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Religion and the Formation of Empires Charles Sawicki Religion and the Formation of Empires Charles Sawicki Small stars are links to documentation and further information in this PowerPoint In slide show mode, just click on link to go to the information In non-slide show mode after double clicking on this file to open it, Hold down CTRL key and click on the lnk to go to the information. Links to external web sites look like: https://www.alislam.org/book/truth-about-ahmadiyyat/claim-promised-messiah/ Access these in the same way described above Many slides have overlapping material so they have to be viewed in slide show mode. 1 I added a lot of extra explanatory material to the talk I gave on 12/5/19, since I’m not there to comment on questions. The main problem that required addressing, was that many people are unfamiliar with Islam and its holiest books the Quran and Sahih hadith. Verses in the Quran are not organized by the progression of time. Roughly they are ordered in terms of length. The actual time order in which they were revealed to Mohammad is known in part from its content and in part from other holy texts like the hadith and the sira (biographical information about the life of Mohammad). Later verses in the Quran abrogate earlier verses. Ahmadis reject this, since some of the latest are the most violent. Caution to readers: Most Muslims in the US are not fundamentalists. That is, they don’t closely follow the holy books, for example, with regard to strict separation of the sexes, and a lowered status for women. Their current doctrines don’t express the prejudice towards or hatred of Christians and Jews found in the Quran and Hadith. 2 Information on the Ahmadis since I use them as an example Ahmadi Muslims are a non-violent Sunni sect of Islam discusses here. However, Ahmadi are fundamentalists because they follow the Quran and Sahih Hadith (except in denying the existence of the violent parts). Reasons that I call Ahmadis fundamentalists follow: Very patriarchal: lowered status for women Exs: polygyny, Tight control of sexual behavior, strict separation of sexes and doctrines expressing belief that women are less capable and more evil than men (As will be seen this is in line with the Quran and Hadith) 2 slides Use of group control of individuals characteristic of Islam which arose in a desert with insecure resources, so honor and reputation were important controls and the group much more important than the individual. Ex: shunning for members who disobey Hatred ( to be seen) of Jews and Christians in doctrines Threatening end-times preaching Belief in pseudoscience in their doctrines: For example: Homeopathy and scientific miracles in the Quran As in the Quran, very strict requirements to enter paradise 3 Since I use the Ahmadis as an example, I take passages from the Quran from their English translation proved at: https://www.alislam.org/quran/ Note: All English translations of the Quran are the same, except for minor substitutions of synonyms. Muslims believe that the Quran (in Arabic) expresses the exact words of Allah transmitted to Mohammad. It would not be a good idea, or healthy, to change the meaning of the Quran by mistranslation. The Ahmadi version has the same violent verses seen in all translations. Being a peaceful sect, the Ahmadis go to extreme lengths to try to explain that violent verses are not violent. One minor difference is in numbering of verses. Ahmadis generally insert a praise verses at the start of each chapter (surah), so verse numbers are usually one higher than other English translations like the classic Yusuf Ali version. 4 ISIS is a violent Salafi Sunni Muslim organization similar to the Wahhabi version of Islam practiced in Saudi Arabia In the 15th edition of the ISIS English news letter Dabiq, the article “Why we hate you and why we fight you” ISIS makes clear that their hatred is founded on the fact that we are not Muslims. This is exactly the position expressed in the Quran. If you have the impression that ISIS is made up of crazed illiterate, mad men, you should download Dabiq 15. It’s better written than most American magazines, but full of Quranic justifications for their violence. Link to Dabiq 15 article 5 Common question: Is ISIS a Muslim organization? Yes, ISIS follows the Quran and Mohammad. Click links to see that Quran/sahih hadith support the actions of ISIS. Quran and Sahih Hadith: Kill/chop up unbelievers and children They will often let non-Muslims live if they pay the Jizyah tax and submit or convert to their form of Salafi Islam (similar to Wahhabism as practiced by the Saudis). Quran/Sahih Hadith: Hate you/fight you as you are not Muslims Quran and Sahih Hadith: Die fighting for Islam go to paradise Quran and Hadith: Much lower status for women Ex: Rape captured women, keep or sell them as sex slaves Quran and Hadith: Severe religious coercion: threats towards, killing and taxation of unbelievers encourages conversion 6 Islam and Christianity I’ll discuss some similarities and differences of Christianity and Islam and conclude that Islam is a much more powerful religion. Islam has been able to resist the evolution seen in Christianity, since its founding, brought on by the forces of rationality and Democracy. As a consequence, reading the Quran reveals a lot more about what most Muslims today believe than reading the Bible does for Christian. This can be seen, for example, in PEW surveys (in particular by comparing the beliefs of modern Muslims with those expresses in the Quran and sahih hadith.) 7 General Information related to Islam All discussions here refer to Sunni Muslims. The Quran (in Arabic) is believed to be the exact words of Allah. Ahmadis are used as an example of a fundamentalist, non-violent sect of Islam that follow the Quran closely. Ahmadi Muslims split from Sunni Islam on 3/23/1889. Ahmadi religious doctrines differ from those of traditional Sunnis in only a few particulars. There are about 1.6 billion Sunni Muslims world wide. They make up about 85% of all Muslims, while Ahmadis are about 1% of Sunnis. Hadith are short statements related to the prophet Mohammad and are second only to the Quran in importance in Islam. They represent the words and actions of Mohammad as well as what he believed, or tacitly approved as well as his personality traits . These were recorded by his companions in hadith. Mohammad is claimed by Muslims to be the “perfect man”. Sahih hadith are the trusted hadith believed by the majority of Sunni Muslims to accurately represent Mohammad. In this presentation, I only reference sahih hadith Bukhari and sahih hadith Muslim since they are the most trusted and consist of a little more than 7,000 hadith each. The total number of all hadith are many hundreds of thousands. 8 General Information: How Ahmadis differ from other Sunnis 1) They believe that their founder was a prophet. That’s why most Sunnis consider them non-Muslims since Mohammad was to be the final prophet as stated in the Quran. Their basic superstitions are Sunni, so I think they are Sunnis. They believe that Jesus moved to India and died there after surviving crucifixion and that their founder is related to him in obscure ways (discussed later). Regular Sunnis believe Jesus was transported alive to paradise where he awaits returning to Earth to help the fighting Mahdi conquer the world for Allah. 2) Ahmadis also believe their founder was the Mahdi (the final reformer of Islam) and the Messiah (for them a 2nd coming of Jesus substitute) who normally arrives just before the end times. They believe their founder would convert the world to Islam non-violently. Obviously, this did not work out. Sunnis generally believe the living Jesus will come from paradise to aid a fighting Madi to kill the Jews and conquer the world for Allah. 3) Ahmadis reject the violent parts of the Quran and Hadith. Since the Quran can’t be modified, they go to rather desperate lengths to reinterpret the violent passages as well as those dealing with sex slavery. 4) Ahmadis are the only Sunni sect to reject thousands of Sahih (trusted) Hadith. Many of these are rejected because of their violent content. 9 Two views of the Utility of religions 1) Superstitions propagated by indoctrination that help believers with their existential fears. Dawkins, Harris Dennett etc. 2) In addition to idea in 1) they help to bind people together into larger, more coherent social groups. Atran, Norenzayan, Shariff, Henrich, Haidt, Sosis etc. I’ll argue the binding role was most important in forming our world dominated by large societies. Binding aids with a societal survival problem: Large societies tend to decline and break up due to formation of factions. Example present day USA. 10 Absurd paradox associated with Islam and Christianity Adherents call them religions of love, yet their holy books make it clear that all unbelievers are damned to Hell. Today this amounts to damnation of 5 billion people. Is this just an untoward property, or has Hell belief been historically useful? 11 I’ll attempt to answer a question which has not been previously addressed which relates to the formation of empires. Why are these the largest religions? 12 I consider religions to be evolved cultural tools Idea behind this talk Religions with the right attributes grow because they promote the survival and growth of societies indoctrinated with their myths. 13 First Evidence that religions can help to maintain societies.
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