6. Body in Islam

Islam teaches that God created man from clay and breathed the spirit of life into him. Quran says: “Your Lord said to the angels, "I am going to create a human being out of clay. When I have formed him and breathed My Spirit into him, fall down in prostration to him!" (Quran, 38:71-72)
According to Islam God separated man from the rest of creation by giving him three divine gifts: intelligence, will and the power of speech to worship. Because of these gifts, humans are the noblest of God's creatures.

Even though composed by matter and spirit, in Islam man is an indivisible unity, and many Muslim practices pass across body. The first of all, the recitation of Quran (that means just “recitation”) and the prayer. Islamic reading of Quran is a particular recitation close to singing. Then prayer includes specific corporal movements, and before it Muslim must wash some parts of his body.
Body care, recitation, and corporal movements are necessary to worship and spiritual meditation. 

Listen the Opening sura source 1 [link]

Body’s destiny. Muslims believe in the Day of Judgment when God will resurrect the dead, and each person will be judged directly by Allah according to how well he followed the instructions contained in Quran, and how well he practiced justice and mercy towards others.

Practices

1. Body in prayer and fast

Muslims are united across boundaries of geography and religious groups through their observance of five practices known as the “Five Pillars”. These include ritual prayer (salat) and fasting during the month of Ramadan (sawm).
Daily ritual prayers are prescribed with particular conditions, procedures, and times. Before praying, one is expected to perform a ritual ablution, called “purification” for both mind and body. If water is available, the hands, arms, face, neck, and feet are washed. With the face turned in the direction of the Kabah in Mecca, barefoot on a carpet or similar, the believers align themselves in parallel rows behind the imam, or prayer leader, who directs them as they execute the physical postures coupled with Quranic recitations. Reciting Quran the believer is  standing up with hands, palms open, up to ears;  then he is bending at the waist down with both hands on knees; after he touches the head upon the ground wit palms, knees, toes of both feet.
Involving all the body and mind, both postures and recitations help concentration and worship.
 One can pray outdoors, at home, or in the mosque, only it is obligatory for Muslim males to attend the mosque for the Friday noon prayer, a special time set aside for communal prayer.
All these kind of bodily prescription are representative of the relevance of the body in Islam, and the obligation to take off the shoes and wear long clothes are clear evidence of it.

Source P6 n 2 [link] Postures of Salat.

Fast.  Ramadan, the ninth month of the lunar Islamic calendar, commemorates revelations of God to Muhammad. Muslims remember this central event by fasting during Ramadan, another Islamic “Pilar”. For the duration of the month, devout Muslims abstain from food, liquids (even water), tobacco, and sex from dawn until dusk. This corporal self-denial is believed to focus the devout on God's presence and increase their sense of the abundance of God's blessings.

2. Islamic Circumcision

Male circumcision is an important Islamic practice. There is no single explanation for the origins of this practice. Muslim traditions (Ḥadīth, that means “sayings” of Muhammad, collection of deeds and sayings ascribed to the prophet) recognize it as a pre-Islamic rite customary among the Arabs. It may have been adopted from the Jewish practice. Some say it reinforces human submission to God, while others view the practice as an important preventive measure against infection. It is also done to imitate Muhammad, who was circumcised, and circumcised his sons. The age of boy fluctuates from a few days after birth to 7 or 10 years. Particulars vary from one Muslim country to another, but everywhere male circumcision is a major and celebrated rite. The controversial practice of female circumcision that is present in many parts of the world and also in some Islamic countries does not have authority as does male circumcision.

3. Body of the deceased 

The body of the deceased person must be washed and buried in a plain white shroud. If the person went on pilgrimage to Mecca, then he or she is buried in the pilgrimage garments. The body is arranged in the grab on its right side with deceased's face toward Mecca, supporting the cheek with a stone. A relative of the dead whispers in the deceased's ear the Islamic creed declaring belief in the oneness of God and the acceptance of Muhammad as God's prophet (shahadah).

4. Islamic veil

Veils worn by Muslim women can have different names depending on their forms. The most used is called Hijab and covers the head and chest, others can cover face, and body. The term hijab in Arabic literally means “a screen or curtain”. The Quran tells the male believers to talk to the wives of the Prophet Muhammad behind a curtain (hijab). 
Modesty in the Quran concerns both men and women. Women are admonished to dress modestly and cover their breasts and genitals, but does not specify that women cover their faces or bodies. Islamic guidelines for this type of dressing are found in text of Hadith developed after the revelation of the Quran.
Generally the veil is worn beyond the age of puberty in the presence of adult males outside of their immediate family as a symbol of modesty, privacy and morality.
In ancient times wearing a veil was a symbol of upper class women in many Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cultures as Persian, Greek, and Roman that probably influenced Islamic custom.  
During first half of XX century, some Muslims took a relativist approach to hijab according to which modesty can be communicated just avoiding fitting and short clothes. In many Islamic countries the veil was less and less used so that in Turkey, Egypt, Algeria was strongly discouraged by Governments, and forbidden by Iranian Government in 1936. From the Twenties and Thirties in these countries the veil was seen as an obstacle to modernity and progress by politics. But a part of the Islamic population began to see it as a symbol of independence against Western cultural colonisation. So the veil became the symbol of Iranian Islamic revolution against a Government considered subject of the West, or the Algerian symbol of resistance against French colonialism.
Nowadays it can be worn – or not worn – for religious, traditional, cultural or politic reasons. Only few countries obliged Muslim women to veil, as in Iran. 
Additional information:
The issue of the Islamic Veil across Europe (contains also useful images and descriptions of more types of veil): http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-13038095

Additional information on the meaning of the veil in Islam:
http://www.unc.edu/depts/europe/conferences/Veil2000/Veil-sa/veil_islam-amer.PDF

Sources n 3, 4, 5 [link]

Links to other Modules’ pages
[link to Islam module]