldly representative" and that he was "peer of the Apostles" he also mentions how the peoples attempted to "imitate the awesome grandeur of what they thought was God's heavenly court". Because of the ornate decorations and churches Constantinople had erected, a Russian leader, Price Vladmir, sought Christianity out as a way to unify his people, while linking to other communities and people.

The Byzantine empire was a diverse culture, pulling in parts from Roman and Greek culture, and had a few different religions in it. Ultimately, Constantine and the city of Constantinople played a large role in the spread of Christianity.

Constantine Unites Romans With Religion

Constantine served as the first Christian emperor of Rome during the 300s C.E. After his predecessor, Diocletian, brought back the old Roman gods in an attempt to restore Roman traditions, Constantine ended the persecution of Christians during his reign and encouraged the spread and unification of the religion throughout the empire.

This video from the History Channel's website explains that Constantine recognized that the Roman population was divided between several religions and races. He felt that he could bring unity to the empire by bringing all of the Christian groups together to work through the disputes that separated them from one another.

It was at the Council of Nicaea that Constantine gathered all of the Christian bishops in the Roman empire to unify Christians' views on issues such as the Trinity, Jesus' divinity, and the date of the Resurrection of Jesus. After much debate, the representatives from the different Christian groups agreed upon a universal doctrine that became known as the Nicene Creed, which laid out the core beliefs of Christianity.

While I can agree that a unification of the Roman Christian population would have been beneficial to the empire at this time and although I am not Christian, I am unsettled by the fact that these religious debates and discussions were led by an emperor rather than a religious leader within the Church.

Medico Della Peste (The Plague Doctor)

After a few days of debating a topic, my interest was finally piqued while watching an episode of "Ghost Adventures". Set in Italy, the show was investigating an island where plague victims were taken to die.
First, I was interested because of the basic topic, the plague, which was the topic I had chosen for my critical book review. Second, I have a love for Italy, and third, I was interested to know more about the masks they showcased on the TV show.

The masks were very creepy, and if you have ever seen a carnival festival (maybe depicted on T.V, or a video game) you might recognize it. This mask in particular resembled a bird. A typical face covering accented with a long beak.

Here is a good picture:
Click me!

Thought of by French physician Charles de Lorme in order to ward off the contagion, the mask originally had spectacles in order to protect the eyes, and the long beak was stuffed with aromatic herbs, in order to ward off the bad scents.

Parallel to this, in the book I read for my critical book review "The Black Death: A Natural and Human Disaster in Medieval Europe", explains the use of herbs during the plague. It was believed that the bad air, or odor from the plague and dead unburied bodies would also hold the contagion, and breathing good smells would keep that away, so many families burned incense, and used herbs to help 'ward off' the plague.

In the picture posted above, you can also see a small picture of the outfit worn with the mask in the background. This is thought of as a primitive form of a hazardous material suit. Doctors wore a long leather or wax-like material overcoat, leather boots, and a shirt that covered their neck or a head covering in order to expose the least amount of skin possible. As well as gloves, the doctors also used a cane to push away victims who came to close to them, and a hat to show they were a doctor.

This website used for information, pointed out something I hadn't thought of. It is wondered how often these suits were actually worn, since it is known that many doctors fled the areas, or refused to help for fear of being infected themselves.

Today, you can buy these mask replicas in both traditional white style as used during times of the plague, or you can get something with more flair, painted for decoration or costuming; Although now, knowing the history behind the masks, I find them no longer festive, but creepy and macabre.

These are the links for information I used in my post

Wikipedia

The Plague Doctor

Picture of the Mask

East Vs. West - The First Reformation

Rome's mysterious sister lay in Constantinople.
For a very long time the two were one, the Roman Catholic Church and the Byzantine Church, separated by political and geographic differences. Yet, over time, relations between the two bodies began to grow sour. Various minor disputes over church doctrine, administrative structure, even practices wedged themselves into a further divide. However, the biggest dividing factor was the fall of Rome in the West. With this decisive action perpetrated by "barbarians," "Rome" continued, yet in two different factions. The Goths took over, seeing themselves as continuing the Roman tradition, while at the same time, in the east, Byzantium continued the Roman Empire - in their thinking at least.

This is a link that gives a great overview of the Eastern Empire and the feelings held by it. From here we see the "last nail in the coffin" so to speak, as Justinian (the Eastern Emperor) had wanted to reclaim the West, as he saw himself as ruler over the entirety of Rome. However, soon the Vatican claimed the West. His subsequent military failures only proved to strengthen the Vatican's claim as these attempts drained the East of much needed resources and all but destroyed Italy; because of limited resources, and the barbarian nuisance, the East could not hold onto the West. After the death of Justinian, all hope of reconquering the West were lost and would remain so.