Calliope articles from December 2003

Calliope archives from December 2003

Musings.(Excerpt)
December 1, 2003... O Believers, have patience, work together in patience, be steadfast and be mindful of God, perhaps you will be able to thrive --The Qur'an, Surah 3, Verse 200 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

The world of Muhammad.(recorder of the Koran)
December 1, 2003... THE QUR'AN, THE HOLY BOOK OF ISLAM, HAS HAD AN ENORMOUS EFFECT ON THE EVENTS OF HISTORY FOR NEARLY 2,000 YEARS. MUSLIMS, THOSE WHO PRACTICE Islam, look to the Qur'an for everyday guidance. Countries, governments, and laws have been created...

What is scared scripture?
December 1, 2003... Must a sacred scripture be something written on paper, in the form of a text or book? If yes, then what about revelations made before paper was invented? In very early times, people used animal skins, bones, papyrus, and sometimes even stones...

The first revelation.(given to Muhammad, recorder of the Koran)
December 1, 2003... Muslims do not represent Muhammad in paintings or statues. They do write his name. The Islamic calligraphy at left by Mohamed Zakariya (see pages 38-41) represents Muhammad's name and prayer of blessing: MUHAMMAD, PEACE AND BLESSINGS UPON HIM....

How the Qur'an was arranged into chapters and verses.
December 1, 2003... The Qur'an is a book of 114 chapters, called surahs, and 6,236 verses, called ayat, or "signs." Like many sacred scriptures, it is both word and voice, to be memorized and recited. According to Islamic teachings, the Qur'an was revealed to...

Recording the revelation.(authorship of the Koran)
December 1, 2003... ISLAM BEGAN WITH THE WORDS THAT MUSLIMS BELIEVE GOD REVEALED TO MUHAMMAD, which he then repeated to his companions. These words--this sacred text became what Muslims call the Qur'an. The book in which the text is recorded is called, in Arabic,...

The companions.(followers of Muhammad)
December 1, 2003... Two young men huddled in the corner of a stone cave. Outside, raiding parties passed through the cold desert night, their horses' hooves pounding across the sand. The men knew the riders were searching for them, determined to punish them for...

Verifying the verses.(compiling the Koran after the death of Muhammad)
December 1, 2003... After Muhammad died in C.E. 632, Muslims chose Abu Bakr to lead the community as his khalifa ("successor"). According to a well-known hadith, Muhammad left two sources for his followers. He said that if Muslims preserved and honored both, they...

Dotting and diacritical marks.(Arabic language)
December 1, 2003... Arabic is a Semitic language, as is Hebrew. Both use an alphabet in which mainly the consonants are represented in writing. Using marks called diacritics to represent vowels is optional. Historically, Arabs could easily figure out words...

Word origins.(Fun With Words)(calligraphy and verse)
December 1, 2003... Calligraphy This is one word that actually describes itself. It derives from the Greek adjective kalos, meaning "beautiful," and the Greek verb raphein, meaning "to write." Verse Ever wonder how and why the term "verse" came to mean lines...

Word stories.(Fun With Words)(prophet and revelation)
December 1, 2003... Prophet This word has changed little through the centuries. To refer to a person who was able to interpret the will of the gods and foretell events that were to occur, the ancient Greeks combined their preposition pro ("before") with their verb...

Expressions.(Fun With Words)
December 1, 2003... As-Salaamu Alaykum (as-sa-LAAM-u a-LAY-kum)--"Peace be with you." Wa Alaykum As-Salaam (wa a-LAY-kum as-sa-LAAM)--"And with you, peace." When people meet each other on the street, at school, in a store, or at a gathering, they greet...

Glossary.(Fun With Words)(Glossary)
December 1, 2003... Arabic versus Muslim versus Islamic: The term "Arabic" is used when speaking of the language of the Arab people. The term "Islamic" is used when speaking of the religion of Islam. The term "Muslim" is used when speaking of the culture and the...

One Qur'an.
December 1, 2003... UNDER UMAR, THE SECOND CALIPH, MUSLIM ARMIES continued to defeat Byzantine and Persian forces in northern Arabia and Iraq, bringing new territories under Muslim rule. By the time Uthman was chosen as caliph in C.E. 644, Egypt, Palestine, Syria,...

Following the Qur'an.
December 1, 2003... The Qur'an was woven into the lives and events of the early Muslims. According to Islamic teachings, Muhammad's mission as a prophet was to show them how to follow its teachings. That is why the Sunnah, the example of his life, is the second...

Read Arabic.(Activity)
December 1, 2003... The language of the Qur'an is Arabic. Arabic looks confusing because the script or alphabet is quite different from our Roman script. However, it is not too difficult if you give it a try. Most of the letters in Arabic script are connected to...

The call to worship.(methods of prayer by Muslims)
December 1, 2003... The most consistent message of the Qur'an is the call for Muslims to honor their creator. "So worship Him, and put your trust in Him: And your Lord is not unmindful of everything that you do." There are many forms of worship, from prayers to...

A style of its own.(calligraphy)
December 1, 2003... IN THE FIRST CENTURY OF ISLAM, THE ART OF CALLIGRAPHY WAS BORN, AND WITH IT THE craft of the calligrapher. It was the duty of the calligrapher to record the words of Allah's revelation to Muhammad so that faithful Muslims could read and...

Pen and ink.(Activity)(making a calligraphy pen)
December 1, 2003... You Need: * tube of bamboo (you can also use a small piece of flat wood, a Popsicle stick, or a bamboo chopstick) * sharp knife * sandpaper In the early days of Islam, pens were of two types: blunt or chisel-edged. The blunt...

Ask Calliope.(Athens, Greece; Inca Ice Maiden; Roman empire)
December 1, 2003... ? How did Athens get its name? --Brower, 10, Ithaca, New York ! According to myth, Athena, the goddess of wisdom and war, wanted to guard and protect Attica, the territory in which the city of Athens is located. The patron of Attica...

Books.(Off the Shelf)(about Islam and the Arab world)(Bibliography)
December 1, 2003... Eyewitness: Islam by Philip Wilkinson (DK Publishing, 2002: www.dk.com) includes diagrams, illustrations, and vivid images of artifacts and traditional Muslim practices. The book's short chapters make it an excellent and easy-to-read resource...

On the net.(Off the Shelf)(web sites about calligraphy, Koran and Islam)
December 1, 2003... For an excellent site on Islam and Muslim culture, go to: www.cie.org For a site on the Qur'an that has a wealth of terrific links to related pages, go to: www.quran.org.uk For a site that covers the history, culture, and...

Cobblestone resources.(Off the Shelf)(Bibliography)
December 1, 2003... Materials that complement this theme's topic, "The Qur'an," and are available from Cobblestone Publishing (www.cobblestonepub.com) include: Byzantium, Constantinople, Istanbul (CALLIOPE, November/December 1990) Hinduism (CALLIOPE,...

The tradition of studying the Qur'an.(From Past to Present)
December 1, 2003... Since the time of the first revelation, Muslims have striven to pass along their sacred text in its original form. Aware that this is a difficult task, Muslims are dedicated to preserving their holy book through intense study of the text's...