Student 8 Exam I Fall 1999

*note: this exam was entered exactly as the student wrote it. No changes have been made.

Mohammed was born in Mecca in 570 A.D. At the age of twenty-five, he married a widow named Khadijah. Mohammed then became even more involved in the caravan trade in Mecca. Mohammed was dissatisfied with the polytheistic and materialistic lifestyle. So at the age of forty, Mohammed went to Mt. Hira and spent six weeks there. He spent his time in prayer and meditation, but the archangel Gabriel did visit him there at Mt. Hira. The archangel Gabriel have hin recitations from Allah, which Mohammed was supposed to go and share with others. The recitations later became the Qur'an, which contains the fundamental ideas of Islam.

In 621 A.D., Mohammed is said to have made a night journey where he ascended into heaven. The al-Aqsa mosque marks the site of this. In heave, he led all past prophets in prayer. Later, in 620 A.D., Mohammed went to Medina, where he collected his first followers. This event is known as the Hegira and marks the first year of the Islamic calendar. In 630 A.d., After continuous raids on Mecca, the people finally surrendered and became followers. Mohammed died in 632 A.D. and he ascended into heaven from the dome of the Rock in Jerusalem.

The Qur'an has File Pillars as follows: The first pillar says that there is no God but Allah, and Mohammed is his messenger. This means that no idols are to be worship[ped and that Allah is the only God. The second pillar is that Muslims must pray 5 times a day. Before praying the Muslims cleanse themselves 3 times. The mahrib points the faithful toward Mecca, which is the direction to you supposed to pray. The mosque, which means "house of prayer"," is a square building with a dome. The square symbolizes the earth, and the some symbolizes heaven. So it is joining of heaven and earth. In the mosques, verses from the Qur'an are written in calligraphy, but there are no pictures of animals or anything of the like.Also prayer rugs can be found in mosques and each rug is flawed in some way. This is because the only perfect thing is Allah.

The third pillar is almsgiving which is the giving of charity to Muslims. The fourth pillar is fasting which is done during the month of Ramadan. Muslims are not allowed to eat anything from sunup to sundown. The fasting is significant to Mohammed's six weeks at Mt. Hira. The fifth pillar is hajj, or pilgrimage, to Mecca. The pilgrimage should happen at least once is very Muslim's life. The pilgrimage is the to the Ka'ba. The Ka'ba is a black meteorite in a box; it is significant because it marks the site where Ishmael stamped his foot in anger and a spring arose.

Functionalist theory of art is art that serves a purpose. Mosques are good representative of this, since Muslims use them for prayer.

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