Islam has a number of sects and variations, but only a tiny fraction as many as Christianity. It won’t serve a useful purpose to go into them now, except to observe that the reason for the relatively small number of variations is that it’s necessarily a much more cohesive faith than Christianity, being based on one rather short book, promulgated by one man, whose status is clear – the religion leaves relatively little open to interpretation.
The basic pillars of Islam tend to unify believers, whatever other differences they may have; internecine warfare between Muslims over religion has been the exception. It’s unclear to me what actually constitutes an observant, or perhaps a “saved” Christian; opinions differ widely among the religion’s many sects. There’s no question, however, about who is an observant Muslim – one must only adhere to its Five Pillars:
- The Shahadah, or profession of faith: This is the essence of Islam. One must say aloud, sincerely and purposefully, “There is no God but Allah, and Mohammed is his prophet.”
- Prayer: One must pray, in a ritualized manner, five times a day, in congregation if possible.
- Zakat, or tithing: One must give a certain percentage of one’s assets to the poor each year.
- Fasting: One cannot eat, drink, or smoke from dawn to dusk during Ramadan, the ninth month of the lunar calendar.
- Hadj, or pilgrimage: One must journey to Mecca at least once, if it’s possible to do so.
There you have it. And it certainly seems like a small price to pay to gain paradise, where one engages in pleasures of the flesh for eternity, surrounded by doe-eyed houris. Infidels and apostates, meanwhile, may expect to burn in sulfur for eternity.
Islam offers benefits in the here-and-now, as well. It cultivates a brotherhood of believers cutting across racial, ethnic and linguistic barriers – not just in theory, but in practice. It allows the believer to communicate directly with Allah, dispensing with an intermediary priesthood. It’s a very fraternal and democratic religion.
The word Islam means “submission.” Since Allah is all-powerful and all knowing, as well as merciful and compassionate, it means that whatever happens is the will of Allah, and the faithful do well to accept it. This leads, on the one hand, to a mellow, destressifying view of life, which is a good thing. On the other hand, it can lead to an overly fatalistic view of life, wherein hard work and striving can be pointless. This may be one reason for the relative backwardness of the Muslim world.
If you want to convince others of something, the most important thing to remember is: “Keep it simple!” And Islam does that extremely well. The key to salvation is observance of the Five Pillars, and they’re quite specific and well defined. There’s no room, or need, for complex theological wrangling to confuse the issue. In addition, Islam cultivates a great deal of certainty, and that certainty is mightily abetted by its simplicity.
If you want someone to believe what you do, certainty – total, unwavering confidence in the correctness of your position – is 100 times more effective than any amount of intellectualism. Simplicity and certainty are the two indispensable elements of a successful mass religion. With this solid foundation laid by Allah, through the Prophet, enthusiastic early adherents were able to take the show on the road.
The reason for Islam’s early success
The question often arises how Islamic civilization, which conquered much of the known world in the 150 years after the Hegira (Mohammed’s flight from Mecca to Medina in 622 A.D.), preserved much of ancient civilization and made innovations in mathematics, architecture, science and literature, could have regressed to its present sorry state. Was it because Allah smiled on Muslims in their early years but, for some reason, has frowned upon them in more recent centuries? Or could there be some other force at work?
My theory is that Islam’s flowering had relatively little to do with religion, per se, and a lot to do with a military organization, which was enabled by religious fervor. Great conquests usually begin with a unifying ideology, most often some form of nationalism or religion – the simpler and more certain the better. That’s exactly what Islam gave the Arabs. I suspect any number of ideologies could have done as well, but it’s tough to argue with success. The conquests led to wealth, and wealth to civilization and progress.
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