Islamiyat Paper 12

What are the main teachings?

(i)

Sura 42.4–5 The main themes are that His Majesty and greatness is being confirmed; God is the Creator; forgiveness and guidance are given from God to humanity. Candidates will develop these themes in their own way, e.g. saying the heavens are almost torn apart due to His greatness above them; He is the owner of everything because He created it; the angels pray for the guidance of humans on earth, as it is God who is the forgiving, the merciful.

(ii)

Sura 93 The main themes are God as companion; He helps His prophets, in this case the Prophet Muhammad; it teaches being grateful to God. Candidates will develop these themes in their own way, e.g. it is God who helps in need, so when distressed, Muslims should turn to Him; this sura is directed to the Prophet himself showing how God helped him, in this case with shelter, guidance and independence; gives message of being kind and helpful to others in need, like orphans and beggars, and realising that a person’s benefits all come from thanking God.

(iii)

Sura 5.110 The main themes are God and His prophets; that humans need God; that God gives signs to humankind. Candidates will develop these themes in their own way, e.g. saying that God gives to His prophets to help them, in this case Jesus got the holy spirit, the Book and the wisdom, the Law and the Gospel; humans can do great things but only with God’s permission, ‘by my leave’; God gives humankind signs through prophets of His existence, which separates those who believe and those who don’t. These are examples candidates can write about; they should be credited for other, relevant answers. Candidates should show how the theme(s) they choose is distinctive in that passage. The best answers will have a few themes with development.

The importance of these themes

(i)

Sura 42.4–5 The importance here is that God tells humankind of His power and control over all things, so they should remember that they do not have any power in comparison. God is Merciful, even when Muslims have committed wrong actions, so Muslims have someone to turn to in times of need. As God is merciful to humankind, they in turn should be grateful and also try to be forgiving of others, even if they have been hurt or injured.

(ii)

Sura 93 These themes tell humans to not worry when others tease them; God gave blessings to the Prophet Muhammad, despite people saying that he had been forgotten by God. Muslims should look at their own lives to see their blessings and not think they have been given nothing; they should not constantly want more than what they have. They should be grateful to God through prayers, giving charity and helping those less fortunate than themselves and they should make people aware of the ways in which God helps them.

(iii)

Sura 5.110 These teachings reaffirm for Muslims the prophethood of Jesus and the power of God. Humans are capable of great feats but it is God who gives permission for these; moon landings, space travel, etc. Muslims should use these as signs of God’s grace, and believe in His power to control everything and allow things to happen. They should therefore remember Him often, by praying, supplicating or doing good deeds, etc., to ensure they are counted as believers. Candidates can mention other points with examples or personalising passages about their own/Muslims’ lives. This could take them higher up the levels.

Candidates should write about the primary sources, Qur’an and hadith, and secondary sources, ijma’ and qiyas, and how they are used with the Qur’an. The Qur’an is an authority in Islamic law;

it is the word of God;

it is not questioned or contradicted by the other sources;

it is the basis of legal rulings in Islamic Law;

the sunna is the Prophet’s example and is recorded in the hadith;

these emphasise and expand on verses in the Qur’an, e.g. salat and zakat;

they are also used when the Qur’an is silent on a matter, e.g. inheritance given to grandmother;

hadith are important because the Prophet was the final and perfect messenger to follow;

hadith of Mu’adh ibn Jabal gives a guide of what to follow;

they are interlinked, so are the two main (primary) sources, the hadith never contradicting the Qur’an. Today ijma’ and qiyas are used mainly for issues that did not arise at the time of the Prophet;

ijma’ is the consensus of opinion of scholars;

‘my community will never agree upon an error’;

some issues they have had to deal with have been, at the time of the caliphs, the compiling of the Qur’an and more recently, the permissibility of IVF;

those knowledgeable about Islamic Law decide on new matters such as IVF based on what they know already from the Qur’an and hadith, and then agree on a ruling. The rulings are based on existing Qur’anic rulings, so there is no contradiction or disagreement with the Qur’an. Qiyas is analogy, when one Islamic ruling is compared with another to derive a new ruling for a new issue. Examples of this could be the use of cocaine being prohibited on the basis that intoxicants are prohibited. Candidates could mention the elements of qiyas, asl (original case on which a ruling has been given), far’ (new case on which ruling is required), ‘illa (the cause, which is common in both) and hukm (the ruling). The original case will have a ruling based on the Qur’an, and therefore the ruling on the new case will have its basis in Qur’anic sources.

Candidates could say that yes, they are both equally important because, e.g. they are sources that have been used by previous generations and give answers for different problems, or that one may not resolve all new issues so the other source is needed too. Candidates could also say no, one is more important than the other, and have to give reason(s) as to why they say that.

Candidates should write a detailed narrative elaborating on the points mentioned below. He was born in the year of the elephant;

his parents were Amina and Abdullah;

as with the custom of the time, he was sent to the desert with a wet nurse;

Halima Sa’adia narrates that they had good fortune with the arrival of the Prophet in their household, and asked that he stay with them another two years;

during this time, the incident of the angels coming to clean his heart happened;

Halima returned him to his mother;

his mother died when he was six on her way back from Yathrib;

his grandfather looked after him and then Abu Talib when he was eight;

he went on trade journeys with Abu Talib and this is where Bahira the monk saw him;

he picked up arrows in the sacrilegious wars, and was present at the subsequent Fudul confederacy;

he was employed by Khadija to go on a trade journey to Syria and on account of his honesty she sent a marriage proposal to him;

he helped resolve the issue of the fixing of the black stone;

he spent longer periods in the cave of Hira and, at the age of 40, the angel Jibril came with the first revelation.

Candidates can agree or disagree, and relevant answers that try to justify their choice should be credited. They could agree and say, e.g. that his uncle was important for taking him on trade journeys with him, which helped him to learn the trade that would provide for his family later on, and also because of what Bahira told Abu Talib, he had a protector when the Muslims went through difficult times in Makka. Khadija helped to give him financial independence which allowed him more time for meditation. They could disagree and say, e.g. that they were not important because the Prophet was protected and guided by God, shown by the incident of the two angels coming to wash his heart, or that his parents and grandparents died when he was young so they were not of help for him in his prophethood.

The Prophet had a dream where he entered Makka and did tawaf around the Ka’ba. In 628, he and a group of 1,400 Muslims marched peacefully towards Makka, in an attempt to perform umrah. The Muslims had left Madina in a state of ihram, so were prohibited from fighting. The group camped outside of Makka, and the Prophet tried to negotiate entry to the Ka’ba with the Quraysh, through intermediaries. The Quraysh were unwilling to let the Prophet enter. Bait al-Ridwan influenced the Quraysh into negotiating a treaty. They sent Suhayl ibn ‘Amr to negotiate a peace treaty, whereby the Muslims would go back to Makka and not return for the pilgrimage until the next year. The treaty was for ten years;

each party was to be secure from the other;

if a person from the Quraysh was to migrate to Madina, he would be sent back to Makka;

however, if a person from the Prophet’s side went to the Quraysh, they did not have to hand him back;

the Muslims were to go back to Madina without performing umrah and return the next year for three days. ‘Umar asked why the Muslims were demeaning their religion, and was reassured by Abu Bakr and the Prophet. ‘Ali was chosen to write the treaty. When the Prophet asked him to write ‘In the name of Allah, the merciful, the compassionate’ or that the Prophet was the ‘Messenger of Allah’, Suhayl objected and instead the Prophet erased it and had ‘Ali write, ‘In your name, O God’ and ‘Muhammad, son of ‘Abd Allah’, to which the Muslims protested. The Khuza’a tribe made a pact with the Muslims and the Banu Bakr made a pact with the Quraysh. At that point, Abu Jandal came to the Prophet asking to be freed, but the Prophet kept to the terms of the treaty and told him to be patient. Once they completed the document, the Prophet asked the Muslims to sacrifice their animals and shave their heads. The Prophet said that Muslims had been victorious and was supported in this by new revelation: ‘Verily we have granted thee a manifest victory’. (48:1) Candidates may mention the treaty was dissolved two years later after the Banu Khuza’a were attacked by the Quraysh, but it is not necessary for this answer, which is about the forming of the treaty itself.

The Prophet kept his word to the Quraysh for the duration of the treaty. Even before the treaty was finished being written, he sent Abu Jandal back to the Quraysh, on account of an agreement having been made verbally. This shows the importance of promising to do something, then fulfilling that action, even if it has not been put into writing. As all actions and agreements are recorded by angels, God knows what has been promised and by fulfilling promises, no matter how hard it is, then God will reward you accordingly. So, e.g. politicians should not go back on the things they promise when they want to be elected, or people should not take back something that they have promised to give a friend. Candidates can give other examples, but should expand on their answer with reasons.

Hamza: he was an uncle and foster-brother of the Prophet;

he was a warrior and sportsman and had little interest in the issues of Makkah;

he hit Abu Jahl when he heard Abu Jahl had assaulted the Prophet;

after that he became Muslim;

it gave the Muslims a lot of strength and they were able to pray in public;

in the battle of Badr, he killed leading men of the Quraysh including Hind’s father Utbah;

she vowed revenge and hired Washi to kill Hamza which he did at the battle of Uhud;

he was given the title ‘chief of Martyrs’, and the Prophet led his funeral prayer. Abu Sufyan: he was a prominent and powerful figure among the Quraysh, and a staunch opponent of the Prophet and the Muslims. It was his caravan returning from Syria that was the basis for the battle of Badr, and candidates could give details of his involvement in this event. After the loss at Badr, revenge was sought and Abu Sufyan led the Quraysh army to Uhud. His wife Hind also went seeking revenge for the death of her father. After Uhud, Abu Sufyan vowed to fight again and the next time they met was at the Battle of the Trench. After the Quraysh broke the treaty of Hudaybiyya, Abu Sufyan went to Madina to attempt to restore the treaty, but without success;

he subsequently converted when the Prophet marched towards Makka, and the Prophet honoured him despite his fierce opposition for many years. At Ta’if, Abu Sufyan lost an eye, and at Yarmouk he lost the other;

he was made governor of Narjan;

he died aged 90 in Madina.

Candidates could say, e.g. that their conversions show the importance of forgiveness in Islam, and that anyone, even if once an enemy of Islam, can become one of God’s servants. This means that people should not judge others, or be cruel to them, as it is just as possible for them to become Muslim as anyone else. Or, that people should know that no matter what they have done in their lives, if they are sorry for what they have done then they can be forgiven by God. Wahshi and Hind are good examples of those who became Muslim. Candidates can write about other lessons, but they must give reasons for their answer.