Islam was an Earth religion that originated from the region known as the Middle East. Founded in the 7th century C.E., it stems from the same Abrahamic roots as Christianity and Judaism. While Jesus Christ and Moses are believed in as prophets, Islam regards the teachings of Muhammad, whom they believe to be the final prophet, to be key. Followers of Islam are known as Muslims.
Muslims use a document called the Qur'an, said to have been dictated by God to Muhammad over a period of several years, as their primary religious scripture.
There are three major denominations of Islam -- Sunni, Shi'a and Sufism -- and many smaller ones.
By the early 2030s, a coalition of democratically-run nation-states, with Muslim-majority populations, had formed. It was known as the Muslim Bloc. This coalition, at least briefly, allied with other countries to divert an asteroid whose path intersected with that of Earth in 2031. (The Lost Era novel: The Sundered)
As was the case with Christianity and Judaism -- the other two Abrahamic faiths of Earth -- Islam and its followers underwent a spiritual and cultural upheaval with the first contacts with extraterrestrial intelligent species such as the Vulcans and Centaurians in the mid-21st century. Such contacts fostered, in many ways, no less a crisis than the events of 1 May 2053, during World War III, where nuclear weapons were detonated above, near, or even in Middle Eastern cities considered sacred by all three faiths. (The Sundered)
In the 22nd century, millions of Muslims left Earth to preserve their culture. Some eventually settled on a planet they dubbed Al-Jamal, which eventually joined the Federation as a trade center. Two hundred years later, they possessed an entire sector and over a dozen systems, which were known as the Islamic Colonial Alliance. (Star Trek: Laughing Sawfish)
- An essay in the continuity of Star Trek: Laughing Sawfish noted that this exodus of many Earth peoples, in order to "preserve" their respective cultures, began about 2170. This implies that the establishment of the United Federation of Planets was the impetus for those emigrations, but such has not been directly stated.
The emigration of those millions still left many Muslims living and working on Earth, and within the Sol system. (An early settlement on Mars was Ghazzat Hashim, founded by Muslims who had left Israel and other Middle Eastern countries in the mid-21st century.) (Star Trek: Shadowstar Station: "Esteban") One of the construction workers building Enterprise in the 2240s made time to find Mecca from orbit and pray. (TAS novel: Star Trek Log Seven)
Practices
Observant Muslims were expected to keep five main practices, known as the Five Pillars of Islam. These included:
- Salat (Prayer)
- Observant Muslims were expected to pray facing towards Mecca five times per day. Jaleh Khoroushi solved the difficulties inherent in performing this in space by asking the ship's computer for the direction of the Sol system, and timed her prayers by the ship's clock. The prayer involved a recitation of liturgy in Arabic. (Bait and Switch: "Solaere ssiun Hnaifv'daenn")
- Sawm (Fasting)
- Muslims were expected to fast at certain times, particularly during the month of Ramadan when they were required to abstain from food, drink, and sex from sunrise to sunset. Religious law also required vaccinations to be given by injection instead of orally during Ramadan. (Bait and Switch: "Solaere ssiun Hnaifv'daenn")
In addition Islam included laws regarding what acts were permissible in daily life, a code known as halal. These included dietary restrictions such as a ban on alcohol consumption, restrictions which Jaleh Khoroushi habitually ignored while on deployment. (Bait and Switch: "Saith Daepahr hrrafv Llaiirevha, Part I")
Known adherents
- Carolyn Adiwoso (Star Trek: Shadowstar Station)
- Iwan Alvarez (Star Trek: Avenger: "Nearly a Valediction")
- Aiman al-Rashid (Star Trek: War Aftermath: "The True Way")
- Laurena Cytrynbaum, Muslim convert (Star Trek: Shadowstar Station: "Pomp and Circumstantial Evidence")
- Azar Hamidi (The Light )
- Faisal ibn Saud ibn Turki (aka Faisal Prince) (TOS novel: Vulcan's Forge)
- Andreas Kitabatu al-'Qalb (Star Trek: Avenger: "Belonging", Star Trek: Shadowstar Station)
- Nadia Nazar (Star Trek: Laughing Sawfish)
- Ra'id Nazar (Star Trek: Laughing Sawfish)
- Robert Pachico (Tamerlane)
- Zeinab al-Qatabi (TNG novel: Indistinguishable from Magic)
- Nancy Sastrowardoyo, Muslim convert (Star Trek: Shadowstar Station: Freedom's Just Another Word for Nothing Left to Lose)
- Antonia Sawalha (Star Trek: Avenger, Star Trek: Shadowstar Station)
- Hugh Sesay (Star Trek: Avenger)
- Ismail Supriyanto (Star Trek: Avenger, Star Trek: Shadowstar Station)
- Mohammed Tafari (TOS novel: Planet of Judgment)
- Jaleh Khoroushi, Twelver Shiite (Bait and Switch: Morgaiah t'Thavrau sub-series)
- Calipha Rashida El-Hashem, Kharijite (The War of the Masters: "For We Should Grow Too Fond of It, Part I")
External links
- Islam article at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
- Islam article at Memory Beta, the non-canon Star Trek wiki.