Football fans and Islamic pillars

While I realize this blog is going backwards in accordance with class discussions, I also realize I have covered information about Judaism, Hinduism, some of Christianity, and with the exception of Muhammad, nothing about Islam. Because of this I feel Islam deserves its “time in the sun,” so to speak. One of the most important facets of Islamic tradition is the five pillars all Muslims must obey by in order to be a good practitioner. This entry will evaluate these pillars as well as compare them to a football fan, in order to see if their practices are similar to those who practice Islam.

The first Islamic pillar is Shahadah. Shahadah is the creed of the Muslims. It says, “I witness that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the prophet of Allah.” The Islamic faith dictates that Muslims should say this when they wake in the morning and when they go to sleep at night. So, comparatively there is no creed of the football fan, which I am familiar with. But, in a way, they still practice this pillar in a different form. Most, if not all, diehard fans of certain teams get online or watch Sports Center religiously to know the upcoming team, when the next game is, how good the other team is, what the chances are of a win, and ranks for both teams. By doing these actions, they are showing they have a dedication to the team and want to show their support by any means possible.

The second Islamic pillar is Salat. Salat is the act of praying five times a day facing Mecca (which is East of Sioux City). They do this to prove their faith and show their dedication to Allah. While it might not all be at the exact same time for Muslims, during Salat all Muslims do the same thing. Thinking on that last part, all football fans, that I know at least, who are enthralled in the game will, at the same time, all cross their fingers right before a field goal kick, scream/yell and jump up when their team gets a touchdown, yell at the referees when they feel there was a bad call, and make sure their butt is planted in their chair with refreshments before the game starts so they do not miss a thing. In a sense, these actions are a way for the football fan to show their dedication to the team and prove they are a fan of that specific team.

The third Islamic pillar is Sawm. Sawm is the act of fasting everyday during the month of Ramadan. Now, I cannot make the case that football fans fast. However, I can make the case that they do the exact opposite of Sawm. Before their game they will dig out the chips and dip, the beers or pop (depending on their ages), the wings, and any other game day favorites they might enjoy. During the game they tend to stuff their faces if they are hungry and still eat quite a bit if they are not. Once the game is over chances are that they are not going to be hungry for a while. So while Muslims do not eat anything between sunrise and sunset during Ramadan, football fans eat excessive amounts between kickoff and the final score. As Muslims do this for a month daily, football fans do this almost, if not every game day.

The fourth pillar is Islamic tradition is Zakat. Zakat is the acts of charity performed by Muslims. Often times, Zakat is in the form of food, particularly meat when it is properly butchered. Zakat is similar to Christian tithes and offerings. These are a way to give part of what you have to someone who does not have nearly as much as you do. For a football fan an example of Zakat is when one fan invites his friends to his home to watch the game with him. His friends may not have the television he has, the food he has, the seating he has, and so on. By inviting them to his house he not only creates a communitas, but he also shares some of what he has with his less fortunate friends. If his friends have similar means, then another week they can offer up their home for game day. Another form of this football pillar is when a father takes his child, usually a son, to a big game. Because his child does not have a job or means of payment, in a sense that makes him less fortunate.

The fifth and final pillar is the Hajj. Hajj is the pilgrimage to Mecca that all able-bodied and financially-able Muslims must take to be a good practitioner. The Hajj is a series of steps all with a specific purpose based on the Islamic scriptures. The Hajj is supposed to be considered a ritual but due to lack of funds or illness often times Muslims make the hajj only once deeming it a rite. A football fan’s version of the hajj might be getting great tickets to see their favorite team at home play a rival. Sometimes it takes years to get to that point and tickets are not cheap for games such as that. To be a true follower of the team it is only fitting to see a game at their home field and usually once or more in a lifetime a fan can do that. There is a series of steps involved with seeing the favorite team in person as well: tickets are purchased, arrangements must be made to travel there, and so on.

So while I am neither an expert in football fans nor Muslims and their pillars, it is easy to see that similarities can be made between both fans of sports teams and their Muslim counterparts. It is quite interesting to draw connections between religious acts and the actions of avid sports fans. I would like to say that if I have offended anyone, that was neither the point nor purpose so please do not take what has been said offensively. Connections such as this will make me really think about the things I do because I too have preoccupations with things and I too can be made into a secular comparison. For now, remember religion and faith are all around us and open eyes will prove useful in seeing points of view we do not always relate to.

Charmed and Hinduism

Similar to that of any of my other posts, in class this week we have just begun to scratch the surface of the Eastern religions. This is mostly due to the fact of class being over half over and our time spent on the Western religions being vast. To begin we started by comparing the two. As I listened and took notes I noticed that some of what we were discussing was information I had some familiarity with due to different sources. One such source is my favorite television show, Charmed. In Charmed, many times the plot is affected my mythology, superstition, paganism, and other such things so it seems right that the show would involve some religious aspects as well.

            One such episode that really “helped” me understand the Hindu topics being discussed was the first episode of the seventh season, “A Call to Arms.” In the episode two main characters that are married go to a Hindu wedding ceremony and while there get possessed by Shakti and Shiva. In class, we talked about the murti, facets/aspects of the impersonal force that is their god. In Hindu tradition they worship three murti: Brahma the creator, Vishnu the preserver, and Shiva the destroyer. They are considered the tri-murti and they are all part of one force. Shakti, on the other hand, is the divine force that is manifested in the gods to promote balance and destroy evil. Shakti takes on many forms including Sati, Parvati, Durga, and Kali.

            According to the episode, Shakti is the Hindu goddess of creation and Shiva is her lover and also the Hindu god of destruction. Paige and Phoebe decide the reason Piper and Leo were possessed by these two was the fact that they were magical beings and at a Hindu wedding ceremony. It must have been a proximity issue. They go on to say that the reason Shakti and Shiva are mentioned at weddings is because they are considered the ultimate lovers. Along with that they mention that these two gods consummating their love is what created the world and if they do it again the world will be destroyed.  

            I was interested in how much of this was myth and how much was elaborated upon for the show so I did my own research, because as I said we have only scratched the surface in class. I found a website that explains the marriage of Shakti and Shiva. The story was quite confusing but what I got out of it was: Shakti and Shiva were married but things came between them and Shakti immolated herself. After this, Shiva took her body and began to perform a destruction dance that could have wiped out the world. He was stopped and later on Shakti was reincarnated as Parvati. She did penance to win over Shiva and it took some major effort and time but it worked and the two were married. Every year the Hindu people celebrate their marriage, Mahashivratri, every year. In a way they are similar to Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, star-crossed lovers who make major sacrifices to be together.

            While my research didn’t say much about whether or not their love is what made everything, I do think that was at least partially based on myth because Shiva is the destroyer and also the god of sex and babies. One could only conclude from class discussion and lack of information in the research that they are at least mostly true about that as well. Another source said, “Shakti is inseparable from the one who beholds her, the Shakti-man, the masculine principle or Universal father. Shakti-man is called Brahman by the writers of the Upanishads. In the Tantric tradition he is called Shiva.” This too leads me to believe that the writers of this episode really wanted to be accurate in their telling of this myth. In the show, Piper and Leo get the gods out of them by casting a spell. The intriguing thing was even though they had the gods in them; they still thought and felt as though they were normal. The only distinguishing facets of the gods were their attire and a characteristic or two.

            Charmed has always been one of my favorite shows for many reasons. One such reason is often times things mentioned in episodes or things that are the basis of episodes come in handy in different classes and generally. For more religious based episodes I would suggest watching the episodes: “Sin Francisco,” “The Fourth Sister,” and “When Bad Warlocks Go Good.” Sin Francisco is all about the seven deadly sins. The Fourth Sister is about Kali, who is an evil Hindu goddess. And When Bad Warlocks Go Good is about a warlock who wants to be a priest so he won’t be a warlock anymore. All Charmed episodes, in my opinion, are good and I am anxious to tie things from this class and others to more episodes. I feel television, movies, and other medias offer us perspectives and as long as we understand what is fictional, what is fact, and what is elaborated the media is a great source of information.

Works Cited

"A Call to Arms." Charmed. WB: 12 Sept. 2004. Television. 27 Oct 2010.

"Marriage of Shiva and Shakti." Mahashivratri: Celebrating the Night of Lord Shiva... . Society for the Confluence of Festivals in India (SCFI), 2009. Web. 27 Oct 2010. <http://www.mahashivratri.org/marriage-of-shiva-and-shakti.html>.

Marchard, Peter. "Shakti." Sanatan Society. sanatansociety.org, 2010. Web. 27 Oct 2010. <http://www.sanatansociety.org/hindu_gods_and_goddesses/shakti.htm>.

           

Brothers of Faith

This week in Religion class we talked about the Islam faith. More specifically we talked about the foundations of Islam faith and we stopped right at the beginning of talking through the five pillars. This talk had a lot to do with Muhammad, a prophet, who had a big influence on their faith. So this blog I plan to devote to the comparison of Muhammad for the Muslims and Jesus for the Christians. While there are many differences between these two men, you could say that because both of these religions came from Abraham that they are brothers of faith.

First let me be very clear so as not to confuse people. Muhammad is not God’s son like Jesus is. Muhammad is only a prophet and as such he is not to be idolized in the way Jesus is. So with that out of the way let’s start with the basics. Muhammad was born around 570 CE, Common Era, meaning he was born 570 years after Jesus was born. Obviously, this means the Islamic faith is younger than the Christian faith. Now while Christians believe Jesus was resurrected and still lives in a way where he cannot be seen, after Muhammad died he was put into the ground and that was it.

There are a few commonalities between these two men but one very important one is Gabriel. The angel Gabriel was the angel who told Mary she would be pregnant with Jesus and he was also the angel who was the messenger from God to Muhammad with the word of the lord. You could say that it was Gabriel who gave both men their purpose in life. This also means both men led similar lives. Muhammad was told the word of God by Gabriel and he relayed it to one of his converts and they write it down for him. Muhammad, unlike Jesus, was illiterate and so he needed the help of other followers to write down what was told to him. Jesus was also told the word of the lord by his father, God, and then he too told followers of the word.

Both men also share one God. Allah, YHWH, and any of his other proper names, is the God of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Because these three faiths all stem from the story of Abraham and his family all these faiths have one God, the God and they all share him. I have not read the Qur’an (Koran), the Islamic bible for lack of a better description, but I venture to guess that many of the messages in the Qur’an are similar if not the same as the messages described in the bible. Neither Muhammad nor Jesus wrote either book.

The direct chain from God to Gabriel to Muhammad to the written page is important to the Islamic faith because they believe the Qur’an is the embodiment of God on Earth. That is why not too long ago when a pastor in Florida tried to burn the Qur’an it was such a big deal. It was also why there was such a fuss about the soldiers at Guantanamo Bay Penitentiary flushing the Qur’an down the toilet. The Qur’an for the Muslims is like God, so burning it or flushing it is like burning or flushing God. It is a major deal! It is almost like the crucifixion of Jesus except he was meant to die because his sacrifice was our way to get to heaven with our sins.

Besides the major difference of the religions and the fact that Muhammad is only a prophet and nothing else, a big difference between the two men is their upbringing. Muhammad was orphaned as a young boy and because of that he was illiterate. Muhammad lived in the big city of Mecca. He had to make his way in the world on his own because he had no one to help him. Because of this he went to work for a wealthy caravan trader. Working on a caravan was not the job he wanted but he did it for the money. It was through this job that he met his love and they got married living off her wealth.

Jesus on the other hand, had a mother and two fathers. He had his actual father, God and his “step dad,” for lack of a better explanation, Joseph. Jesus grew up in a normal setting in the big city of Jerusalem like any other child would. He became a carpenter and enjoyed his work. He spoke the word of his father as instructed. While many Christians do not know the marital status of Jesus because it doesn’t say in the bible we can assume for argument sake, he was single. This is yet another reason he and Muhammad are different.

The connection to God is the last difference between the men I am going to mention. God had a direct connection with Jesus. He was God’s son and they could talk to each other through prayer. By this I am saying that Jesus spoke God’s actual words because their connection was pure. Muhammad had a good connection to God, but because there was a messenger in between, one never knows if the messages were exactly what God said. Play the game telephone and tell me if you get the exact message at the end that you did at the beginning. Not to make Muhammad sound like he didn’t get the correct message, just saying that the more channels the message goes through the more likely the message is to be altered.

Jesus and Muhammad have similarities and differences to be sure, but they are brothers of faith due to their Abrahamic connection. Jesus was born nearly 570 years before Muhammad. Jesus had a direct connection to God. Jesus is God’s only son and thereby is idolized himself. Jesus was raised with a mother and father. Jesus is part of the Christian faith. Jesus lives again. Jesus was a carpenter. Muhammad was born after Christianity was already started. Muhammad’s connection to God was through Gabriel. Muhammad is a prophet and therefore when he died he was not another God to pray to, just a man. Muhammad was orphaned as a child. He worked for a caravan trader. Muhammad is known for being a major part of the Islamic faith.

These men are similar in as many ways as they are different. They were both prophets of God. They both spoke God’s word to the people. They both grew up in important cities to their faiths. They both lived normal lives. They both died. Both of their lives were greatly influenced by the angel Gabriel, Muhammad’s messenger and Jesus’ announcer. They both have books pertaining to their faith with information they preached in them, the Qur’an and Bible respectively. They share one God and one religious root. They finally are important men in their respective faiths because of what they did for the faiths. While they are not the same they represent the importance of people to their faiths and prove that with God all things are possible.

Judaism 101 :The Basic Covenants

This week in Into to Religion we have been talking about Judaism. Previous to the talk I thought about what I knew about Judaism prior to the class lecture. I came to the conclusion that what I know about Judaism is from television, movies, and my former student teacher. Even though I had a little background knowledge I was not prepared for what I would be learning.

So, just to prove what I am saying, this is what I knew going in. Jewish people’s symbol is the Star of David and it is comparable to the Christian cross. Jews celebrate Hanukkah and it is similar to Christian Christmas. They light eight candles, one per night, during Hanukkah on a menorah to symbolize a story from their bible. Their bible is the Torah. Finally, they stand under hupahs at weddings. Now, let me point out that this information is not all accurate. Actually, my professor would flip at what I thought I knew. Like Hanukkah being like Christmas, that is totally wrong, but many non-Jewish people think that.  

I learned a lot in out class lecture and realized I knew about more than I thought I did. First off, I am writing this entry as both an informative look at Jewish customs and traditions, but also as a comparison with Christian beliefs. The first thing we talked about was that Protestants especially don’t know much about their own religion and even less about others. This does not bode well for life in the world. It is hard to appreciate what is happening in the world as so much of what goes on in the world has religious overtones when we are uneducated about world religions as well as our own. An example of a recent activity with religious overtones is the talks between Palestine and Israel. The interesting thing is that the United States has a stated foreign policy to protect Israel even if they are attacked by one of our allies. I will get back to the religious aspect of their talks later in the blog entry.

So let’s get to the basics. First off, like Christianity, Judaism is a monotheistic religion. This means the Jewish people only have one god. To them, and other Western religions God is a personal god with human emotions and feelings. Because of this he has a personal name. Due to the third commandment (found in Deuteronomy 6:4) saying thou shall not take the lord’s name in vain, those who wrote the Hebrew bible decided to leave out the vowels of God’s name so no one would say it. Because of this his name looks like YHWH. When the Hebrew bible was translated where vowels were added back in the incorrect vowels were added in so no one would accidently slip up and say his name. This time his name looked like YaHoWaH and because Christians making the King James Bible didn’t ask, they assumed God’s name is that and that is how we get Jehovah. (You know, like Jehovah’s witnesses?). The reason the Jewish people did all of this is because they believe God is personal but his personalness is different than our personalness because he is still holy. Thus we aren’t supposed to use it. It is built into the commandments and thus it is religious law.

Jewish people still have services spoken in Hebrew. The shema is the central statement of belief in Judaism. It is their creed. If you go to a synagogue for every Sabbath you would hear this every week because it is that important. For Christians YHWH is translated into LORD in caps to signal to us that, that is his name. Shema mean “Hear.” It is as follows: Hear O Israel, YHWH is your God, YHWH is one! -Dt. 6:4. The Christian Bible is divided into two different parts, the Old Testament and New Testament. Jewish people call the Old Testament their bible because Christians added the New Testament. Thus, when talking about or to Jewish people the bible is never referred to as the old and new testaments. We will not call it Old Testament because it is the bible for them (Hebrew bible) it is also called Tanak. It is broken down into three parts: Torah, Neviin, and Ketuvim. Torah is first 5 books of bible (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy). The Neviin (means prophets) and it contains most of the important names. Ketuvim means writings and it is the catch all containing books such as Esther and Song of Songs. The Jewish people believe the Torah is most important section. Even though it was not written first it is still the most important books. Tanak is central to Judaism because it is the story of God’s relationship with the Jewish people. It explains the covenant, a promise. There are four covenants to the Hebrew bible. 

The first covenant is Noah. Many Christians know the story of Noah (god will never flood the world again). Genesis has two stories of creation and a few more stories in the Hebrew bible. This story, for those who don’t know it is about God being upset with the people inhabiting Earth. He feels the only way to make the Earth right is to cleanse it with flooding. Then god floods the earth but saves Noah and his family because he likes Noah and trusts him to do what he must. Unlike Christian beliefs, seven of each kind of clean animal and two of the unclean were permitted on the ark. Another correction to be made is the flood waters do not “rain” for 40 days. God opens the flood gates of above and below and the waters consume the Earth. After the flooding God feels bad about it and decides he will never do that again. We know this by the sign of his promise in the rainbow.  This story is an Unconditional covenant meaning there is nothing for people to do just something for god to do and his promise is not contingent upon the people.

The second covenant is Abraham. He is old and has a couple of wives Hagar and Sarah. Angels come to him and tell him he is going to have many babies and descendants. Sarah gets the giggles because this is crazy at their age but sure enough he has 2 sons Ishmael and Isaac. Ishmael is born of Hagar and Isaac is born of Sarah, the funny thing is that Isaac means giggles. He has been also Promised Land by God. He says leave Ur where he has been living all of these years and goes to Canaan. God promises that Abraham’s descendants will have that land forever as long as all of the men are circumcised. Because of this condition, it is a conditional covenant because if they do not do what is asked they won’t get to keep the land. Both sons are circumcised so they both have claim to the land. Because of this dilemma the land is split between the sons. From the descendents of Isaac we get Judaism and Christianity and from Ishmael we get Islam. These religions are from Abrahamic descent and thus the Israeli Palestinian conflict is very old. Everyone wants the claim to the land. That’s why these negotiations now are so important to understand. To this day both religions circumcise their males for religious reasons.

The third covenant is Moses. This covenant is a conditional covenant stating the God will be their god and not abandon the Jewish people as long as they follow his laws and commands. These laws include kosher law (found in Exodus and Leviticus) which tells us Jewish people can’t eat pork, mix milk and meat, only slaughter animals if it’s done appropriately, and so on. Worship law states the Sabbath (Saturday) must be a day of no work. This law is open to some interpretations many believe even simple things like pushing buttons or ripping toilet paper is work. Many people that abide by this law prepare ahead on Friday. There are other laws as well. All of these laws are all part of the Mosaic Law and God promises to stay their god as long as they do all of this. The Jewish people back in Moses’s time screwed up and because they didn’t hold up their end of the deal God decreed them not allowed in the Promised Land until their next generation.

The fourth covenant is David. David’s story is found in the Neviim. The gist of his story is God will take part of the land and on that part Solomon will build god’s house in Jerusalem (City of David). God’s house is established as the temple and the one place to make a Judaism pilgrimage. This is unconditional covenant because God doesn’t make any stipulations. This covenant is not really working out because both the king and temple are gone. The City of David was built on a hill and Solomon’s temple was destroyed by the Babylonians. Then due to the importance of this temple, the Jewish people rebuild the temple. The city continued to build upward. The second temple was destroyed by the Romans. All that was left was ruble, pieces of what use to be, and the Western Wall, other people called it the Wailing Wall. Non-Jewish people thought the Jews were crying and thus the term wailing, but actually the Jewish people were singing the Torah and praying. This temple spot is a contested sight because the Dome of the Rock (a Muslim mosque) is right next to the Western Wall.

After learning about all of this I did remember back to the stories from Sunday school such as Noah, Abraham, and Moses. I also really feel like I can relate to the traditions of the religion because Christians have traditions and customs too. Hopefully in the blogs to come I can compare the holidays and explain the differences between Hanukkah and Christmas. To find out more about Jewish covenants and such read the bible (Old Testament only). Also search Jewish covenants and look around. There is a lot of cool information out there.