Shipley
Summer 2015
REL 101-731 Islam Exam
Please answer all questions as thoroughly and completely as possible. Responses should use correct and specific terminology, refer directly to related concepts/rituals/beliefs/etc., and draw candidly from class material, including citing from Novak’s anthology to provide theological support and evidence. You have from Friday,
August 14 at noon until Sunday, August 16 at 11:59 PM to turn in your exam via the dropbox located under
Week 6 on D2L.
Four questions are worth 10 points each; the four remaining questions are worth 15 points each
1. What does the word “Islam” translate to? How, in many ways, does this translation situate the general aim of Islamic belief? Moreover, how does this fit within Prothero’s schema?
2. Drawing on specific beliefs and concepts, explore the nature of Islamic monotheism. What is the actual meaning of Allah? Moreover, how does Islamic monotheism relate to Judaism? Christianity? What makes it distinctive (if anything)?
3. How does Islam situate prophecy and revelation in the Qur’an? Who is Muhammad and what is the
“Night of Power”? Considering specifically the figures of Moses (the Torah), Jesus (the Gospels) and
Muhammad (the Qur’an), what are prophecy and revelation, and what is the relationship between
“prophets,” revelation, and the establishment of “religion”? (15 points)
4. Throughout the semester, we have used the distinction between orthopraxy and orthodoxy to understand the nature and practice of religion. After first developing/defining the distinction between orthodoxy and orthopraxy, draw on particular Islamic beliefs to establish what constitutes Islam’s orthodoxy and what delineates Islam’s orthopraxy. Essentially, what makes Islam an example of orthodoxy? And, what makes Islam an example of orthopraxy? (15 points)
5. How does Islam situate final judgment and resurrection? How is this related to the principle of qadar?
6. What is the
