Virtual Hajj

Second Life's virtual Mecca.  

See if you can recognise the different parts of hajj.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNNqd2AxxyM

Day Two. Wuquf

Day two of hajj is considered to be the most important.  Pilgrims go to the Plain of Arafat and from midday until sunset they will pray asking Allah for forgiveness.  The Plain of Arafat was the site of Muhammad's last sermon and is a significant place for Muslims.  They believe it will be the site of the final Judgement.

What does it mean?

1. Hajj is not a holiday.  You go for religious or spiritual reasons.  Muslims on hajj want to feel closer to Allah.  They want the pilgrimage to change them.

2. Ihram.  On the plane Muslim men change into ihram, two pieces of white cloth, that they will wear on the pilgrimage.  Inwardly ihram symbolises purity, once they are wearing it a Muslim should keep their thoughts and intentions clean.  

3. Ihram also reminds Muslims that everyone is part of the ummah, the worldwide family of Islam and that they are all equal before Allah whatever background they are from.

4. The Ka'bah.  Muslims face the ka'bah everyday when they pray so seeing it for the first time is very significant.  Muslims believe that it was first built by Adam as a place of worship.  It was then rebuilt by Ibrahim and finally Muhammad removed tribal idols from it a returned it to a place of worship.

5. Sa'y.  When performing sa'y Muslims are remembering a story from the Qur'an that is an important part of their religious history.  Ibrahim's wife ran between the two hills looking for water to give to her son Isma'il who was dying of thirst.  An angel guided her to a spring, called the well of Zamzam.  When pilgrims drink from the spring they identify with Ibrahim's wife and how Allah provided for her.

Hajj. Day One

Hajj is the fifth pillar of islam and as such it is a duty that every Muslim should perform if they are healthy and have the finances.  In short hajj is a pilgrimage (religious journey) to Makkah, the birth place of the prophet Muhammad.  On the pilgrimage Muslims are following in the steps of Muhammad who himself  performed hajj and they participate in a number of rituals or activities that have special spiritual significance.

Day one of hajj begins in the Great Mosque of Makkah, home of the ka'bah and the hills of Marwa and Sa'fa.  The ka'bah is a cubic building and pilgrims begin by walking round it seven times.  This is called tawaf. As they walk around the ka'bah they pray "here I am" and present themselves to Allah.  They reach out to the black stone in the corner of the ka'bah as they pass. Those who are close enough may kiss it, just as the prophet Muhammad did on his hajj.  Following this pilgrims run between the hills of Marwa and Sa'fa.  The hills are connected to the mosque by a covered walkway.  This ritual is called sa'y.  Pilgrims then drink from the spring of Zamzam.  The water is believed to be holy and it is bottled and taken home.

A lot happens on day one and this can make it difficult to remember.  Read through the above and check you understand each part of the day.  To help order what you have learnt remember,

1.Tawaf (ka'bah)

2.Sa'y (Mawr, Sa'fa, Zamzam)

Try a virtual tour of hajj or read about it on the BBC website.

http://www.channel4.com/culture/microsites/H/hajj/virtual_hajj.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/practices/hajj_1.shtml

Understanding Hajj

Do you find Hajj confusing?

Over the next three days I will cover everything you need to know about the pilgrimage on the blog.

To make it extra easy, today is day one of hajj, Thursday will be day two of hajj and Friday will be day three.  In the morning I will be describing what pilgrims do.  In the evenings I will be explaining some of the meaning behind hajj practices.

Let me know if you have found this helpful!

Id-ul-Fitr

Imagine how you would feel at the end of a thirty day fast?  

Id-ul-Fitr marks the end of Ramadan and it is a huge celebration in the Muslim community.  Everyone has new clothes and the day begins with prays at the mosque.  After prayers the imam gives a sermon and there is an opportunity to give the yearly zakah.  The day is spent with family and their is plenty of eating and gifts for the children.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/holydays/eidulfitr.shtml

Any year 11 reading this?  Send me a comment and let me know you're there!

Why fast?

In a part (c) question you will be asked to explain the reasons behind and the benefits of fasting.  Try to think beyond upbringing, tradition and rules of the religion to the spritual or inner benefits of the practice.  Follow the link below to read about one young person's experience of fasting.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/wear/content/articles/2005/10/10/ramadan_diary_1_feature.shtml

• It is the month of the Qur'an. Muslims remember the Night of Power when the angel Jibril first revealed the Qur'an to Muhammad.  In Ramadan Muslims thank Allah for the Qur'an
  
• It shows devotion to Allah and brings a Muslim closer to Allah
  
• It helps a Muslim gain Allah's forgiveness
  
• It helps a Muslim develop self discipline and self control which is helpful in living a good Muslim life
  
• During Ramadan a Muslim will suffer and suffering develops good character
  
• Fasting in Ramadan encourages a sense of being part of the ummah because all Muslims worldwide are fasting at the some time
  
• It helps Muslims identify with the poor around the world who do not have enough to eat
  
• It reminds Muslims that everything they have comes form Allah and it makes them thankful
  
• It helps Muslims give zakah more sincerely because they recognise the reality of hunger and poverty in the world and that all they have is from Allah 
  

Sawm - fasting

Religious people have always used fasting as means of getting closer to God.  In Christianity fasting is not as widely practiced as it used to be but their are Christians who fast to make their prayers more effective and in some places of the world fasting in lent is an important Christian tradition.

The Qur'an teaches Muslims to fast as a sign of their devotion to God.  Sawm or fasting is the fourth pillar of Islam and it is therefore a must for every true Muslim.  Most Muslims practice fasting during the month of Ramadan.

What do Muslims do when they fast in Ramadan?

• Give up food and drink during daylight hours
  
• Give up sex during daylight hours
  
• Give up smoking during daylight hours
  
• Eat at night when the sun has set
  
• Rise before sunrise if they wish to eat breakfast
  
• Read the whole Qur'an over the thirty days of Ramadan
  
• Go to mosque at night for special prayers (called tarawih)
  
• Towards the end of ramadan celebrate the Night of Power (lailat al Qadr) at the mosque
  
• Try to live the best possible Muslim life

During Ramadan the meal at the end of the day takes on a special significance for Muslms.  For many it is a special family time when they join with other to remember how good Allah has been to them in providing them with homes, families, food and water.

The picture above shows a date seller.  Many Muslims break their fast with dates, because this is what the prophet Muhammad did.

Zakah - paying 2.5% of your money to the poor

Zakah is the third pillar of Islam and like all the pillars it is compulsory for Muslims.  Zakah is paid once a year.  Shariah law teaches that a Muslim should pay zakah on their income and on their savings.  Zakah is paid to the mosque.  This is what it should be used on,

• To help the poor
  
• To help orphans and widows
  
• To pay for mosques and mosque school (madrasahs)
  
• To pay for the cost of speading the message of Islam
  

If you are asked to explain beliefs about zakah you need to consider why Muslims give. A variety of reasons are given in the bullet points below, 

• Muslims believe that zakah contributes towards equality.  The rich become a little poorer and the poor become a little richer
  
• Muslims believe zakah purifies their money.  Through giving they are reminded to worship Allah, not money
  
• The Qur'an commands giving zakah
  
• Allah is concerned for the poor and needy
• Being part of the ummah means helping one another in practical ways

A second type of Muslim giving is called sadaqah.  Zakah is compulsory (you have to do it) but sadaqah is voluntary.  Muslims believe that Allah wants them to be generous and give what they can spare. This supports Muslims beliefs in the ummah and in the equality of everyone.

Ju'mah Prayers

A Muslim believe that he can come into the presence of Allah through prayer in any place at any time.  The midday prayers on Friday however are of special significance.  They are called ju'mah prayers.

The midday prayers on Friday should be said in the mosque (though women are allowed to say them at home).  On this occasion the imam will say a sermon, or khutba.  This will be a teaching from the Qur'an preached from the minbar, a raised platform at the front of the mosque. The imam will try to make his sermon relevant to his listeners. In Britain this means that the sermon must address issues that affect Muslims living in this country.

Though these prayers are very important they do not make Fridays into an especially holy day as Sunday is for Christians or Saturday is for Jews.  After ju'mah prayers Muslims can return to work and continue their day as normal.

The Life of Muhammad

• Born in Makkah in 570 CE
  
• Orphaned as a child and raised by his grandfather, followed by his uncle
  
• Worked as trader, worked for wealthy widow Khadijah
  
• Married Khadijah in 595 CE
  
• 610 CE Night of Power
  
• Began to preach in Makkah, and gained many followers
  
• A small community of followers grew and began to pray together, but Muhammad also attracted enemies.
  
• Muhammad and his followers moved to Madinah (called the hijrah) in 622 CE
  
• Muhammad attracted more followers and people of Madinah invited him to be their leader
  
• Makkah attacked Madinah, Battles of Bad'r, Uhud and the Trench
  
• 628  Muhammad tried to return to Makkah and make hajj but was refused entry
  
• The following year returned and a treaty was made allowing Muslims to do hajj
  
• But Makkans did not keep treaty so Muhammad surrounded the city and they eventually surrendered and converted
  
• Muhammad died in 632 CE

Ressurrection of the body versus immortality of the soul

This picture depicts the resurrection day and the belief that some Christians have that when people die their souls remain in the grave until the last day when the dead will be raised and given new resurrection bodies.
Stanley Spencer painted many pictures of his home village Cookham in Berkshire. These paintings capture Spencer's own peculiar vision of Christianity. This painting is of the church yard at Cookham on resurrection day. Look carefully and you will see the figure of Christ in the church doorway with God the Father behind him. Various of the dead are rising up out of their graves. Spencer himself is the naked figure leaning against a tomb stone in the centre of the painting. His girlfriend Hilda is the woman lying amongst the ivy.

Revising Christian attitudes to life after death
Questions about belief in life after death are not easy. To help your revision, focus on learning the two key terms, resurrection of the body and immortality of the soul.

• resurrection of the body = the belief that after death the body stas in the grave until the end of the world, when it is raised
• immortality of the soul = the idea that the soul lives on after the death of the body

This will help you especially if you are asked for two different Christian points of view. You also need to make sure you can spell 'resurrection' correctly.

How do christian respond to the problem of evil and suffering?

If you re asked this in the exam should begin by briefly stating what the problem of evil and suffering is (see previous post) Then you should divide your answer into two types of Christian response. Firstly what Christians believe and pray about secondly practical things that Christians do.

Belief and prayer

• Christians believe that evil and suffering is undesirable and should be fought against.
• Christians believe that prayer is an effective way of fighting evil and suffering.
• Christians believe that God has a reason for allowing pain and suffering (though we don't always know the reason)
• Christians believe that they should develp patience in life to endure suffering and that they will be rewarded in the nex life (heaven)
• Christian believe that jesus set an example of fighting evil and suffering through what he taught and by healing the sick
• Christians believe that most evil and suffering is caused by human action (free will)

Practical action

• Church services and personal prayer times will include prayers for those who suffer.
• Many Christians choose to work in caring professions (e.g. doctors, nurses) to try and reduce human suffering
• Christians have founded charities to try and reduce suffering
• A large proportion of aid and development work is carried out by Christian organisations
• Christians have always been on the frontline of bringing change in society to reduce suffering and evil (e.g. abolition of the slave trade, prison reform)

To see how one major Christian organisation is responding to the Burma crisis visit,
http://www.christianaid.org.uk/emergencies/

Burma

The death toll from the cyclone that hit Burma at the weekend is now estimated to be in the region of 22, 000. Such naturally occurring events cause untold suffering for millions of people and lead to very serious questions about the existence of a loving God.

Natural disasters such as cyclones, floods, volcanoes, drought, earthquakes and cancer are all examples of natural evil. Natural evil is not caused by humans unlike moral evil which is the result of choices that people make. All humans have free will but often make choices that cause others to suffer. War, murder and rape are all examples of moral evil. Most Christians call moral evil sin because it is contrary to the way God wants people to live and goes against the moral code of the 10 commandments.

Key words.
natural evil = things that cause suffering, but have notheng to do with humans, for example earthquakes.
moral evil = actions by humans that cause suffering

The problem of evil and suffering

Remember section one of your paper is very straightforwards. It is asking you to give answers about reasons why people do and reasons why people do not believe in God.
We have looked at some reasons why people believe in God. Now we must look at some reasons why people do not believe in God.

The problem of evil and suffering can be summarised like this,

If God is all knowing (omniscient) he knows about evil and suffering in the world
If God is all loving (benevolent) he cares about evil and suffering in the world
If God is all-powerful (omnipotent) he is able to stop evil and suffering in the world
but he does not stop evil and suffering in the world
Therefore god is either not omniscient, not benevolent, not omnipotnent or does not exist.

Beauty! Complexity! Purpose!

The world around us is so beautiful, so complex and demonstrates such purpose it can not have appeared by accident. It must have had a designer and that designer must be God. This is the argument from design.

If you want to give a specific argument from design use William Paley's argument about the watch.
If you came across a watch in a field you would not say it had appeared there by chance. The complexity and obvious purpose of the design would lead you to conclude that the watch had a designer. The universe is far more complex than a watch and we must conclude that it too had a designer. The only being who could design such a universe is God, therefore God must exist.

Listen and watch a version of Paley's argument,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9c775gk1FK8

Black holes and atheists who don't know what the big bang theory is.

If you are an atheist because of the Big Bang theory please make sure you know what it is.

You may be asked in your exam, what is the Big Bang theory or you may be asked to give an account of non-religious or scientific explanations for the existence of the universe.

This is the Big Bang theory, please note it does not involve meteorites, or stars or planets or anything else crashing.

About 15 billion years ago a quantity of matter became so compressed that it caused an explosion. Our planet and the universe as we know it are fragments of that explosion. As matter was hurled out from the explosion the forces of gravity and other physical effects joined some of the matter to produce stars. Over a long period of time the solar system was created.

If you are asked how scientific theories can lead to agnosticism or atheism you need to explain how developments in science have explained things about the life and universe that used to be explained by the existence of God. If science can tell us how the world came into being we no longer need God.

(KEY WORDS. agnostic = someone who does not know whether they believe in God. atheist = someone who does not believe in God)

Some Christians believe in the Big Bang and God. How do they reconcile (bring together) both beliefs?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1AXbpYndGc

Arguments for the existence of God

What is the link between Guinness and the First Cause Argument?

Watch the video and find the link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYL5ws18VZ8

For your exam you need to know what causation is,
causation is the idea that everything has been caused (started off) by something else.

Secondly you need to know the First Cause Argument:

• Cause and effect is a basic feature of our world.
• If we look at anything in the world we see that it has a cause. For example, ice is caused by the temperature falling and water becoming solid at 0 degrees. Anything that has been caused to exist must have been caused to exist by something else. You could not cause yourself to exist because that would mean you had to exist before you existed (!)
• Any chain of causes and effects must have a beginning. For example you have to have water to cause ice.
• So if the universe had no first cause then there would be no universe, but there is a universe so there must be a first cause.
• The only possible first cause is God therefore God must exist.

What are the strengths of this argument?

What are the flaws in this argument?

Its all arabic to me!

A little bit of help for full course pupils who are trying to learn their key words.
Choose three or four words to learn each day.
Write them on cards and carry them round or stick them up in a place where you will look at them every day.

Talk to your friends about the words you have learnt because every time you say the word out loud it goes a little deeper into your brain.
Text random key words to other pupils on the course.
Buy a nice set of coloured pens and write the words out in different colours.
Write a comment for the blog using as many key words as you can.

Finally don't get bogged down by trying to learn too many words. It is better to learn a few words than not to learn any.
Good luck!

shahadah = declaration of Muslim faith, the first pillar of Islam, 'the is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his messenger'.

salat = prayer five times a day, the second pillar of Islam.

zakat = giving to the poor, the third pillar of Isalm, Muslims give 2.5% of their income.

sawm = fasting in Ramadan, the fourth pillar of Islam.

Hajj = pilgrimage to Makkah, the fifth pillar of Islam.

wudu = ritual washing performed before prayer.

rakah = a full round of prayer.

niyyah = intention, epecially telling Allah how many rakahs of prayer you will perform.

jumah = friday prayers at mosque.

qibla = the direction of Makkah, the direction of prayer.

Ramadan = the month of fasting.

Id-ul-Fitr = the celebration at the end of Ramadan.

Do women make the best vicars?

Before 1994 there were no women vicars in the Church of England. The decision to ordain women led to deep unhappiness amongst many Christians. Some left the church of England and became Roman Catholics. The catholic church remain opposed to women priests.
So why do some Christians think that women should not be vicars?
Some Christians have religious reasons for believing this, for example, Jesus was a man and in the communion service the vicar represents Jesus and the Bible says that women should not have authority in the church.

However other people say this attitude is just sexist and God is not a sexist. The words of the Bible were written at a time when women and men had very separate roles in society. That has changed now and women play a full and equal role with men. So surely the church should come into line and allow women to play a full and equal role in church leadership?
The Reverend Joy Carroll was one of the first women to be ordained in the Church of England and she was the inspiration for the character of Geraldine Granger, Vicar of Dibley. Carroll firmly believes that women can bring something to church leadership that men cannot.

For more information on the Vicar of Dibley visit
http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/vicarofdibley/


What special qualities do you think women can bring to church leadership?

Do you think it is right for women to be vicars? Why?