# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Ninja® Kitchen Blenders, Food Processors, Coffee Makers & Slow Cookers

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
At Ninja®, we make high-quality products for your kitchen such as blenders, food processors, coffee makers & slow cookers with advanced technology systems.

# data[].attributes.body
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7mPMnCsstCGaW12czZIN2ZxcUU/view?usp=sharing

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Get access to files anywhere through secure cloud storage and file backup for your photos, videos, files and more with Google Drive.

# data[].attributes.headline
History vs. Genghis Khan - Alex Gendler - YouTube

# data[].attributes.subject
History vs. Genghis Khan - Alex Gendler - YouTube

# data[].attributes.headline
The Life of Confucius animation.divx - YouTube

# data[].attributes.subject
The Life of Confucius animation.divx - YouTube

# data[].attributes.headline
The Life of the Buddha animation.divx - YouTube

# data[].attributes.subject
The Life of the Buddha animation.divx - YouTube

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Chinese Strategies. Session 2. The Worlding of China

# data[].attributes.headline
Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism, Shinto PREZI

# data[].attributes.subject
Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism, Shinto PREZI

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Eightfold path
* To know the truth
* To intend to resist evil
* To not say anything to hurt others
* To respect life, property, and morality
* To work at a job that does not injure others
* To try to free one's mind from evil
* To be in control of one's feelings and thoughts
* To practice appropriate forms of concentration

Buddhism, Daoism, Confucianism, and Shinto
Sacred Divined
Buddhism does not have a creator.
Buddhist believe in a cycle of birth, life, death, and reborn.
The only way to break the cycle is to gain Enlightenment like Buddha.
Buddha was not consider a god.
Breaking out of the cycle is consider Nirvana.
The only way to obtain Nirvana is by following Buddha's teaching and throughout meditation.
Central Beliefs:
* Life is filled with suffering
* Suffering is caused by people's wants.
* Suffering can be ended if people stop wanting things, like more pleasure or more power.
* To stop wanting things, people must follow 8 basic laws, called the Eightfold Path.

http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/5minbud.htm
http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/2001/06/What-Taoists-Believe.aspx
Buddhism began in northeastern India and is based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama.
The religion is 2,500 years old.
It has 350 million followers worldwide.
It is a religion about suffering and the need to get rid of it.
A key concept of Buddhism is Nirvana, the most enlightened, and blissful state that one can achieve.
Nirvana is a state without suffering.
Buddhism
Sacred Divined
* Zarathustra when to heaven, where Ahura Mazda told him that he had a rival, Aura Mainyu, the evil god.
* Zarathustra has the task of inviting all human beings to choose between him (good) and Aura Mainyu (evil).
* Zoroastrianism has both monotheistic and dualistic characteristics.
* The Zoroastrian sacred text is the Avesta

Confucianism

Confucianism began around 500 B.C.E.
Confucianism has no gods and no teaching about the afterlife.
The founder of Confucianism was Kong Qiu.
Confucianism was important in shaping chinese culture.

Shinto
Shinto places of worship are called shrines and are usually found in beautiful natural settings.
The followers of Shintoism believe that everything is control by spiritual powers.
The spiritual powers are called Kami's.
Kami's live in natural places as animals, rice, mountains, plants, rivers, people, and the dead.

Sacred Divined
Central Beliefs:
sacred Divined
Confucianism has no god or creator
Heaven and the afterlife are beyond human capacity to understand.
Doing the right thing in life is what matters the most.
People worship in temples built in honor of Confucius's

Central Beliefs:
Confucians believed that people could become perfect, if they exhibited almost perfect behavior.
Family and family values are very important.
Confucius taught five basic virtues: kindness,
righteousness, sobriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness.
This principle of Jen is the importance of showing courtesy and loyalty to other people.

Shintoism started in 1000 B.C.E.
Shintoism started in Japan.
Today Shintoism is practice by at least five million people.
Shinto signifies the way of the gods

The followers of Shintoism believe that everything is control by spiritual powers.
The most important kami is Amaterasu, the sun goddess.
Shines are the names of the places where people worship.

Central Believes
Zoroastrians call their God Ahura Mazda.
Zoroaster was the first one to believe in one God.
Every one is free to choose between good and bad.
only does that choose good will have peace.
Sacred Divined

Daoism does not have a god.
Daoism is more like a philosophy instead of a region.

Daoism
Daoism is a way of life that was started by Lao Tsu.
Lao Tsu said that the way to obtain happiness was to learn to adapt to the world Lao
Tsu believe that the entire universe shared a universal energy.
All living things are connected.

Central Believes
The yin and yang are both important.
The yin is the female side, things that are still like ponds and death.
All humans have some yin and some yang and balanced is very important.
If you do not keep the balance, you get sick and die.

* Zoroastrianism began in Ancient Iran
* Zoroastrianism was founded in the 6th century B.C.
* The prophet was named Zoroaster.
* His teachings were about the fact that warring tribes were tearing society apart.

Zoroastrianism
References

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Copy of Compare and contrast for Buddhism, Daoism, Confucianism, Shi

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Eightfold path* To know the truth* To intend to resist evil* To not say anything to hurt others* To respect life, property, and morality* To work at a job that does not injure others* To try to free one's mind from evil* To be in control of one's feelings and thoughts* To practice appropriate forms of concentration Buddhism, Daoism, Confucianism, and Shinto Sacred DivinedBuddhism does not have a creator.

# data[].attributes.headline
Samurai and Bushido - Facts & Summary - HISTORY.com

# data[].attributes.subject
Samurai and Bushido - Facts & Summary - HISTORY.com

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Contents

1. Early Samurai

2. Rise of the Samurai & Kamakura Period

3. Japan in Chaos: the Ashikaga Shogunate

4. Samurai under the Tokugawa Shogunate

5. Meiji Restoration & the End of Feudalism

6. Bushido in Modern Japan

The samurai, members of a powerful military caste in feudal Japan, began as provincial warriors before rising to power in the 12th century with the beginning of the country's first military dictatorship, known as the shogunate. As servants of the daimyos, or great lords, the samurai backed up the authority of the shogun and gave him power over the mikado (emperor). The samurai would dominate Japanese government and society until the Meiji Restoration of 1868 led to the abolition of the feudal system. Despite being deprived of their traditional privileges, many of the samurai would enter the elite ranks of politics and industry in modern Japan. More importantly, the traditional samurai code of honor, discipline and morality known as bushido-or "the way of the warrior"-was revived and made the basic code of conduct for much of Japanese society.

Early Samurai

During the Heian Period (794-1185), the samurai were the armed supporters of wealthy landowners-many of whom left the imperial court to seek their own fortunes after being shut out of power by the powerful Fujiwara clan. The word "samurai" roughly translates to "those who serve." (Another, more general word for a warrior is "bushi," from which bushido is derived; this word lacks the connotations of service to a master.)

Did you know? The wealth of a samurai in feudal Japan was measured in terms of koku; one koku, supposed to be the amount of rice it took to feed one man for a year, was equivalent to around 180 liters.

Beginning in the mid-12th century, real political power in Japan shifted gradually away from the emperor and his nobles in Kyoto to the heads of the clans on their large estates in the country. The Gempei War (1180-1185) pitted two of these great clans-the dominant Taira and the Minamoto-against each other in a struggle for control of the Japanese state. The war ended when one of the most famous samurai heroes in Japanese history, Minamoto Yoshitsune, led his clan to victory against the Taira near the village of Dan-no-ura.

Rise of the Samurai & Kamakura Period

The triumphant leader Minamoto Yoritomo-half-brother of Yoshitsune, whom he drove into exile-established the center of government at Kamakura. The establishment of the Kamakura Shogunate, a hereditary military dictatorship, shifted all real political power in Japan to the samurai. As Yoritomo's authority depended on their strength, he went to great lengths to establish and define the samurai's privileged status; no one could call himself a samurai without Yoritomo's permission.

Zen Buddhism, introduced into Japan from China around this time, held a great appeal for many samurai. Its austere and simple rituals, as well as the belief that salvation would come from within, provided an ideal philosophical background for the samurai's own code of behavior. Also during the Kamakura period, the sword came to have a great significance in samurai culture. A man's honor was said to reside in his sword, and the craftsmanship of swords-including carefully hammered blades, gold and silver inlay and sharkskin handgrips-became an art in itself.

Japan in Chaos: the Ashikaga Shogunate

The strain of defeating two Mongol invasions at the end of the 13th century weakened the Kamakura Shogunate, which fell to a rebellion led by Ashikaga Takauji. The Ashikaga Shogunate, centered in Kyoto, began around 1336. For the next two centuries, Japan was in a near-constant state of conflict between its feuding territorial clans. After the particularly divisive Onin War of 1467-77, the Ashikaga shoguns ceased to be effective, and feudal Japan lacked a strong central authority; local lords and their samurai stepped in to a greater extent to maintain law and order.

Despite the political unrest, this period-known as the Muromachi after the district of that name in Kyoto-saw considerable economic expansion in Japan. It was also a golden age for Japanese art, as the samurai culture came under the growing influence of Zen Buddhism. In addition to such now-famous Japanese art forms as the tea ceremony, rock gardens and flower arranging, theater and painting also flourished during the Muromachi period.

Samurai under the Tokugawa Shogunate

The Sengoku-Jidai, or Period of the Country at War finally ended in 1615 with the unification of Japan under Tokugawa Ieyasu. This period ushered in a 250-year-long stretch of peace and prosperity in Japan, and for the first time the samurai took on the responsibility of governing through civil means rather than through military force. Ieyasu issued the "ordinances for the Military Houses," by which samurai were told to train equally in arms and "polite" learning according to the principles of Confucianism. This relatively conservative faith, with its emphasis on loyalty and duty, eclipsed Buddhism during the Tokugawa period as the dominant religion of the samurai. It was during this period that the principles of bushido emerged as a general code of conduct for Japanese people in general. Though bushido varied under the influences of Buddhist and Confucian thought, its warrior spirit remained constant, including an emphasis on military skills and fearlessness in the face of an enemy. Bushido also emphasized frugality, kindness, honesty and care for one's family members, particularly one's elders.

In a peaceful Japan, many samurai were forced to become bureaucrats or take up some type of trade, even as they preserved their conception of themselves as fighting men. In 1588, the right to carry swords was restricted only to samurai, which created an even greater separation between them and the farmer-peasant class. The samurai during this period became the "two-sword man," wearing both a short and a long sword as a mark of his privilege. The material well-being of many samurai actually declined during the Tokugawa Shogunate, however. Samurai had traditionally made their living on a fixed stipend from landowners; as these stipends declined, many lower-level samurai were frustrated by their inability to improve their situation.

Meiji Restoration & the End of Feudalism

In the mid-19th century, the stability of the Tokugawa regime was undermined by a combination of factors, including peasant unrest due to famine and poverty. The incursion of Western powers into Japan-and especially the arrival in 1853 of Commodore Matthew C. Perry of the U.S. Navy, on a mission to get Japan to open its doors to international trade-proved to be the final straw. In 1858, Japan signed a commercial treaty with the United States, followed by similar ones with Russia, Britain, France and Holland. The controversial decision to open the country to Western commerce and investment helped encourage resistance to the shogunate among conservative forces in Japan, including many samurai, who began calling for a restoration of the power of the emperor.

The powerful clans of Choshu and Satsuma combined efforts to topple the Tokugawa Shogunate and announce an "imperial restoration" named for Emperor Meiji in early 1868. Feudalism was officially abolished in 1871; five years later, the wearing of swords was forbidden to anyone except members of the national armed forces, and all samurai stipends were converted into government bonds, often at significant financial loss. The new Japanese national army quashed several samurai rebellions during the 1870s, while some disgruntled samurai joined secret, ultra-nationalist societies, among them the notorious Black Dragon Society, whose object was to incite trouble in China so that the Japanese army would have an excuse to invade and preserve order.

Ironically-given the loss of their privileged status-the Meiji Restoration was actually engineered by members of the samurai class itself. Three of the most influential leaders of the new Japan-Inoue Kaoru, Ito Hirobumi and Yamagata Aritomo-had studied with the famous samurai Yoshida Shouin, who was executed after a failed attempt to kill a Tokugawa official in 1859. It was former samurai who put Japan on the road to what it would become, and many would become leaders in all areas of modern Japanese society.

Bushido in Modern Japan

In the wake of the Meiji Restoration, Shinto was made the state religion of Japan (unlike Confucianism, Buddhism and Christianity, it was wholly Japanese) and bushido was adopted as its ruling moral code. By 1912, Japan had succeeded in building up its military strength-it signed an alliance with Britain in 1902 and defeated the Russians in Manchuria two years later-as well as its economy. By the end of World War I, the country was recognized as one of the "Big Five" powers alongside Britain, the U.S., France and Italy at the Versailles peace conference.

The liberal, cosmopolitan 1920s gave way to a revival of Japan's military traditions in the 1930s, leading directly to imperial aggression and Japan's entrance into World War II. During that conflict, Japanese soldiers brought antique samurai swords into battle and made suicidal "banzai" attacks according to the bushido principle of death before dishonor or defeat. At war's end, Japan again drew on its strong sense of honor, discipline and devotion to a common cause-not the daimyos or shoguns of the past, but the emperor and the country-in order to rebuild itself and reemerge as one of the world's greatest economic and industrial powers in the latter 20th century.

PHOTO GALLERIES

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Early Samurai Rise of the Samurai & Kamakura Period Japan in Chaos: the Ashikaga Shogunate Samurai under the Tokugawa Shogunate Meiji Restoration & the End of Feudalism Bushido in Modern Japan The samurai, members of a powerful military caste in feudal Japan, began as provincial warriors before rising to power in the 12th century with the beginning of the country's first military dictatorship, known as the shogunate.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Kids learn about the history and timeline of the country of China including Chinese dynasties, emperors, wars, the republican era, and the communist revolution.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Kids learn about the history and timeline of the country of Japan including early civilizations, classical, medieval, the edo period, shoguns, the empire of Japan, and democracy.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
HISTORY
People first came to Japan about 30,000 years ago. At the time, the main islands were connected to Siberia and Korea by bridges of dry land, so people crossed on foot. The first society, called the Jomon culture, arose about 12,000 years ago. Around the same time, the Ainu people arrived by boat from Siberia.

The Jomon and Ainu survived for thousands of years, hunting, fishing, and gathering plants. In 300 B.C., the Yayoi people came to Honshu Island from Korea and China. They were skilled weavers, tool makers, and farmers who began cultivating rice in flooded paddy fields.

In 660 B.C., Japan's first emperor, Jimmu Tenno, came to power. Emperors controlled Japan until the 12th century A.D., when military rulers, called shoguns, took control and ruled by might.

Europeans first arrived in Japan in 1543, bringing guns and Christianity. In 1635, the ruling shogun closed Japan to foreigners and forbade Japanese to travel abroad. This isolation lasted more than 200 years. In 1868, the shoguns were overthrown and emperors returned. This was a time of great change and modernization for Japan.

During World War I (1914-1917), Japan fought on the side of the U.S. But on December 7, 1941, Japan bombed the United States navy fleet at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii and the U.S. entered World War II. From 1941-1945, Japan's military leaders fought against the U.S. and the allied forces. In August 1945, the U.S. dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing about 115,000 people. Japan surrendered a few days later.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
HISTORY People first came to Japan about 30,000 years ago. At the time, the main islands were connected to Siberia and Korea by bridges of dry land, so people crossed on foot. The first society, called the Jomon culture, arose about 12,000 years ago. Around the same time, the Ainu people arrived by boat from Siberia.

# data[].attributes.headline
China Country Profile - National Geographic Kids

# data[].attributes.subject
China Country Profile - National Geographic Kids

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
FAST FACTS

OFFICIAL NAME: People's Republic of China
FORM OF GOVERNMENT: Communist state
CAPITAL: Beijing (Peking)
POPULATION: 1,355,692,576
OFFICIAL LANGUAGES: Standard Chinese, Mandarin
MONEY: Yuan (or renminbi)
AREA: 3,705,405 square miles (9,596,960 square kilometers)
MAJOR MOUNTAIN RANGES: Himalaya
MAJOR RIVERS: Yangtze, Yellow

GEOGRAPHY

Stretching 3,100 miles (5,000 kilometers) from east to west and 3,400 miles (5,500 kilometers) from north to south, China is a large country with widely varying landscapes. Its territory includes mountains, high plateaus, sandy deserts, and dense forests.

One-third of China's land area is made up of mountains. The tallest mountain on Earth, Mount Everest, sits on the border between China and Nepal.

China has thousands of rivers. The Yangtze and the Yellow Rivers are the most important. At 3,915 miles (6,300 kilometers) long, the Yangtze is the world's third largest river.

PEOPLE & CULTURE

With a population of 1.3 billion, China has more people than any other country on Earth. About a third of the population lives in cities. The rest of the people live in the country.

Arts and crafts have a long history in China. Thousands of years ago the Chinese were some of the first people to use silk, jade, bronze, wood, and paper to make art. The artistic writing called calligraphy was invented in China.

Much of China's modern beliefs and philosophies are based on the teachings of a government official who lived nearly 3,000 years ago. Kongfuzi, also known as Confucius, taught people the value of such things as morality, kindness, and education.

NATURE

China's diverse habitats are home to hundreds of species of animals and plants. More than 3,800 species of fish and hundreds of amphibians and reptile species live in the rivers, lakes, and coastal waters.

China's forest wildlife is threatened by logging and clear-cutting (clearing the land of all trees) for farmland. Expanding deserts in the north also shrink animal habitats. The Chinese government has created more than 1,200 reserves to protect plant and animal species.

The giant panda lives in the misty mountains of southwest China and nowhere else on Earth. They eat bamboo and usually live near stands of the woody evergreen plant. Pandas have been hunted and only about 1,600 remain in the wild.

Yuan,

Photograph by Asafta, Dreamstime

GOVERNMENT & ECONOMY

China is an authoritarian state ruled by a very powerful central government. A huge workforce and lots of natural resources have driven economic change. This has forced the communist government to permit more economic and personal freedoms, but it has come at a huge cost to the environment.

Many experts predict that the 21st century will be the "Chinese century." Whether or not that proves to be true, there is no doubt that what happens in China will affect many other nations.

HISTORY

China is the home of one of the world's oldest civilizations, but it has only recently become a "modern" nation. In the last 20 years, China has changed faster than any other country in the world.

Chinese history is divided into dynasties, each of which marks the period when a line of emperors ruled. The first empire was the Qin dynasty and began in 221 B.C. The last emperor was overthrown in 1912, and China became a republic. The communist government began its rule in 1949 following a civil war with the Chinese Nationalists.

Ancient China was a land of invention. For centuries, China was way ahead of most other countries in science and technology, astronomy, and math. The Chinese invented paper, the magnetic compass, printing, porcelain, silk, and gunpowder, among other things.

Check out the interactive map and discover more countries.

Get Facts, Photos, and videos.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
China Country Profile - National Geographic Kids

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
FAST FACTS OFFICIAL NAME: People's Republic of China FORM OF GOVERNMENT: Communist state CAPITAL: Beijing (Peking) POPULATION: 1,355,692,576 OFFICIAL LANGUAGES: Standard Chinese, Mandarin MONEY: Yuan (or renminbi) AREA: 3,705,405 square miles (9,596,960 square kilometers) MAJOR MOUNTAIN RANGES: Himalaya MAJOR RIVERS: Yangtze, Yellow GEOGRAPHY Stretching 3,100 miles (5,000 kilometers) from east to west and 3,400 miles (5,500 kilometers) from north to south, China is a large country with widely varying landscapes.

# data[].attributes.headline
Ancient China for Kids and Teachers Index - Ancient China for Kids

# data[].attributes.subject
Ancient China for Kids and Teachers Index - Ancient China for Kids

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Two weeks in Japan - Tokyo, Kyoto, Kobe, Hiroshima, Kinosaki Canon 5D MkIII (Magic Lantern 14bit RAW) Canon EF 50mm f1.2L USM Canon EF 16-35mm f2.8L II USM Canon EF 70-200mm f2.8L IS II USM Canon EF 24-105mm f4L IS USM Editing: Adobe Premiere and After Effects Color Grading: Da Vinci Resolve Lite Music by Masakatsu Takagi / Ookami Kodomo no Ame to Yuki OST - Oyosute Aina

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Moments in China is a collection of vivid moments I experienced while traveling around China last month. The piece flows from Hong Kong to Beijing, and visits Guilin, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. Some moments are more significant than others, but I have a personal connection with each.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The aerial cinema experts at Teton Gravity Research release the first ultra HD footage of the Himalayas shot from above 20,000 ft. with the GSS C520 system, the most advanced gyro-stabilized camera system in the world. Filmed from a helicopter with a crew flying from Kathmandu at 4,600 ft.

# data[].attributes.headline
15 Most Interesting Historical Sites in West Africa

# data[].attributes.subject
15 Most Interesting Historical Sites in West Africa

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
West Africa is a fascinating region, and despite the occasional outburst of political instability or virus outbreak, it's a fantastic place to learn about African cultures and traditions. It was one of the main transit points for slaves to the Americas, and was also home to some of the greatest pre-colonial empires Africa has witnessed, many of the them on UNESCO's World Heritage List. We hope you enjoy this roundup of the best cultural and historical sites in West Africa.

5) Royal Palaces of Abomey

The Royal Palaces of Abomey (the former capital of Dahomey) are a group of earthen structures located in Southern Benin. The palaces were built and inhabited by the Fon people between the early 1600s and 1900s, and 12 kings inhabited the grounds and palace. Interestingly, each new king had a new palace built. Hire a guide to help you explore the grounds and check out the nearby history museum.

6) Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove

In a beautiful setting along the shores of the Osun River in Southwestern Nigeria, you'll find the Sacred Grove of Osun-Osogbo. One of the last sacred sites of the Yoruba people, many of the sites, religious ceremonies, and cultural practices have fallen into disuse, especially in the last century. Thankfully, the Sacred Grove is well preserved and every year, thousands gather for the two week Osun-Osogbo Festival which features many traditional ceremonies including the lighting of a 16-point torch.

7) Koutammakou

Koutammakou, the Land of the Batammariba people is found in Northern Togo. Designated as a UNESCO Cultural Landscape, the Batammariba are known for their famous two-story Somba houses which house livestock in the lower level and contain a rooftop courtyard for grain storage and sleeping. These are truly some of the most interesting pre-modern African architectural achievements.

15) Ksours of Mauritania

"Ksours" is the Arabic word for castle, and the towns of Ouadane, Chinguetti, Tichitt, and Oualatta were important trade, cultural, and religious centers in Mauritania on the trans-Saharan route. The mud brick and stone sites are fascinating examples of traditional castles, and with few visitors to Mauritania, chances are you'll have them all to yourself!
Related content on AFKTravel: These Hearty West African Soups Are Sure To Fill Your Belly Spirits, Shrines And Spells: The Story Of West African Voodoo 10 Great Walks, Treks And Hikes In West Africa

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The 15 Most Interesting Historical Sites In West Africa

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
West Africa is a fascinating region, and despite the occasional outburst of political instability or virus outbreak, it's a fantastic place to learn about African cultures and traditions. It was one of the main transit points for slaves to the Americas, and was also home to some of the greatest pre-colonial empires Africa has witnessed, many of the them on UNESCO's World Heritage List.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Mansa Musa, the Muslim King of Mali - Ancient Africa for Kids

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Mansa Musa established religious freedom. Education was free and encouraged. He even established a university. People came from all over the world to study at this famous university. When Muslim scholars visited Mali, they were surprised at the people's clothes. They didn't look like Muslims. The women were unveiled.

# data[].attributes.body
What is a griot?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The European colonial powers called Africa "the Dark Continent" when they began their explorations. They saw Africa as a vast and dangerous place filled with savage people, but Africa has been home to many advanced, exotic civilizations. Many of them have been buried beneath the sands of time, and archaeologists continue to uncover more clues about ancient African civilizations.

West Africa has a great oral tradition. A griot is a learned storyteller, entertainer and historian. Often a griot will memorize the genealogy, or family history, of everyone in a village going back centuries. American writer Alex Haley met a griot in 1966 who had memorized the entire story of the village of Juffure to a date two centuries in the past when Haley's ancestor was enslaved.

"The old griot had talked for nearly two hours up to then . . . 'the oldest of these fours sons, Kunta, went away from his village and he was never seen again' . . . I sat as if I were carved of stone. My blood seemed to have congealed. This man whose lifetime had been in this back-country African village had no way in the world to know that he had just echoed what I had heard all through my boyhood years on my grandma's front porch in Henning, Tennessee."

--Alex Haley,
Roots: The Saga of an American Family,
Dell, 1976. Page 719.

A great deal of what we know about West Africa comes from the griots, but archaeologists are often surprised by new finds. Scholars have concluded that civilization developed in West Africa as much as one thousand years earlier than they once believed. We now know that Africa had an Iron Age culture with cities and trade routes about 250 years before the Common Era.

A griot is a West African historian, storyteller, and poet.

Alex Haley (1921 - 1992) was an American writer. His works include co-authorship ofThe Autobiography of Malcolm X and Roots: The Saga of an American Family.

American author Alex Haley traced his family history to Juffure (also spelled Jufureh or Juffureh), a small village located 20 miles inland on the Gambia River in the modern nation of the Gambia.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
African History an introduction - mrdowling.com

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The European colonial powers called Africa "the Dark Continent" when they began their explorations. They saw Africa as a vast and dangerous place filled with savage people, but Africa has been home to many advanced, exotic civilizations. Many of them have been buried beneath the sands of time, and archaeologists continue to uncover more clues about ancient African civilizations.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Africa Physical Map | Physical Map of Africa

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The physical map of Africa depicts various geographical features of the continent such as mountains, deserts, rivers, lakes, plateaus. Mt Kilimanjaro is the highest peak of the continent and Sahara desert is the world's largest desert.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Sahel or Sahel Belt (from Arabic ساحل, sāḥil, shore, border or coast of the Sahara) is a semi-arid tropical savanna ecoregion in Africa, which forms the transitional zone between the Sahara Desert to the north and the more humid savanna belt to the south known as the Sudan (not to be confused with the country of the same name).

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Newsela is an Instructional Content Platform that supercharges reading engagement and learning in every subject.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Three of the world's major religions -- the monotheist traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam -- were all born in the Middle East and are all inextricably linked to one another. Christianity was born from within the Jewish tradition, and Islam developed from both Christianity and Judaism.

While there have been differences among these religions, there was a rich cultural interchange between Jews, Christians, and Muslims that took place in Islamic Spain and other places over centuries.
A brief history of Judaism
Judaism is the oldest surviving monotheistic religion, arising in the eastern Mediterranean in the second millennium B.C.E. Abraham is traditionally considered to be the first Jew and to have made a covenant with God. Because Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all recognize Abraham as their first prophet, they are also called the Abrahamic religions.

While there was always a small community of Jews in historic Palestine, in 73 C.E. the Roman Empire dispersed the Jews after an insurrection against Roman authority. Most Jews then lived in Diaspora, as minorities in their communities, until the founding of the state of Israel in 1948.

When Jews from all over the world came to settle in modern Israel, they found that various subcultures had developed in different areas with distinctive histories, languages, religious practices, customs, and cuisine.

Jews from Germany and Eastern Europe were known as Ashkenazim (from "Ashkenazic" the Hebrew word for Germany). Yiddish, a fusion of German and Hebrew, was the spoken language of the Ashkenazi. In Europe, Jews had tended to be segregated -- voluntarily or not -- from the Christian population. From the late 19th and through first half of the 20th century, many Ashkenazi Jews came to Palestine to escape the persecution and discrimination they faced because of their religion.

Sephardic Jews trace their ancestry to the Iberian Peninsula (modern-day Spain and Portugal; "Sephardic" comes from the Hebrew word for Spain). They once spoke Ladino, a mixture of Hebrew and Spanish.

Mizrahi Jews (from the Hebrew word for Eastern, also sometimes called Oriental Jews) trace their origin to North Africa and Asia. Mizrahi and Sephardic Jewish communities tended to be integrated into their respective societies.

There is great difference of opinion among Israeli Jews over the role Jewish religious law should play in the state. Until recently, Orthodox Judaism was the only form of the religion formally and legally recognized in Israel. Although less conservative branches of Judaism now have partial recognition, Orthodoxy remains dominant politically and legally.

Many Israeli Jews describe themselves in terms of their degree of observance of Jewish law. About half call themselves secular; about 15 to 20 percent see themselves as Orthodox or ultra-Orthodox; and the rest describe themselves as traditionally observant, but not as strict as the Orthodox.

In the United States, debate over the necessity of observing Jewish law has led to the development of three major movements. Orthodox Jews believe that Jewish law is unchanging and mandatory. Conservative Jews argue that God's laws change and evolve over time. Reform and Reconstructionist Jews believe that these laws are merely guidelines that individuals can choose to follow or not. In addition, there are many Jews in the United States who are secular or atheist. For them, their Judaism is a culture rather than a religion.

Jews believe in one god and his prophets, with special respect for Moses as the prophet to whom God gave the law. Jewish law is embodied in the Torah (also known as the Pentateuch) and the Talmud (collected commentary on the Torah completed in the fifth-century C.E.).

Judaism is more concerned with actions than dogma. In other words, observance of rules regulating human behavior has been of more concern than debates over beliefs in the Jewish tradition. According to Orthodox Judaism, Jewish law, or halakhah, includes 613 commandments given by God in the Torah, as well as rules and practices elaborated by scholars and custom. Jewish law covers matters such as prayer and ritual, diet, rules regulating personal status (marriage, divorce, birth, death, inheritance, etc.), and observance of holidays (like Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement; and Passover, the feast celebrating the exodus of the Jews from slavery in Egypt).

Jews do not believe in the prophets after the Jewish prophets, including Jesus and Muhammad. Therefore, they do not subscribe to the idea that Jesus was the Messiah and the son of God, nor do they believe in the teachings of Islam.
A brief history of Christianity

Christianity started as an offshoot of Judaism in the first century C.E. Until the emperor Constantine converted to Christianity in 324 C.E., early Christian communities were often persecuted. It was then that the Roman Empire became the Holy Roman Empire, and its capital relocated from Rome to Constantinople (formerly Byzantium and now Istanbul). The development of Christian groups derived from major and minor splits.

The Orthodox Church and its patriarch split away from the Roman Catholic Church and the Pope in 1054 C.E. because of political and doctrinal differences. In the 16th century, Martin Luther, upset at the corruption of the Catholic papacy, spearheaded a reformation movement that led to the development of Protestantism.

Christian missionaries proselytize all over the world, and there are large populations of Christians on every continent on Earth, although the forms of Christianity practiced vary.

Many early Christian saints lived in the Middle East. The tradition of asceticism (denial of physical pleasures in order to come closer to God) developed first in the Middle East, and the monastic tradition has its roots there.

Christians in the Middle East today include Copts, Maronites, Russian Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholics, Armenian Orthodox, Armenian Catholics, Assyrians, and Protestants. These groups have different liturgical languages, rituals, and customs, and different leaders who direct their faith.

The Coptic Church, the dominant form of Christianity in Egypt, arose from a doctrinal split in the Church at the Council of Chalcedon in 451. The Egyptian government supports the Copts' rights to worship and maintain their culture, but there has been some violence against the community by extremist Muslims.

The Maronite Church was started in the fifth century by followers of a Syrian priest named Maroun. The Maronite Patriarch, based in Lebanon, guides his followers in the teachings of Maroun and other saints. Maronites are still one of the most powerful political communities in Lebanon.

There are also Christian communities of different sects living today in Syria (10 percent of the population), Jordan (6 percent), the West Bank (8 percent), and Iraq (3 percent), with smaller percentages in other Middle Eastern countries.

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, many Christians from what is now Syria and Lebanon (then the Ottoman Empire) emigrated to the United States and other countries. Although Christians are a minority in the Middle East today, more than 75 percent of Americans of Arab descent are Christian.

Christianity developed out of the monotheistic tradition of Judaism; Jesus, its founder, was a member of the Jewish community in Roman Palestine. Its holy scriptures are the Old Testament (the Jewish Torah with additions), and the New Testament (written by the followers of Jesus after his death and containing the life story of Jesus and other early Christian writings).

Christians believe that God is revealed through three dimensions: the Father, the Son (Jesus Christ), and the Holy Spirit. Jesus is considered the son of God, born to the virgin Mary and come to Earth to offer redemption for mankind's sins. After Jesus was crucified and executed by the Romans, he rose from the dead and ascended into heaven. This event is celebrated at Easter, while the birth of Jesus is celebrated at Christmas.

Christians believe in an afterlife where those who have lived a good life will reside in heaven with God, and those who have lived an unrepentant life of sin will be punished in hell.

Although Christianity developed out of Judaic texts, Christians do not follow Jewish law. Instead, they believe that the ritualistic Jewish law was abrogated in favor of a universal gospel for all of humanity and the Christian teaching, "Love thy neighbor as thyself."

Relationships between Jewish and Christian communities have often been difficult, particularly in Christian Europe. There, Jewish communities were often subject to discrimination and violence at the hands of Christians.

Christianity has also had a problematic relationship with Islam. Christians do not accept Muhammad as a prophet. While many Christians in the Middle East converted to Islam during and after the seventh century, the Church hierarchy in Rome and Constantinople considered Islam to be both a political and theological threat. The Crusades were an unsuccessful attempt to reverse the Islamic conquest of the eastern Mediterranean and the holy places of all three monotheistic religions.
A brief history of Islam

Islam arose in the early seventh century C.E. in the settled desert community of Mecca (in present-day Saudi Arabia). It developed from both the Judeo-Christian tradition and the cultural values of the nomadic Bedouin tribes of Arabia.

Islam expanded into areas controlled by the Byzantine Empire (largely Greek-speaking and Orthodox Christian, but with a diverse population) and the Sassanian Empire (officially Zoroastrian and Persian-speaking, but also diverse). By the mid-eighth century, Islam had spread west into North Africa and Europe, and east into Central Asia. Over the centuries, Islam continued to grow in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia.

As Islam expanded, the new Islamic societies adapted and synthesized many of the customs they encountered. As a result, Muslims in different areas of the world created for themselves a wide array of cultural traditions.

Islamist v. Islamic (3:06) Watch

The culture of Islamic Spain, for example, was so cosmopolitan that some Christian and Jewish parents complained that their children were more interested in developing their knowledge of Arabic than in learning Latin or Hebrew, respectively. Many elements of Islamic society became integral parts of medieval and Renaissance European culture, like the notion of chivalry, and certain forms of music (the lute, the arabesque) and poetry.

On the eastern end of the Islamic world, many Indonesians converted to Islam between the 15th and 17th centuries. Preexisting animist beliefs were often incorporated into the local practice of Islam.

Within Islam, there are many different communities. Many of these divisions, like the Sunnis, Shiis, Ismailis, Alevis/Alawites, and Druze, originate in political and doctrinal differences in the community. Adherents of Islam may be more or less observant, conservative or liberal.

Sufism is the mystical tradition of Islam, where direct experience of the divine is emphasized. The 13th-century poet Jalaluddin Rumi is a well-known Sufi figure whose work has become popular in the United States today. Whirling dervishes are dancers who are entranced in their experience of Sufism.

Muslims believe that Allah (the Arabic word for God) sent his revelation, the Quran, to the prophet Muhammad in the seventh century C.E. to proclaim it to mankind. The Quran contains verses(surahs) in Arabic that tell Muslims to worship one god, and explains how they should treat others properly.

Another historical text, the Hadith, written by scholars after the death of Muhammad, describes Muhammad's life as an example of pious behavior, proscribes law for the community based on the Quran and the example of Muhammad, and explains how certain rituals should be performed.

Observant Muslims practice five principles (pillars) of Islam: orally declaring their faith (shahadah); praying five times a day (salat); fasting in the daylight hours during the month of Ramadan (sawm); giving a share of their income for charity (zakat); and making a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in their lifetime if they can afford it (hajj). Many Muslims also observe dietary rules, in origin similar to those of Judaism, that forbid certain foods (like pork), outlaw alcohol, and dictate how animals should be slaughtered for food.

The Muslim calendar is lunar, and shifts in relation to the solar calendar. Just as Christians count years starting with the year of Jesus's birth, Muslims count years beginning with Muhammad's move from Mecca to Medina in 622 C.E. Muslim years are labeled as A.H., Anno Hegirae, or "year of the Hijra."

Major Muslim festivals include Id al-Fitr (the Fast-Breaking Festival, celebrated at the end of Ramadan) and Id al-Adha (the Festival of Sacrifice, the commemoration of Abraham's willingness to sacrifice Ishmail which takes place during the month of pilgrimage).

Muslims believe in a Day of Judgment, when righteous souls will go to heaven and wrongdoers will go to hell.

Islam sees Judaism and Christianity as earlier versions of Islam, revelations given within the same tradition by Allah but misunderstood over time by their followers. Muslims see Islam as the final, complete, and correct revelation in the monotheistic tradition of the three faiths.

The Islamic tradition recognizes many of the Jewish and Christian prophets, including Abraham, Moses, and Jesus (although he is not considered to be the son of God). Many non-Muslims mistakenly believe that Muhammad is the equivalent of Jesus in the Islamic tradition; in fact, it is the Quran that stands in the same central position in Islam as Jesus does in Christianity. Muhammad himself is not divine, but a prophet chosen by God to deliver his message and an example of piety to emulate.

Jews and Christians are specifically protected in the Quran as Peoples of the Book, reinforcing their spiritual connection to Islam by virtue of having been given revelations from God. The Islamic legal tradition has upheld the rights of Jews and Christians to maintain their beliefs and practices within their communities in Islamic lands, and this policy of tolerance has generally been upheld.

Back to top

Related sites

Inside the Kingdom - Part II:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/middle_east /jan-june02/saudi_2-15.html
NewsHour explores the debate over Islam, education, and culture in Saudi Arabia.

Christians in the Middle East:
http://search.npr.org/cf/cmn/cmnpd01fm.cfm ?PrgDate=04/23/2002&PrgID=5
Talk of the Nation looks at the role of Christians who live in Israel and the West Bank. This story was aired during the military standoff at Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity.

The Pope's Journey:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/religion/ jan-june01/pope_5-8.html
NewsHour conducts a discussion on Pope John Paul II's journey of reconciliation to Greece, Syria, and Malta.

Islam: Empire of Faith:
http://www.pbs.org/empires/islam/index.html
The companion Web site for Islam: Empire of Faith, a PBS film about the world's fastest growing religion

Observing Islam:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/religion/ july-dec01/islam_11-16.html
Islamic scholars discuss the future of Islam as Ramadan begins amid curiosity and concern. (Novemeber 2001)

Inside Out: Revolutionary Islam:
http://insideout.wbur.org/documentaries/revolutionaryislam/
This radio documentary examines the manifestations of political Islam around the world.

Guide to Religions of the World:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/people /features/world_religions/
A guide to six world religions: Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and Sikhism

Beliefnet Web Site:
http://www.belief.net/
A Web site on religion

Judaism 101 Web Site:
http://www.jewfaq.org/index.htm
An online encyclopedia on Judaism

Lexicon of Israeli "English":
http://www.iyba.co.il/lexicon.htm
A glossary of Israeli terms, acronyms, and abbreviations found in English-language publications

Exploring Religions:
http://uwacadweb.uwyo.edu/religionet/er/default.htm
Information on Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism

Who Are Eastern Christians?:
http://www.arimathea.co.uk/whoare.htm
The origin and definition of Eastern Christianity

Syria and Christianity:
http://atheism.about.com/library/world/KZ /bl_SyriaChristianity.htm
The history of Eastern Christianity in Syria

Islam:
http://www.cqpress.com/context/articles/epr_islam.html
An encyclopedia entry on Islam

Islam: A Worldwide Religion:
http://www.seasite.niu.edu/crossroads/russell/islam.htm
Islam's impact on Southeast Asia

Persian Poet Top Seller in America:
http://www.csmonitor.com/durable/1997/11/25/us/us.3.html
An article on the popularity of mystic Islamic poet Jalaluddin Rumi

Historical Maps of Islam:
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~brvs/pages/maps.html
Historical maps of Islam

Islam in Iran:
http://www.pbs.org/visavis/islam_in_iran_mstr.html
Vis à Vis explores the origins of Islam and its evolution in Iran.

Saudi Time Bomb?:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/saudi/
Frontline investigates the hidden undercurrents of Islamic extremism, its far-flung reach, and its threat to the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Religion & Culture:
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/classroom/lp5.html
Students will consider the theme of religion and culture as they learn about the Hindu-Muslim conflict in the province of Gujarat, India.

Understanding History, Religion, and Politics in Jerusalem and Beyond:
http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2001/promises/intheclassroom.html
Students will acquire historical knowledge of the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians in the region, learn how to interpret a conflict from multiple perspectives, advocate for a point of view, and develop greater conflict resolution skills.

Gender Issues in Islam:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/teach/muslims/
Students will compare and contrast the roles of men and women with regard to various topics in the six countries featured in the film.

Great Thinkers and Accomplishments of Islam:
http://www.pbs.org/empires/islam/lesson4.html
Students will learn about the diverse accomplishments of great Islamic scholars.

God Fights Back: 1978-1992:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/peoplescentury/teachers/tggod.html
In the 1970s, alienated Iranians flock to the promises of Islamic fundamentalism and Egyptians and Algerians soon follow. In the 1980s, alienated Americans flock to the promises of Christian fundamentalism.

The Fascinating World of Islam:
http://www.pbs.org/empires/islam/lesson2.html
Students will research the people, places, and events that have shaped the history of Islam.

An Introduction to Islam and Muhammad:
http://www.pbs.org/empires/islam/lesson1.html
Students will compare the major monotheistic belief systems of the world.

Middle East: Crossroads of Faith and Conflict (map):

Supplement to National Geographic, October 2002

Culture: A Rich Mosaic

Geography: An Ancient and Modern Crossroads

How were modern nation-states of the Middle East created?

What is religious militancy and its relationship to terrorism?

Middle East Religion, Ethnic Groups, and Language Distribution

Muslim Population Worldwide

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Three of the world's major religions -- the monotheist traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam -- were all born in the Middle East and are all inextricably linked to one another. Christianity was born from within the Jewish tradition, and Islam developed from both Christianity and Judaism.

# data[].attributes.headline
Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet . Virtual Hajj | PBS

# data[].attributes.subject
Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet . Virtual Hajj | PBS

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet . Virtual Hajj | PBS

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Hajj is the annual pilgrimage to Mecca that every Muslims is urged to perform once in a lifetime. The Hajj is a dynamic process that changes its shape and purpose as it moves from point to point over several days. Two million people make up the Hajj today, coming from every corner of the world.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
To many Muslims, any image of the prophet Muhammad is sacrilegious, but the ban has not always been absolute and there is a small but rich tradition of devotional Islamic art going back more than seven centuries that does depict God's messenger.

It began with exquisite miniatures from the 13th century, scholars say. Commissioned from Muslim artists by the rich and powerful of their day, they show almost every episode of Muhammad's life as recounted in the Qur'an and other texts, from birth to death and ascension into heaven.

Intended as private aids to devotion and prayer, these detailed scenes were made for both Sunni and Shia worshippers, and surviving examples can be found in dozens of major museum and library collections.

They also laid the foundations for a popular, if minority, tradition of devotional and inspirational images that still exists today, from icons cherished in homes to a five-storey government-commissioned mural in the heart of Tehran and even to revolutionary street art in Cairo - although the prophet's face is obscured in both those public drawings.

In the wake of the murder of cartoonists at French magazine Charlie Hebdo, many Muslims and non-Muslims have argued that Islam has always banned any representation of the prophet, in part because of strong warnings in the Qu'ran and other religious texts against idolatry or anything that could be seen as a pathway towards idolatry.

This position is rarely challenged, perhaps because the existence of images of Muhammad is little known and almost never discussed outside communities that create, study or buy them. But their obscurity frustrates experts who see them as a rich part of Islam's artistic heritage and resent the misconception that the only depictions of the prophet are mocking or racist creations by non-believers. "It's really important for audiences that have never seen the pietistic images of Muhammad to make a radical distinction between the mystical and beautiful images that have been produced over the last 1,000 years by Muslims and for Muslims, and the offensive and sometimes pornographic images [currently in the news]," said Omid Safi, director of the Islamic Studies Centre at Duke University in North Carolina.

Author of a book about the prophet's life, Memories of Muhammad, Safi keeps an image of Muhammad in his home, which he brought from Iran when he fled as a child.

"I think people know that for me, as scholar and as an observant Muslim, this comes out of a tradition where seeing this icon reminds me of the prophet, and thinking of the prophet reminds me of God," he said. "It's using the senses to arrive at God."

Safi does not tell all his Muslim visitors who the painting depicts, though: he sometimes refers to him only as a holy man, because many Islamic theologians would reject it as blasphemous.

Sheikh Ibrahim Mogra, an imam in Leicester and assistant secretary general of the Muslim Council of Great Britain, told the BBC: "Islam in general specifically forbids the usage of imagery, and when it comes to depicting the messenger Muhammad, peace be upon him, that prohibition becomes even more relevant: we are not allowed to depict him in any shape, any way or form."

Arab Muslim countries have shunned all depictions of the human form ever since Islam swept across the region, with early leaders anxious to make a sharp break with the pagan beliefs and idols it displaced. But the same was not true for Persian and Turkish areas where Islam took root, according to Professor Christiane Gruber of the University of Michigan, an expert in depictions of the prophet in Islamic art.

The first surviving pictures from these regions date back to the mid-13th century and were not restricted to any one sect. "Some of the earliest images were created by a Sunni ruler, who wanted to counter his father's Shiism," Gruber said.

They may have been part of a much longer tradition, but Mongol armies commanded by Genghis Khan's grandson sacked Baghdad in 1258 and destroyed the imperial library. "We don't know much about Islamic book art before that," Gruber said. "It's possible that before that there was a tradition but we will never know anything about it or be able to fill that gap."

Muslim leaders who commissioned the images never tried to place them in public worship areas, and mosque decorations were restricted to calligraphy or floral and geometric designs.

Instead the images were luxury items for use in private devotion by a tiny elite, who wanted to study and meditate on the prophet's life and teachings at home.

"There hasn't been much public discussion about images of Muhammad," said Gruber. "We can't blame Muslim communities for not knowing that they exist, if we don't make them publicly available. Publishing these images is artistic restitution in the face of senseless irreverence. It would be wonderful for us to flood our eyes with those beautiful images. Muslims can be proud of them as part of a very richly textured artistic heritage."

No sacred images of Muhammad are on public display in the UK. New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, by contrast, has put one particularly beautiful depiction of the ascension of Muhammad into heaven at the heart of its Islamic art galleries. A second image appears on the museum website along with an introduction to the artistic tradition behind it.

"These portrayals, while somewhat rare, are not unheard of, as there were (and still are) many different attitudes toward depicting the prophet - and human beings in general - in the Islamic world," the website states. "An image of the prophet Muhammad at the beginning of a book endows the volume with the highest form of blessing and sanctity. Thus, illustration of him was a common practice, particularly in the eastern regions of the Islamic world."

A recent display of sacred Islamic art, including images of the prophet, at France's Bibliothéque Nationale drew a stream of visitors and no controversy.

From around 1500AD, in Ottoman areas, images began to show Muhammad with his face covered by a veil, or in some cases replaced by golden flames. His face was not obscured in every depiction, though, and while the tradition of depicting him in human form waned, it never died.

It is most common in Shia Iran, where until recently postcards, pictures and even carpets depicting the prophet could be found on sale, and in 2008 the government commissioned a beautiful five-storey mural of Muhammad riding towards paradise, inspired by one of the manuscript paintings.

It has also reappeared in largely Sunni Egypt, where a wall painting on Mohamed Mahmoud Street, created during the revolutionary turmoil of 2012, shows Muhammad on a horse, perhaps ready to ride into battle, turned away from the viewer but identified by calligraphy floating in stars above his head.

Nasima Begum, spokeswoman for the Muslim Council of Great Britain, said views on representations of Muhammad were uniform, and described the sacred art as a historical anomaly. "The general view about depicting the prophet hasn't changed over time," she said. "It is believed that he should not be depicted whatsoever. In the 12th and 13th centuries, there may well have been books producing images of the prophet, however the very fact that images of his face were covered up in the 16th century or so does show that Muslims were not happy about the depictions and therefore resulted in a veil being used to cover the face."

She declined to comment on whether the council would object to the display of the images in exhibitions of Islamic art, or their publication. To Gruber and other scholars, publishing and celebrating those pictures is essential.

"It's not patronising just to the heritage; to my mind it's actually quite belittling of Muslims [not to publish them]," Gruber said. "There is a pernicious unspoken message that Muslims won't be able to handle seeing these materials or talking about them." She added that in over a decade of research and teaching, she has never been threatened and does not consider her work dangerous.

"If I cave in to fear, then that would mean I assume that Muslim readers are essentially or inherently inclined towards violence, and I think that's offensive," she said. "Every time that I have seen or held any public discussion of these respectful images, there has only been positive reaction."

This article was amended on 15 January 2015 to remove an incorrect reference to the divinity of Muhammad. The basis of Islamic belief is monotheism - ie, that there is only one God. Muhammad is respected as a prophet of God; he is not divine.

LIFE OF THE PROPHET

570 Muhammad born in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. His father dies around this time.

575 His mother dies, leaving him an orphan in the care of a powerful grandfather and, later, uncle.

595 Aged 25, he marries Khadija, a wealthy widow. They have two sons, who both die in infancy, and four daughters.

610 Muhammad receives his first revelation, in a cave on the outskirts of Mecca.

613 He begins preaching in public. He, his family and followers are persecuted.

622 He and his followers leave Mecca for the oasis town of Yathrib, later renamed Medina, where his father is buried. This marks year zero in the Islamic calendar.

630 After years of fighting, Muhammad's followers take Mecca without bloodshed.

632 He returns to Mecca on a pilgrimage, delivers a farewell sermon, then dies in Medina after a short illness.
Topics

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Drawing the prophet: Islam's hidden history of Muhammad images

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
To many Muslims, any image of the prophet Muhammad is sacrilegious, but the ban has not always been absolute and there is a small but rich tradition of devotional Islamic art going back more than seven centuries that does depict God's messenger. It began with exquisite miniatures from the 13th century, scholars say.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Nothing in the Quran, Islam's holy book, strictly bars portrayals of Mohammed. But the faith, like the Hebrew Bible's Ten Commandments, has long discouraged any graven images, scholars say, to avoid the temptation toward idol worship.

In some ways, early Muslims were reacting to Christianity, which they believed had been led astray by conceiving of Christ not as a man but as a God. They did not want the same thing to happen to Mohammed.

"The prophet himself was aware that if people saw his face portrayed by people, they would soon start worshiping him," Akbar Ahmed, who chairs the Islamic Studies department at American University, told CNN. "So he himself spoke against such images, saying 'I'm just a man.' "

In a bitter irony, the recent violent attacks against portrayals of the prophet are kind of reverse idol-worship, revering -- and killing for -- the absence of an image, said Hussein Rashid, a professor of Islamic studies at Hofstra University in New York.

While the Quran does not explicitly prohibit depictions of Mohammad, most contemporary Muslims worldwide abide by the ban, based largely on religious rulings by Islamic scholars.

Sheikh Yasir Qadhi, a Muslim scholar who lives in Tennessee, said Islamic law draws a distinction between making graven images, a statute that is not binding on non-Muslims, and portraying Mohammed in a vulgar or disrespectful manner, which is considered blasphemy.

In the West, free-speech advocates such as the French magazine Charlie Hebdo have often done both, depicting Mohammed as foolish or bent on violence.

"In the context of Europe, where in many countries Muslims feel like they are besieged, these images are not seen as criticism but as bullying," said Rashid. "Violence as a response is clearly wrong and disproportionate. However, it is not so much about religious anger as it is about vengeance."

But even in the United States, where Muslims are relatively acclimated, extremists have opposed the portrayal of Mohammed on "South Park," the satirical cartoon show, and the subsequent "Draw Mohammed Day," that erupted in response.

Ban includes Jesus and Moses

Mohamed Magid, an imam and former head of Islamic Society of North America, told CNN that the Muslim prohibition on depicting prophets extends to Jesus and Moses, whom Islam treats as prophets. Some Muslim countries banned the films "Noah" and "Exodus" this year because their leading characters were Hebrew prophets.

In Sunni mosques, the largest branch of the faith, there are no human images of any kind. The spaces are instead decorated with verses from the Quran.

But there have been historical instances of Muslims depicting the prophet, especially in Shiite branches of Islam, Omid Safi, a religious studies professor at Duke University, told CNN.

"We have had visual depictions of the prophet in the form of miniatures and pictures in the Iranian context, the Turkish context, the central Asian context," said Safi. "The one significant context where depictions of the prophet have not been image-related has been in the Arab context."

Johari Abdul-Malik, the imam for Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center in Falls Church, Virginia, told CNN that depictions of the prophet 's teachings were sometimes used to bridge gaps in illiteracy.

Even historical renditions of Mohammed by Muslim artists were careful not to paint the prophet in too much detail.

Mohammed shown only in shadow

For example, Ahmed told CNN that Muslim artists in the 15th and 16th centuries would depict the prophet but took pains to avoid drawing his face. "It would be as if he was wearing a veil on his face so the really orthodox could not object -- that was the solution they found."

In a Muslim film called "The Messenger," which circulated throughout the Muslim world in the 1970s and 1980s, Mohammed was shown only in shadow.

In the Quran, there is "no statement from the prophet requesting his image not be recorded," Abdul-Malik told CNN.

Instead, the teaching about images comes from the hadith, a record of the sayings and actions of the Prophet Mohammed and his closest companions. The hadith is considered secondary only to the Quran in terms of textual authority, but the sometimes contradictory accounts have led to centuries of debates within the umma, or global Muslim community.

Scholars of religion say opposition to portraying Mohammed wasn't generally violated in earlier centuries because of a gulf between Western and majority-Muslim nations.

In the age of globalization, non-Muslims and critics of Islam have felt free to depict Mohammed, including in offensive ways. In 2006, for example, a Danish cartoonist's depiction of the prophet wearing a bomb as a turban with a lit fuse sparked demonstrations across the world.

CNN's Nick Thompson and Eric Marrapodi contributed to this report.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
why islam forbids images of mohammed - cnn

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.authors[].name
Daniel Burke, CNN Religion Editor, and CNN Staff

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Why Islam forbids images of Mohammed - CNN

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Nothing in the Quran, Islam's holy book, strictly bars portrayals of Mohammed. But the faith, like the Hebrew Bible's Ten Commandments, has long discouraged any graven images, scholars say, to avoid the temptation toward idol worship. In some ways, early Muslims were reacting to Christianity, which they believed had been led astray by conceiving of Christ not as a man but as a God.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Topkapı Palace Library

In the wake of the massacre that took place in the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo, I have been called upon as a scholar specializing in Islamic paintings of the Prophet to explain whether images of Muhammad are banned in Islam.

The short and simple answer is no. The Koran does not prohibit figural imagery. Rather, it castigates the worship of idols, which are understood as concrete embodiments of the polytheistic beliefs that Islam supplanted when it emerged as a purely monotheistic faith in the Arabian Peninsula during the seventh century.

Moreover, the Hadith, or Sayings of the Prophet, present us with an ambiguous picture at best: At turns we read of artists dared to breathe life into their figures and, at others, of pillows ornamented with figural imagery.

If we turn to Islamic law, there does not exist a single legal decree, or fatwa, in the historical corpus that explicitly and decisively prohibits figural imagery, including images of the Prophet. While more recent online fatwas can surely be found, the decree that comes closest to articulating this type of ban was published online in 2001 by the Taliban, as they set out to destroy the Buddhas of Bamiyan.

In their fatwa, the Taliban decreed that all non-Islamic statues and shrines in Afghanistan be destroyed. However, this very modern decree remains entirely silent on the issue of figural images and sculptures within Islam, which, conversely, had been praised as beneficial and educational by Muhammad 'Abduh, a prominent jurist in 19th century Egypt.

In sum, a search for a ban on images of Muhammad in pre-modern Islamic textual sources will yield no clear and firm results whatsoever.

Keep up with this story and more by subscribing now

While Islam has been described as a faith that is largely aniconic-i.e., that tends to avoid images-figural imagery has nevertheless been a staple of Islamic artistic expression, especially in secular, private contexts (and today, Muslim majority countries are saturated with images, dolls, and other representational arts). Indeed, a variety of Muslim patrons commissioned illustrated manuscripts replete with figural and animal imagery from the 13th century onward.

Over the past seven centuries, a variety of historical and poetic texts largely produced in Turkish and Persian spheres-both Sunni and Shiite-include beautiful depictions of the Prophet Muhammad. These many images were not only meant to praise and commemorate the Prophet; they also served as occasions and centerpieces for Muslim devotional practice, much like celebrations of the Prophet's birthday ( Mawlid) and visitations to his tomb in Medina.

As a result, this visual evidence clearly undermines the premise that images of Muhammad are banned in Islamic law and practice, thereby providing us with a less ideologically divisive and more fact-based way to speak about a subject that has grown increasingly contentious ever since 2005.

Representations of the Prophet in Islamic traditions have varied over time, and they have catered to different needs and desires. During the fourteenth century, a number of Persian drawings and paintings depict Muhammad as an enthroned leader surmounted by angels and surrounded by his companions (figures 1-2). These images show the Prophet as a human messenger entrusted with divine revelation through the angelic figures that protect and accompany him.

At other times, medieval paintings depict Muhammad alongside other Abrahamic prophets, the latter frequently represented in 16th century illustrated copies of popular texts concerned with explaining the lives and tales of the prophets ( qisas al-anbiya). In some instances, Muhammad is accompanied by Jesus Christ-revered as the Prophet 'Isa in Islamic traditions-both of whom are said to have been seen in an apocalyptic vision by Isaiah (figure 3).

In other tales, especially those dedicated to narrating and illustrating the Prophet's heavenly ascension ( mi'raj) from Mecca to Jerusalem and onward through the celestial spheres, Muhammad is depicted surrounded by the Abrahamic prophets as he sits in the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem (figure 4). In these medieval paintings, some of which were commissioned by a Sunni ruler in Iran, Muhammad is praised as the leader of his faith community, as the bearer of divine revelation, and as a messenger belonging to a long and respected line of monotheistic prophets.

After 1500, a major shift in representations of the Prophet occurs in both Persian-Shiite and Ottoman-Sunni lands. Muhammad's facial features become covered by a white facial veil while his body is engulfed by a large gold aureole, visual devices that doubly stress his unseen, numinous qualities (figure 5).

While these more abstract depictions of the Prophet certainly show an emerging tendency to shy away from figural representation, they also praise the Prophet according to a metaphorical language that is a hallmark of Sufi (mystical) traditions found in both Sunni and Shiite spheres. Particularly interesting is a series of late 16th-century Sunni-Ottoman paintings of the Prophet's biography (sira), in which Muhammad is shown confronting the very issue of idolatry as he approaches the Ka'ba in Mecca (figure 6).

In this and other cases, the image of Muhammad is preserved in a pristine state, while the gold idol and its prostrating idolater have been rubbed away by the painting's viewers. Here then, the problem is not so much the depiction of the Prophet, but rather paganism and polytheism, which are here visually excised in order to make symbolic way for a strictly monotheistic world order.

While images of the Prophet have waned since 1800, there nevertheless exist a number of modern and contemporary representations that reveal a rather unsteady, and thus not cohesive or uniform, approach to the production of Muhammad-centered imagery. While "blessed icons" of the Prophet made in Iran during the 19th and 20th centuries show Muhammad in his full corporeal form and touched by God through the symbol of the golden halo, depictions in Sunni and especially Arab lands remain largely abstract and show a clear preference for textual representations describing his physical attributes. Known as hilyas, these aniconic icons most recently have been printed in Turkey in the format of a state ID card.

As portable icons, these cards give details about Muhammad's birth date and place as well as the date of his endowment with prophecy. Moreover, they depict the Prophet through three metaphors: the rose (known as the "rose of Muhammad"), his seal impression (reading "Muhammad is the Messenger of God"), and calligraphic renderings of his name in Arabic script.

The contemporary ID card of the Prophet highlights a number of issues that are of particular concern today. First, just last week these laminated hilyas were used as invitation cards for celebrations of the Prophet's birthday in Turkey. At exactly the same time, ISIS suppressed all Mawlid celebrations in Iraq, and recently a document has revealed that Saudi Arabia has discussed plans to exhume the Prophet's remains from his tomb in Medina, supposedly in order to prevent his worship.

Taken altogether, these images, sites and celebrations have one thing in common: namely, a very contemporary urge to erase various forms of devotion to the Prophet within discourses emanating from extremist and Salafi spheres. Such discourses, which present themselves as representing a "true Islam," have been loudly present in the public sphere.

Couched as normative and thus representing a general consensus, they have the net effect of turning images of the Prophet into items that should not, in principle, exist. Theory and practice, along with fact and belief, find themselves at odds here, to say the least.

When one speaks of a "ban" of images of the Prophet in Islam, the negative repercussions are many. First, all doors to constructive dialogue on the topic are closed a priori, thus precluding a nuanced and apolitical discussion of historical Islamic images freed from the polarizing narratives of today. In addition, such images effectively become further endangered as a form of artistic heritage if merely speaking of and illustrating them is seen as a subversive, rather than a productive and reconstructive, act.

And so we must pose ourselves yet another question: why not celebrate this global artistic patrimony by flooding our eyes with beautiful images instead of unseemly cartoons? In so doing, such images will invite us to ponder, at least to a small degree, all that connects us as visual human beings, regardless of creed and conviction.

Christiane Gruber is associate professor and director of graduate studies at the University of Michigan. Her primary field of research is Islamic book arts, paintings of the Prophet Muhammad, and Islamic ascension texts and images, about which she has written two books and edited a volume of articles. She also pursues research in Islamic book arts and codicology, having authored the online catalog of Islamic calligraphies in the Library of Congress as well as edited the volume of articles, The Islamic Manuscript Tradition. Her third field of specialization is modern Islamic visual culture and post-revolutionary Iranian visual and material culture, about which she has written several articles. She also has co-edited two volumes on Islamic and crosscultural visual cultures. She is currently writing her next book, titled The Praiseworthy One: The Prophet Muhammad in Islamic Texts and Images.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Koran Does Not Forbid Images of the Prophet

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In the wake of the massacre that took place in the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo, I have been called upon as a scholar specializing in Islamic paintings of the Prophet to explain whether images of Muhammad are banned in Islam. The short and simple answer is no.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Most young Muslim students feel accepted on California junior high and high school campuses, although a significant number say they face bias from teachers and bullying from fellow students, according to a new report by a leading Islamic advocacy group.

The report, issued Thursday and based on an extensive survey by the California chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, offers a nuanced portrayal of the climate young Muslims face in California schools.

Of the nearly 500 Muslim youth surveyed across the state, about 80% gave a positive rating to their overall educational experience - noting that they were comfortable speaking about their religion in the classroom and felt safe in school and respected by teachers.

The Growing in Faith survey found, however, that significant problems remain for young Muslims.

Five percent of those surveyed said their teachers did not respect their religion; 10% reported being physically bullied, including being slapped, kicked or punched. And 17% of girls who wore the hijab, an Islamic head scarf, reported being mistreated because of their choice in clothing. Half of the survey respondents said they'd been subject to mean comments or rumors as a result of their faith.

"I believe there's more to the finding that so many people feel comfortable than meets the eye," said Ahmed Abdelgany, a 19-year-old student at UC Riverside who attended Northwood High School in Irvine. "People don't want to admit when something is wrong. I always hear stories from students about things they had to endure. I had to endure them too, mostly being called names and having to hear jokes about terrorism."

The large positive response came "as quite a surprise," said CAIR attorney Fatima Dadabhoy, who helped author the study. "When we started, the anecdotal evidence we'd been gathering suggested a different kind of picture."

Dadabhoy lamented the disconnect between students who said they'd been bullied but still reported feeling accepted at school. "A lot of students are internalizing mistreatment," she said. "More needs to be done to show our students what bullying really is."

The CAIR lawyer said a significant number of students worry that their complaints about discrimination won't be taken seriously by teachers.

"They are also often afraid to tell their parents," added Hussam Ayloush, CAIR's executive director, noting some students were frustrated because they felt complaints about treatment at school would be met by parental instruction to "toughen up and have a thick skin." Others, he said, kept quiet because they did not want their parents to worry.

The report, which in 2012 began polling students between ages 11 and 18, showed young Muslims who lived in places like Orange and Santa Clara counties - where their faith is well-established - felt the most secure about their school experience.

CAIR said the report's aim was to raise awareness of bullying and the complex issues young Muslims face daily, and to highlight the legal protections available for students who are harassed because of their religion.
kurt.streeter@latimes.com

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Despite bullying, Muslim students feel accepted, report says

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Most young Muslim students feel accepted on California junior high and high school campuses, although a significant number say they face bias from teachers and bullying from fellow students, according to a new report by a leading Islamic advocacy group.

# data[].attributes.body
South African Surfers

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The "Whites Only" signs may have come down but for many reasons, including income and culture, many young black people still do not take part in water sports, let alone get international recognition for participating in them. That's what makes Ayuvile "Avo" Namase so remarkable.

Twenty-one year-old Namase is well aware that, when it comes to surfing in South Africa, he's very much in the minority. "People still believe that black people don't swim," he says. "I know for a fact that a lot of African people are still afraid of the water, man. When people see me with a surf board or getting in the ocean, they're like: you? What the hell?"

But it's not just other people's prejudice or stereotypes the young competitive surfer has had to overcome. In 2011, his younger brother, Zama, with whom he learned to surf, died after being attacked by a shark off the coast of their home town of Port St Johns, in South Africa's Eastern Cape.

"He just turned 15 four days before that," explains Namase. "It was one of those days you can guarantee yourself nothing will happen; the water is crystal clear, the waves are small, not even a cloud in the sky."

Namase describes how, as he was turning to head back to the beach, his brother headed back to sea to ride a wave but was then attacked by a shark. "He tried to jump on the board and, obviously, when you try to jump on the board your legs are going to open. [It] got in between the legs and main arteries, as he tried to climb on the board.

"Probably that one bite was it. I've never seen anything like it in my life, it looked like a blood bomb blew under water, and just blood everywhere."

After that tragic incident, it would take Namase months to get back in the water. He says relocating to Durban and getting back in the water helped him heal.

Surfing as therapy

Tim Conibear understands surfing's appeal and healing power and is using the sport to reach troubled kids through his organization, Waves for Change (W4C).

"Because the sport is risky it attracts kids drawn to risky behavior," says Conibear. The Cape Town-based organization works with young people dealing with emotional trauma, helping them to grow in confidence.

Conibear explains that whether it's seeing a parent taken away by police or being sexually abused, the kids who go through the W4C program typically are exposed to eight different instances that cause trauma a year.

Explaining why surfing helps the children, Conibear says: "The water is very scary and most of the children can't swim. It is an environment where they learn to build trust. It gets the children out of the community and as an individual pursuit each child develops emotional vocabulary and coping strategies."

Another organization that recognizes the transformative power of surfing is Surfers not Street Children, where Namase now volunteers.

Its founder, Tom Hewitt, says of the young talent: "He's a different character, so rather than come into Durban from Port St. Johns and settle into the background [Namase has] become sort of a prominent character in the surf community. And we love him to bits. He has become a volunteer at Surfers not Street Children and he became part of the family."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The "Whites Only" signs may have come down but for many reasons, including income and culture, many young black people still do not take part in water sports, let alone get international recognition for participating in them. That's what makes Ayuvile "Avo" Namase so remarkable.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
World History Timeline Civilization- African Kingdoms

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Islamic Beliefs and Practices - Google Docs

# data[].attributes.headline
Ancient religious sites discovered in Ethiopia

# data[].attributes.subject
Ancient religious sites discovered in Ethiopia

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
ancient religious sites discovered in ethiopia - cnn video

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Ancient religious sites discovered in Ethiopia - CNN Video

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Tigray region in northern Ethiopia is the cradle of the country's religious history-including the beginnings of Christianity and Islam.