Islam: Practices and Religious Identity

What Islam: Practices and Religious Identity covers

Islam: Practices and Religious Identity is examined in AS Unit 1, An Introduction to the Study of Religion — the Islam option, studied instead of the other five. It covers the role of the masjid, Ashura and Shi'a identity, Ramadan and Id-ul-Fitr and Evaluating the masjid, Ashura and the value of fasting.

The 4 subtopics

Each one has its own page. WJEC AS Religious Studies students sit this topic in the first year.

• The role of the masjidWord masjid literally, main features found inside a British masjid and debate about women's access to mosques in Britain.Open →
• Ashura and Shi'a identityRecall questions on Karbala, the mourning rituals and the giving of water, tatbir and the alternative promoted in its place, Arba'een, and observance in Britain.Open →
• Ramadan and Id-ul-FitrRecall questions on who is excused from the fast, Sura 2:183, taqwa, fasting as moral discipline and empathy with the poor, zakat-ul-Fitr, and how the celebration is kept.Open →
• Evaluating the masjid, Ashura and the value of fastingArgued against treating prostration as the masjid's most important purpose and argued for fasting benefiting the community more than the individual.Open →

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Take Islam: Practices and Religious Identity further

The same content, four other ways.

Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   What does the word masjid literally mean, and why does that matter?

   Model answer

   Masjid means a place of prostration, which locates the building's whole purpose in the act of putting the forehead to the ground before God rather than in the architecture or the gathering.

2. 2

   Why can Muslims pray anywhere and still build mosques?

   Model answer

   A hadith teaches that the whole earth has been made a place of prayer, so any clean space will serve; the masjid exists to make communal prayer regular and to house everything a community does together.

3. 3

   What functions did the first masjid at Madinah combine?

   Model answer

   It was at once the prayer hall, the assembly and court of the community, a school, a store for charity, a shelter for the destitute and the seat from which Muhammad governed.

4. 4

   Describe the main features found inside a British masjid.

   Model answer

   There is a large carpeted prayer hall without seats or images, a mihrab niche marking the direction of Makkah, a minbar from which the sermon is given, washing facilities for wudu, Qur'anic calligraphy and geometric decoration, and a separate space for women.

5. 5

   Why are there no pictures or statues in a masjid?

   Model answer

   Images of God are impossible and images of prophets or living beings in a place of worship are avoided as a route towards shirk, so decoration takes the form of calligraphy, pattern and light instead.

6. 6

   Who leads prayer in a Sunni masjid, and on what basis?

   Model answer

   The imam is whoever is best qualified to lead by knowledge of the Qur'an, and in Sunni Islam he holds no priestly status or sacramental power, since any competent adult male may lead the prayer.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

Islam: Practices and Religious Identity revision questions

Is Islam: Practices and Religious Identity examined at AS in WJEC Religious Studies?

Yes. It sits in AS Unit 1, which you take in the first year, so it is on the AS paper as well as counting towards the full A level.

What does Islam: Practices and Religious Identity cover in WJEC AS-Level Religious Studies?

4 subtopics: the role of the masjid, ashura and shi'a identity, ramadan and id-ul-fitr and evaluating the masjid, ashura and the value of fasting. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.

How is Islam: Practices and Religious Identity organised?

By the WJEC 603-0277-X specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.