islam in sham cultural aspects - tsukuba...

Islam in Sham Cultural Aspects

Mohammed Hayyan Alsibai

30/ June / 2012

Islamic Day: Arabian Cultural Day June, 30-2012 www.tsukubamosque.com

Presentation Structure

• Sham name and meaning

• History at glance

• Islamic History in Sham

• The cultural impact of Islam

• Photos from Sham

Sham the name meaning

• Greater Syria • Natural Syria

Iraq

Saudi Arabia

Palestine

land of the left hand, Yemen land of the right hand

• The name Syria is derived from the ancient Greek name for Syrians or Akkadian Aššur.

• Others believed that it was derived from Siryon, given Mount Hermon.

• Bilad al-Sham • Levant

History derived from archeology • 10,000 BC Sham was one of centres of Neolithic

culture where agriculture and cattle breeding appeared for the first time in the world.

• Archaeologists European and western always have demonstrated that civilization in Sham was one of the most ancient on earth.

• From 2000 BC, Sham was occupied by Canaanites, Phoenicians, and Arameans , Egyptians, Sumerians, Assyrians, Babylonians and Hittites. Persians Macedonians and Greeks. And finally Romanians (Roman Empire period)

The desert city of Palmyra

Roman theatre in Bosra

Clay tablet from

Ebla's archive

• Sham is significant in the history of (nowadays) Christianity: Apostle Paul, was converted on the Road to Damascus and emerged as a significant figure in the Christian Church at Antioch in ancient Syria, from which he left on many of his missionary journeys.

• They discovered many things in sham like the first alphabet, the first living person, ….. But do we need this???!!!!! It is important of course but something is more important. (Theory vs. Truth)

Church of Saint Simeon

History which we (Muslims) are sure and more interested about

• Ruins is mostly for people who didn’t follow messengers of Allah the God of all humans.

• We should not be proud to be Phoenician or Saurian …

• We are all from Adam and Adam is from ….

• Allah created Adam then he descended to earth (some traces says in Sham).

• Allah taught him all the names.

• Messengers become after Adam to teach people the way of Allah.

• The Father of Prophets is Ibrahim was Sham and went to Mecca to build the first house of Allah. Then Muhammad SAAS travelled from Mecca to Alquds before alquds is Conquested yet.

Islam entering Sham • Roman rule 7 centuries

• Invaded by the Sassanid Persians on : 3rd, 6th and 7th centuries.

• Beginning of 7th century, Arab Muslim forces had appeared on the southern borders even before the death of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad (Mu'tah in 629).

• This after messages to Hercules.

Arabic Islamic

• successive waves of migrations from the Arab Peninsula

• After the Islamic message reached it, Sham adopts the Arabic and Islamic identity which is the identity for most of the Syrian nowadays.

• We consider that we managed to withstand the invasions by Hittites, Persians, Greek and Romans.

• The Islamic conquest of 636 A. D. only confirmed this Arab identity and gave a sense of unity to the land and in this way Sham became a part of the Islamic civilization.

Rules of Muslims invaders

"I call you to God and to Islam. If you respond to the call, then you are Muslims: You obtain the benefits they enjoy and take up the responsibilities they bear. If you refuse, then you must pay the jizyah. If you refuse the jizyah, I will bring against you tribes of people who are more eager for death than you are for life. We will then fight you until God decides between us and you."

Alquds

• After Alyarmouk battle muslims Move to alquds • After siege `Umar Ibnul-Khatab called from medina • He the city on foot, as a gesture of humility. • There was no bloodshed. On the contrary, those who

wanted to leave were allowed to do so with all their possessions and were guaranteed a safe passage.

• While those who wanted to stay were granted protection for their lives, their property, and their places of worship.

• Umar declined the offer to pray Church of the Holy Sepulcher, lest in years to come Muslims might try to turn it into a mosque in his memory.

Alquds

Present-day building of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where Sophronius invited Caliph Umar to offer Salah.

The Dome of the Rock, constructed by Ummayad Caliph Abd al-Malik in 691. When the Crusaders captured Jerusalem in 1099, they used the mosque as a palace and church, but its function as a mosque was restored after its recapture by Saladin in 1187.

Islam in Sham today

Since 634 AC we still consider ourselves in major Arab Muslims although there is a big mix in ethnics. Muslim sects are Shias, Sunnis, Alawites, and Ismailis including the Druze. The majority is Sunni. • Islam in Syria comprises 87% of the total

population. • Islam in Lebanon comprises 65% of the total

population of Lebanon. • More than 90 percent of population in

Jordan adhered to Sunni Islam • Islam is a major religion in both Israel and the

Palestinian territories. Muslims, mostly Arab citizens of Israel, constitute 16% of the Israeli population. 75% of the population of the West Bank, and 99% of the population of the Gaza. Before 1948

Figures in thousands

New 4 countries

• The nowadays 4 countries was so called after the French and English occupation (mandate as they claim)

• It was a result of what is called “The Sykes–Picot Agreement (1916)” after the expected downfall of the Ottoman Empire during World War I.

• First thing to do was archeological discoveries and interpretation of them.

The cultural impact of Islam 1- Houses

The cultural impact of Islam 2- Masjid

Dome minarah Mihrab Minbar

The cultural impact of Islam 3- public bath

The cultural impact of Islam 4- Art

Calligraphy Font, Geometric Plants, Mosaic

The cultural impact of Islam 5- Marriage ceremony

The cultural impact of Islam 6- Ramadan festival

The cultural impact of Islam 7- Eid

The cultural impact of Islam 7- clothes

Photos

Inhabited churches

Modern places

Parlement

Airport

Anbar

Othman era

Hijaz train station

Palmyra a kingdom stopped in roman face

BC

Salahuldin

Nurrudin grave and school

Alaqsa

• King Azzaher

Aleppo Citadel

Hama

Damascus today

Thank you very much for your attention. Resources: • Mainly wikipedia (Arabic and english) • http://www.islamweb.net • http://Islamicstudies.info • Data from ministry of tourism Syria