From: Tyagi@HouseOfKaos.Abyss.com
Subject: Islam1:Arabia
Date: Fri,  7 Jan 94 15:21:52 PST

940107

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
Assalam alaikum, my kin.

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On the Meaning of the Word 'Islam', Huston Smith writes:

"Misunderstandings begin with the very name of this religion.
It is often referred to in the West as Muhammedanism, after
the prophet who gave it definite form.  From the Muslim
perspective, this is inaccurate and offensive.  It is inaccurate,
they say, because Muhammed didn't shape this religion, God did.
Muhammed merely transmitted it from God to his people.  The
title is offensive because it gives the impression that Islam
focusses around Muhammed the man instead of God.  To name
Christianity after Christ, they say, is fitting, for Christians
beleive that the Christ was God.  But to call Islam Muhammedanism
is like calling Christianity St. Paulism.  The proper name of
this religion is Islam.  Derived from the word *salam* which
means primarily 'peace' but in a secondary sense 'surrender,'
its full connotation is 'the perfect peace that comes when
one's life is surrendered to God.'  The corresponding
adjective is *Muslim*."

_The Religions of Man_, 1965, published by Harper and Row, 
 (originally published in 1958); page 217.

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Pre-Islamic Conditions


On Pre-Islamic Arabia, Geoffrey Parrinder writes:

"Islam was born in one of the most desolate regions of the earth's
surface - the Arabian peninsula.  This area is made up of forbidding
deserts, arid steppes and barren mountains, along with a few 
favoured oases and coastal areas where water is sufficient to 
permit agriculture and a settled life.  Although several advanced 
cultures with great cities flourished in antiquity in the more 
blessed provinces around the perimeters of the peninsula, for
most of its history it has been the realm of wandering nomadic
tribes which alone have had the skill and endurance to survive
its rigours.  These tribesman eke out a bare existence by wandering
from place to place with their flocks and herds, in search of life-
giving water and pasturage.  In the spring of each year they venture
into the deserts where the rain briefly brings the plants into bloom.
Then the nomads return to the high central plateau, and there each
group stakes out part of the land for use by its own particular
flocks and herds.

"The key to this austere life is the presence of the camel, which
supplies most of the nomad's need for food, transporta nd clothing.
Flocks of sheep and goats are also kept, and sometimes the famous
Arabian horses, but these serve only to enhance their owner's prestige,
or for purposes of warfare, and they are often more of a liability than
an asset in the conditions of desert life.

"Because of the geographical conditions, life in Arabia has followed
much the same pattern for many centuries.  The untracked deserts and
formidable mountains made a barrier which discouraged military
adventurers from outside and, to some degree, insulated the people
of the interior.  Throughout antiquity not one of the great conquerors
was able to exert control over the peninsula, nor were the Arabs
themselves ever able to unite sufficiently to form a state oftheir own.
Nevertheless, there was always some degree of contact between the
Arabs on the northern borders and other civilizations and, as a result,
trade flourished.  Ideas and influences from the more developed
cultures also found their way by such routes into the interior of the
peninsula."

_World Religions: From Ancient History to the Present_, Ed. by G. Parrinder,
 published in 1983, by Hamlyn Publishing Group (Facts on File); pages 463-4.

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Part 1 in a continuing series.


Alaikum assalam, my kin.
Love is the law, love under will.

Haramullah
Tyagi@HouseofKaos.Abyss.com